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Saturday, August 10, 2024

Sick and tired (at, not of!) the conference

I was feeling a bit icky last night but figured it was due to conferencing for 13+ hours. But no...this morning I woke up quite sick: fever, body ache, headache, sore throat. I made it to a morning session that I really didn't want to miss. Then Dr. Stu and I worked on revising a draft of our paper (comments from peer reviewers).

I had lunch and of course got loved on by all of the amazing midwives. They supplied me with all sorts of remedies (Vitamin C, beet extract, goldenseal...). It's the best possible place to fall ill, although a very inconvenient time.

I took it easy in the afternoon, doing a bit of computer work and going outside to get some much-needed sun and fresh air. Once I felt like I was starting to burn, I headed back inside to lie down and read.

After dinner, I went to the hot tub and soaked for a while. Several of the midwife organizers and attendees joined, so I got to hear lots of birth stories and other midwife shop-talk. This is where I feel most at home. Definitely my tribe.

We had a previously scheduled Zoom live session, so I invited the conference attendees to join us up on the rooftop. We had a nice crowd gathered around the laptop, including many of the conference speakers and presenters (Gail Tully, Nicole Morales, Betty-Anne Daviss, Denny Hartung, etc). Despite feeling ill, I was so energized and excited to be in this amazing group discussing one very difficult sacrum posterior breech birth and one lovely spontaeous unassisted sacrum posterior breech.

I had a lovely moment today while we were watching traditional Mexican midwife Dona Lina demonstrate her rebozo techniques. We were all crowded around the stage, sitting on the floor. I must have done something to stretch my neck and back, because someone sititing behind me starting giving me a lovely massage. I finally looked behind me--it was Betty-Anne! And then Carol Gautschi sitting next to me gave me a lovely arm rub. I felt so nurtured by these wise women.

I managed to take a picture today! The first once since the conference began.



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