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July 30, 2005
For Jo
Jo is my blog boss for the day. She's told me to blog about these three things:
1) My childbirth background.
Yes, I'm a doula, though I'm not certified and I haven't attended a birth in years. I decided not to go through the certification process because I knew that with all my young children, I would not be able to doula often. As they get older and childcare becomes less of an issue (and Jeff's job settles down to a more predictable geological point), I may go ahead and certify.
I've given birth in a hospital twice (one terrible experience, one good), a birth center, and at home. I've worked with OBs, certified nurse-midwives, and certfied public midwives (midwives who have gone through a certification process, but who are not nurses). I've taken three entirely different series of childbirth classes. Apart from that, I've simply read everything I can get my hands on. By the birth of my fourth child, I had already read the textbook my midwife used - and that's not the only midwifery text I had read! The whole process of pregnancy and birth is fascinating. I'd love to be a midwife.
I also love being pregnant and giving birth, and would have 16 babies if I wouldn't then have to pay to raise them all, and attempt to give each one some good amount of personal attention. Four is the utmost limit of my abilities, there.
2) How do I cope with four young boys who are very active?
I get very laid back about a great many things.
My house is terrible, for instance. Many things are broken, stained, drawn on, etc. The place is dirty and loud. As long as what they're doing is not dangerous, or unkind, and is not driving me nuts, I'm generally okay with it.
Thankfully they love to play with each other, so they often keep each other occupied. I do use the TV more than I should, though. A mom has only so much energy. Especially an introvert mom who has this need to check out from time to time ...
3) What is it like to be politically conservative in the midst of others who are not?
Well, really, most of the people around me in real life *are* politically conservative. My husband is, my parents are, and about half of my friends are. My more liberal friends and I just don't talk politics much. So things are fine, as long as I stay away from any kind of religious gathering at which I would be welcome :)
But when talk turns to politics, I often find that, unfortunately, most people don't actually know what they're talking about. It usually is a conglomeration of repeated sound bites and positions held on the basis of emotion, but with no actual thought. In many cases, if you try to interject any thinking into the conversation, it's not appreciated. So I just generally try to avoid political discussions, unless I know the person pretty well.
How is it in your area? I have a niece that goes to school not far from you, and the political ideas she comes home with are very interesting. She's been taught that Pres. Bush is pretty much Satan incarnate. You find less of that in Texas ;-)
Posted by lynx at July 30, 2005 10:19 PM
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Comments
Texan here, too. We live near Austin, the great liberal commune. I grew up in north TX where voting Republican was like rooting for the Cowboys, so it was rather a shock to move to Austin when I turned 18.
I do tend to lean a little to the left socially, but the democratic party exhausts me. They feel like every single person has to be validated by the government. I know it's an extreme generalization, but it's not easy to find a middle ground.
So, I'm basically a libertarian. Too conservative for the folks in Austin, but a communist to some of my very Cowboy lovin', republican family.
Posted by: Shawna at July 31, 2005 2:21 AM
Oh how cool that you have done that much childbirth-wise. One of my closest and dearest friends is also a doula. It sounds so very interesting.
What school near me? UCF? I have found that many Floridians are very pro-Bush, but of course many are NOT. I lived in Texas for many, many years and yes, Florida is not as conservative, BUT we have two Bush boys over us (Jeb and then up the ladder is W) that we have helped re-elect twice, so I guess I don't see Florida as being *that* liberal as what your niece's school sounds like. Which one is it? And isn't it about time that you came down here to visit her??? :)
Posted by: Jo at August 1, 2005 8:59 AM
Shawna, we're basically libertarian too. We're too liberal in social and religious ways to really be Republican, but we're certainly not Democrats.
Posted by: Stephanie at August 3, 2005 9:23 AM
Jo ... she's in Jr. High, so this attitude came from elementary on up.
Posted by: Stephanie at August 3, 2005 9:24 AM