This and That

I am on my own again, with Richard out of the country again.

People laugh at me when they ask where he is and the best I can manage is 'Somewhere in Italy...'. But honestly it's hard to keep up! We chat on Google chat, so I don't need to know every detail of what, where, who, how etc. I think he barely know where he is himself half the time. It's a case of fly in do the work/ training/ conference/ summit/ whatever and leave again. The location is pretty incidental most of the time, and there is certainly no research and recreational planning around it.

So I spent the whole of last week's evening reading up on doula training, and watch birth videos on YouTube. Yes, I am strange like that. I love watching them!

I added links to birth videos and gorgeous newborn photos and even to a virtual labour tool on my Birth Buddies doula site. Check it out if you are interested.

Then on Friday we were invited to a pot-luck dinner and camp-fire with the scouts after cubs. The boys and I went along and it was so much fun! Griffin got right into the thick of things. It is going to be hard to keep him on the sidelines for another 2 years. He wants to be a cub NOW. It was funny to sing all those same songs we sang so many years ago. Songs like Kumbaya (groan, I hate that one!) and 'Oh you can't get to heaven, oh you can't get to heaven in Quinn's bra, cos Quinn's bra, don't stretch s far' etc etc. The kids LOVE the songs and react with such glee and with enthusiastic actions and loud bellowing singing. The scouters really get into it and are very animated and enthusiastic. It's nice that this still happens. I manages to be wholesome but still jolly good fun, and is a nice alternative to hanging out at the 'mall' and skate-parks etc and getting up to no good. I have also noticed that all the activities in cubs are about being active, healthy, creative and thinking and problem solving, yet they are presented as FUN and GAMES. It's really good and teaches so many life skills. After Quinn joined we started telling other friends and there are about 6-8 other boys from our extended circle of friends who have also joined, so I think we have resurrected the troop ;)

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early and set of for Somerset West for the first day of my Doula course. It was a great day, despite me having some reservations about this course and in particular the woman who runs it. My impression is that she is trying to be really controlling and restrictive of the whole doula community in Cape Town. So we'll see how that turns out. I am still undecided as to whether I want to certify through her, even though she makes out like her course is the only valid certification, because it isn't. The risk of not certifying through her though is that I will be outside her circle of influence, and I do think she is quite influential. If I do certify through her and adhere to her code of conduct and 'scope of practice' I will have a lot of restrictions placed on me in terms of what I can and can't say and do, what I have to wear, what I have to charge etc etc. Plus I will have to wear a regulation pinafore which advertises a large corporate baby-product company, and I don't want to be advertising and mentally imprinting corporate logos into poor labouring women. It's like MacDonald's advertising at schools and in newborn nurseries. Basically brain-washing and subliminal messaging. I am very uncomfortable about that.

As a result I have enrolled in an international course too. I have been posting on some international discussion boards and mentioned my concerns and experiences with the local people (including being told to take my website down!). I started looking into the Childbirth International Doula courses, which look fabulous - but not with our exchange rate, as they are all in US Dollars.

A wonderful woman from Birth Arts contacted me and offered me a free registration on their Doula course. I just need to pay the printing and postage fees for the course materials. It's a saving of $400USD! Wow, I am so flattered and grateful. Apparently the course material is already in the mail! :) So whether or not I complete the local course, I will get an International Certification under my belt, and the local lady can say what she wants that will mean something.

Anyway despite that rant, and a few pointed comments been made at the course like NOT being able to be called a doula before you have trained and certified through them and waiting to be told how to set up a practise at the end of the course etc (which I am almost certain were references to issues they have with me and my being pro-active and knowing the industry) it really was an enjoyable day.

A lady came in to give the section on the Anatomy & Physiology of Birth, and it turned out it was my antenatal teacher from when I was pregnant with Quinn 7+ years ago. She remembered me too. :)

We got a file full of notes and we asked to take a book from the reading list to go through and I am already half-way through the notes and 1/3 of the way through the book. I have also ordered several more books through Kalahari.net so I am eagerly waiting for them to arrive, as well as my US course notes.

I will do both courses in parallel for now, as many of the requirements are the same including:
- Reading several doula, birth, pregnancy and parenting books from reading lists. It's a fairly contained subject so the same names pop up everywhere.
- Attending a labour themed antenatal class
- Attending a breastfeeding clinic
- Observing 2 births (not participating)
- Supporting a woman through at least 2 births, and in various situations (such as township Obstetric Unit, State Hospital, Private Hospital, Home birth, Water birth etc)

I have 2 pregnant friends at the moment and both have said they are willing to be Guinea Pigs for me. YAY. I have also emailed my midwife to see if she'll help me to get all my practical requirements fulfilled.

Exciting!

The rest of the week-end was about taking the kids to see Barnyard. Richard was right it is VERY FREAKY that the male cows have udders! It seems other people are also bothered by this... "The most striking thing about the reviews of this movie is that all the cows have udders, including the males. Every single review whether by a critic or just your average John Q. Moviefone seems to be possessed by the urge to point out their extensive knowledge of bovine anatomy and remind the reader that male cattle do not, in fact, have udders."

Then on Sunday I hit the gym - it's been a while. Then I pottered around at home, cleaned the pool, planted a plant and had a friend (a preggy one) over for tea etc. Last night I watched In Her Shoes, it was the first time I watched TV since Richard left last Tuesday. And that was the whole week-end.