Posts Tagged ‘passion for birth’

July 11th, 2011

Procrastination? I Think So!

I have a problem with procrastination.

Last July I took a three day childbirth educator training course called Passion for Birth. I graduated the program, and got my certificate giving me the title of a Lamaze Educated Childbirth Educator and when I finally sit for my Lamaze certification exam, I will be certified.

Procrastination is what I have done since completing the course last summer. I think I slightly got burnt out on the idea not just because I was pregnant, but because I was writing about pregnancy and birth daily on Being Pregnant. I absolutely loved contributing there for the 10 months I was there, but I just felt like I didn’t have as much to contribute as I used to.

My blog here started out focused around pregnancy and childbirth, and really morphed into parenting in general over the years, but I am back on track in my personal life to accomplish a ton in the next couple months.  Including finishing my entire class (writing my childbirth education class) by the end of August. I told myself originally I would do it by the end of July, but I didn’t want to rush, I wanted to do it right.

And I will plan to sit for my exam in April like I did this time around, but my due date was just too close to the test day. There was no way I would have been able to concentrate the way I needed to.  Plus, they only hold the test two times a year.   October is too soon, at least knowing our family schedule from now until then, with parades, and my husband taking tests, and classes.  I know I wouldn’t be able to properly prepare myself.  I will instead take the winter time, a more calm time for the family, and clearly more time in the house to prepare and make sure I am ready to rock it when I sit for the test in April.   (April and October are the only two times a year the test is offered)

I certainly feel recharged again, and ready to take the project on. Just like I was last summer after I took the actual course, before Addison sent me into a tizzy of morning sickness, and all those crazy thoughts that go along with a surprise baby.  To say I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate would have been a serious understatement.

I can’t wait to be finished and teaching though!

August 2nd, 2010

It is Official! I am Lamaze Educated!

It is official!  I am Lamaze Educated!  I have completed my BIGGEST step towards my certification minus the test to become certified. Today was the last day of my Passion for Birth workshop, and while I am sad to see Teri, and the other women I shared this amazing journey with, I am relieved that I completed it, and now it is on to my next step in becoming a childbirth educator.

It also means I have 3 days with my family, to finish shopping, packing, planning, and then head to New York City for BlogHer, but that is a whole other bucket of stress at this point because I have virtually all my packing and preparing left to do.

So what does this mean?  What is next? Where do I go from here?

Next step?  The lengthy process of writing my class/curriculum, or whatever you want to call it.
A full 6 weeks, and 12 hours of classes, information, games, group activities, role playing, and anything you could imagine that would be a easy way for couples to learn. I read through a sample curriculum today, and while it was only printed on the front sides of the pages, it was SO long!

So my goals for the next couple weeks (starting after I get back from BlogHer)

• Find a local Childbirth Education course that I can sit in on and observe.
• Find at least one pregnant woman whose birth I can attend in the next 3 months.
• Start writing my curriculum
• Create games for learning
• Buy my Study Guide for the Lamaze Certification Test
• Join Lamaze as a Student Member

Most of all I want to continue to be in touch with the women I went through this experience with, especially the ones who are new educators like I am, and will be because we will be working on all of these steps at the same pace mostly, and it will be interesting to connect, look at each others courses, take tips, help each other, and really help each other through it.

I hope more of you out there that read, and would like to become a childbirth educator seriously consider taking a Passion for Birth workshop!

August 1st, 2010

So Far… So Gooooood

I have had a ton of awesome things happen in the past two days when I have been really neglecting my blog, e-mail, family, and thing around the house that need to get done. I knew this weekend would bring long days. Why?

I completed day two of my Passion for Birth workshop today!  I am so over the moon about becoming a childbirth educator again. I really think I needed a kick back into the birth stuff. Lately I have really been slacking for a number of reasons. One of my major ones is BlogHer, blogging, social media, and networking has really taken my main attention in preparation for BlogHer next week. Another big reason is because right now, we aren’t planning anymore children in the upcoming years. So occasionally it becomes difficult to talk about birth 24/7 when its something not going on in your own life, while the desire stays there.

My anxiety went up, and come Friday morning meeting all the women I would be learning with, seeing the middle ground between so many of us, including a SUPER awesome Mom who is local to me, with kids my kids ages, I knew that everything would be ok, the training would be painless, and then came Teri!  Oh Teri!   (For those who do not know the back story, Robin Elise Weiss was scheduled to come out and teach, but had an untimely and tragic death in her family.)  While I am still bummed that I haven’t been able to meet one of my best mentors, Robin… I LOVE TERI!

She is fun, but professional, silly, yet calm, and seriously one of the best educators I have met. Her stories crack me up, and her teaching style makes the workshop energetic and full of laughs. It also helps that our group seems to be a real set of hysterical ladies!

Of course, all won’t mesh, or agree 100% at all times, especially with the vastly different backgrounds. We have two RN’s in our class who are also educators at their hospitals. Heck, one of the women describing her hospital makes me want to up and move two states away because of the amazing feel her facility has, heck, they are just no introducing epidurals, and they have a walk out porch in L&D!  Um, yes please!

It is so interesting to learn and hear about the way things are being done in other parts of the east coast. It is truly amazing how different things can be if you travel a simple 3 hours in another direction.

I love sharing this experiences with these women, and I have learned so much already, and I still have an entire day left!  I think my plans and time line of becoming an educator, sitting for my Lamaze Exam, and the direction towards certification I want to obtain has drastically changed. But in the end, I will still be a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator in the next calendar year.

I can’t wait to sit down, write my course, make up educational games, and get into it.

Stay tuned!

July 29th, 2010

My Anxiety is getting the Best of Me

I think I had a near freak out last night when trying to get all my ducks in a row for the Passion for Birth workshop I am hosting Tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday… then stewing in the fact I will be home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before I am off to the big City for my meeting with the Publisher, BlogHer, and all the various activities I have signed myself up for affiliated with BlogHer. (I will be posting my schedule in the next few days)

I don’t think it is being busy as much as things I have wanted to do for years, like get formal childbirth educator training, and going to a major blogging event are staring me in the face, and one of my biggest fears is failure. Failure at something that is important to me, and I have wanted to do forever. Which becoming a childbirth educator is high up on that list. I knew my want would become reality when Robin Elise Weiss started mentoring me via the internet. I am so thankful to Jill from the Unnecesarean for introducing us earlier this year.  We spoke, and when I started throwing around ideas on my blog about becoming a childbirth educator she e-mailed me suggesting I look into Passion for Birth.

I mulled over all of my choices from CAPPA to Passion for Birth, and everything in between until I knew that Passion for Birth would be the best fit because I am really familiar with the Lamaze Birth Practices, and they are really what I identify most with. Robin suggested she come out to teach the class and I was SO excited!   As the days got closer, we chatted, and I got more and more excited about the class. Unfortunately a horrible family death has come up just two days before the Workshop, and Robin is unable to come and teach it. In her place, Teri, the head of Passion for Birth, and Guru per Robin is coming. I think I slightly started to freak because one of my biggest comfort levels through this process is out of the equation now. My mentor.

No biggie, pick up, move on and do my best. That is what we all need to do in life right?  I guess my past anxiety problems just get the best of me when it comes to stress. Not only that, but for someone who can go 3 weeks without leaving the house, or my property I should say, to have major surgery which I am still recovering from, and knowing I am going to really not be in my comfort zone for the next two weeks is hard.

I am sure there are a ton of people out there who can relate. I am sure there are some people who will point and laugh, but hey, its life.

So here is how it goes for the next two weeks…

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday -  Passion For Birth Workship
Monday – Home & Relax
Tuesday – Ben’s Therapy, Packing for BlogHer
Wednesday – Cleaning the house from top to bottom before I leave
Thursday – Dropping the kids of with Sitters, and off to NYC I go…
Friday – BlogHer
Saturday – BlogHer
Sunday – Brunch, then back to Connecticut.

After all of this is done, I can sit down, take a load off and take a vacation from my vacations?  LOL

July 21st, 2010

Busy Weekends on the Horizon!

I feel like the “professional” part of my life is really starting to catch up with me with some seriously busy weekends coming up. As if my Monday through Friday isn’t already up there now that I am officially working from home too.

I will start with my new job. Yes… JOB!  I am handling all the social media for Go Mama Go Designs. One of my sponsors for BlogHer, and a great company. I love the women there, and I am super excited to be helping them out by taking over their social media.  I am handling their Twitter account, Facebook fan page, networking with other companies, and of course blogging.

This Friday I am having my wisdom teeth out, along with one problem tooth being pulled. Putting me out of commission all weekend long. I am going to be going to my parents house Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday because with the kids, and me being so high maintenance when I am sick, injured, or in pain, I figured it would be easiest for my husband.  Who needs a 25 year old child to take care of too?

Then comes my Passion for Birth workshop with the beautiful wealth of knowledge Robin Elise Weiss. She is coming all the way across the country to teach my class, and I am so excited to finally meet her as we have been buddies online for quite some time. I am super excited to be taking another great step to becoming a Lamaze Teacher, because we certainly need more childbirth education teachers in our area, as well as Lamaze teachers.

Just as that ends, I have barely 4 days to tie up my lose ends, and head off to New York City for the BlogHer Conference. I will be rooming with Marie Cooper from Nourish Ourselves, who I already love just from chatting with her on the phone, and email!  We also have a third roommate, I have only e-mailed with thus far, but she seems like a cool chick from MFA Mom.  I am beyond excited.
I still need to do a million things :

My blog her to do list, although I did get some things crossed off is still FULL!

1. Go clothes shopping for something to wear to all these parties!  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights all have important adventures I certainly need to shine up like a new penny for. Plus it gives me the excuse to get dressed up when I rarely have the chance since motherhood. (Got a great deal at our awesome  Thrift store, and walked out with almost everything I need for $45!)
2. Collect all my favorite Bloggers telephone numbers so I can get in touch with them once I get to NYC. I heard since there are so many people at BlogHer it is sometimes near impossible to find some of the ladies you are looking for without cell phones. What the heck did we do before them? If you want to hook up in NYC for BlogHer, Click here!
3. Order my business cards. I currently have them in my cart of Vista, but I am going to hold out another 3-4 weeks until I know for sure if I do or do not have a second sponsor. I would HATE to waste money getting more printed to add another sponsor on the back. Cards ordered, and delivered!  Beyond excited how cute they are!
4. Steal my Moms rolling suitcases to pack. I by no means have luggage. We never go anywhere and if we do, we have smaller overnight type bags we use. Not only that but I am going to need to have my stuff on wheels because of the train aspect of my travel.
5. Find a place in NYC that is not only reasonably priced but local to the hotel I am going to be staying in for dinner on Thursday night. I have 4 possible places to eat dinner on Thursday night, in a mini dinner party, interested?  Click here!
6. Get invited to one of these special parties being hosted by private companies. I would give ANYTHING to be invited to the Nikon party!  (Still waiting NIKON!)
7. Find a babysitter for the children for Friday the 6th. All set since my mom decided to quit her job. But that is a whole story in itself. LOL
8. Manicure, pedicure, massage, and haircut.  Haircut and dye scheduled!
9. Think about other materials I can make with my blog information on them to give out while networking. Since I know I can’t be giving out swag at BlogHer, I need to think of cool things to use my blog logo on. Bumper Stickers? Post Cards? Pens?  What do you think? All my materials are printed, and IN!
10. Thank my husband again for all the help he has been giving me with planning my BlogHer trip. I could not have asked for a more supportive husband!  He is awesome and super excited for all of the things taking off!

Last but certainly not least at all!  I have a meeting scheduled the day I go into the city for BlogHer with a Publisher!  Yes, you heard me right, a publisher!  This all just happened in the past hour as I was writing this post, but I am OVER the moon! I guess hard work really does pay off right?

Needless to say, The next couple weeks are going to be slightly insane for me!  So excuse my lack of posting if it comes to that!

March 25th, 2010

Holy Expensive Books!

Since I have been getting paid for some of the writing I have been doing lately, I decided I would start looking into the “recommended” reading for the Passion for Birth workshop I am planning to take in July. I want to be as prepared as I can be, on top of being able to closely work on my certification once completing the course. I know it is going to be a long road from here to actually teaching but the more time I put into it, or background information and education I can get, the easier it will be once the time comes.

So this morning I took a stroll over to the Passion for Birth website to see what they had listed for recommended reading, and head over to Amazon to order a couple of the books. A couple turned into ordering one, The Official Lamaze Guide : Giving Birth with Confidence by Judy Lothian.

I love amazon for the reason that they are decently priced. Except when it comes to some of the more rare books. Unfortunately for me, the other book I was looking for, Prepared Childbirth by Debby Amis is completely unavailable everywhere I look. The Lamaze site doesn’t have it, Amazon doesn’t have it. It is a ghost book!

I am going to try and talk to a couple local friends, as well as check out the local Thrift Store that has a kick ass book section, I have found all kinds of awesome books there from The Bradley Guide to Baby Sign Language. I am sure my husband isn’t happy about the growing collection, but when the books are only $1 and if you buy 4 books, you get the 5th free, you just cannot go wrong!

Now that I have ordered my first real book and taken the first step towards really becoming an official Lamaze educated childbirth educator, I am beyond excited!  Something I have always wanted to do is starting to really take form.

Now my next step is to find a local childbirth class to sit in on, and start working towards the goals I want to be finished with before the workshop in July :

1. Read The Official Lamaze Guide
2. Find and real Prepared Childbirth
3. Sit in on at least one childbirth education series.
4. Read The Birth Partner (again)
5. Save up some extra money for the more expensive books recommended to read like Evidence-based Care for Normal Labour and Birth, and Childbirth Education : Practice, Research, and Theory.

I have a long road ahead of me but in the end, it will totally be worth all the effort to do exactly what I want, and what I love!

February 26th, 2010

Passion for Birth Training

I want to thank everyone who chimed in on my Journey to Becoming a Certified Childbirth Educator post. Your comments and suggestions were very helpful, and helped me to make my choice.

In the end I made the decision to opt to bring a Passion for Birth Training Workshop to Connecticut in hopes of filling the class and being able to have the $395 fee for myself waived. And the best part of it all is I am going to have Robin Elise Weiss coming all the way to Connecticut to teach the workshop, so it is an even bigger score on top of it!

While I wish I could start the process much sooner, we have set the date for the workshop for late July. July 30th through August 1st to be exact.
It gives people a fair amount of time to sign up, and it gives me the hope of getting my 8 participants for the course in order to have my own fee waived!

If you live in Connecticut, or even in the tri-state area, and are interested in the course, you can e-mail me and I will be sure to pass along the full details of the class itself.

I am anxious for the summer now, as if all the snow we have been getting isn’t enough already.
I am looking forward to the new path this will take my life on, to become a Childbirth Educator, especially through Lamaze is something I have wanted to do, I just didn’t know if it would ever be something within reach.

On a side note, my first article was published in a major Connecticut new’s source yesterday, and on top of it, they asked me to continue writing for the same publication, as well as other offers from local media outlets for freelance work.  I am officially going from a SAHM to a WAHM. I am not sure how I feel about it yet, but I certainly know this will help to ease the money burden around our house, and take a good amount of stress off of my husband.
We are still playing catch up from when he was laid off, although right now we are “caught up” thanks to our tax return.

You can check out my article here : The Born Ultimatum