Last day in Guadalajara!

This past week, I have woken up waaay too early every morning. Today was no exception, despite the exhaustion from the past few days.

The midwives from Casa Aramara (casaaramara.com.mx) picked us up in the morning to tour their birth center. It's amazing! They have around 4 exam/consulation rooms, two birth suites, rooms for housing interns, a kitchen, a rooftop yoga studio/classroom, and a rooftop medicinal garden. What an amazing service in a city where some hospitals have C-section rates of 95%!

The birth rooms each have several rebozos hung from the ceiling in strategic locations. The fabric is slightly stretchy to allow easy movement.

She showed us a few of the medicinal plants. One was for treating UTIs, another for anemia, and another (a variety of eucalyptus) for treating newborn respiratory issues via an inhaled vapor.

We next walked over to a midwifery school run by the same midwife who runs the birth center, Maria Cortes. They are in the final stages of governmental approval to open a 4-year accredited bachelor's program in midwifery. It will be the first in the county to combine traditional midwifery practices with modern midwifery.

And I was TOTALLY geeking out over the building it will be housed in--built around 1800, a former house, and now under historic preservation. You enter through a gorgeous archway into an interior courtyard with a fountain. The rooms all open into the courtyard, so you have to go outside to go from one room to another. It has five classrooms, several rooms that will be offices, a kitchen, and a few bathrooms.

It feels like you're entering a small Renaissance palace 🙂 Nearly every room had skylights, which I suspect were part of the orignal design. It's built from adobe bricks, which means it's more insulated than modern construction.

We were close to the historic city center, so we walked over to see the cathedral and to each lunch. I got a few minutes to play tourist! After lunch it was time to head to the airport. Two flights later, I got home at 1 am.

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Guadalajara Breech Conference, Day 3

12+ hours of pushing

We started at 9 am and ended at 9:40 pm. Today was all hands-on, training 4 groups of 12 people each. We had 3 stations set up with 3 Sophie and Her Mum simulators.

I left totally exhausted but also full of oxytocin. These midwives and doctors are amazing and give the best hugs! I got a rebozo shakedown at the end of the training, which felt amazing.

I found a few more pictures from yesterday--one with an attendee, one of my colleague lecturing while I demonstrated with a doll and pelvis, the the last where we ate lunch.

I made a quick dinner from leftovers and ingredients in the fridge. I'm SO tired. Time to crash...

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Guadalajara Breech Conference, Day 2

We were conferencing from 9 am - 8:30 pm and didn't get home for almost an hour after that, and didn't get dinner for another hour after that...

So I will leave you with a few pictures and call it a night.

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Guadalajara Breech Conference, Day 1

16,710 steps

I woke up way too early, just after 6 am, despite a late bedtime. I read in bed then got to work on my presentations. There are always more things to tweak.

I met up with a birthworker friend who I've known for probably 15 years online. For the first time, we actually saw each other in person! We met at the Bosque Los Colomos park and had a lovely few hours walking briskly through the forests and gardens.

On our way out, we bought mangos con chile estilo México, which was AMAZING. Fresh mangoes with a lime-chili sauce and a sprinkling of salt.

I had lunch with one of the conference organizers and my two co-presenters. We had tortas ahogadas, a traditional Guadalajaran pork sandwich that's swimming in a spicy broth. I managed to keep it off my white shirt.

Then the conference began with Dr. Chavira presenting first: "El parto pélvico: Un arte en peligro de extinción" (Vaginal breech birth: An art in danger of extinction). I love his blend of humor and storytelling.

After a brief break, it was my turn to present on the evidence on vaginal breech birth as well as physiological breech birth. We ended shortly before 8 pm. Not even a half day and I was exhausted (in a good way).

A big group of us went to eat at a restaurant that served a certain type of street food, typically cooked in people's kitchens and served right in their dining rooms. This was a "fancy" version of those same foods, being in a real restaurant. I had:

• Pozole con carne (hominy and pork soup)
• Sopes de picadillo (corn sope topped with minced meat)
• Ate de Membriollo con queso de adobera (quince jam with local cow's cheese)

That's it for my day!

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Guadalajara!

I had a smooth transit to Guadalajara, leaving my friend's house shortly after 9 am and arriving to my airbnb by 6 pm. The conference organizers stocked the apartment with some food, so I didn't have to go out and find something. I was tired and had a lot of work to do. I was grateful to be able to stay in.

My other two colleagues arrive either very late in the night or very early in the morning. The conference itself starts mid-afternoon tomorrow, so I'll have some time to walk around town in the morning.

The city has almost 1.5 million people, but it's really over 5 million in the entire metro area.

After dinner, a big rainstorm rolled through. This apartment opens into three interior open-air courtyards, so the sound of rain surrounded me on all sides. I suspect the roof is tin or galvanized steel, based on how loud the rain was!

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Mountain therapy, Ikea, & feminist book club

I woke up bright and early (for Utah) and read in bed until I heard others in the house stirring awake. My friend got her kids to do a house cleanup and then we had a late breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, and avocados. A real treat, since I rarely eat breakfast (maybe once or twice a year). This definitely counted as a special occasion.

Then we headed up into Big Cottonwood Canyon. Her family owns land a few miles before Solitude and Brighton ski resorts. We parked at a campground and hiked the rest of the way in. There's a tiny one-room bunkhouse, an outhouse, and a big clearing with picnic tables and a firepit. Their property includes part of Big Cottonwood Creek as well as a natural spring, which we drank water from. We hiked up, trying to find a meadow higher up on their property, but she couldn't find the right trail.

We had an idyllic few hours lying in hammocks, talking deeply about our lives and our histories. This was therapy for me on so many levels: being in the mountains is a spiritual practice in itself, plus having a friend who I can talk to about everything, really everything, and who has enough shared experiences that she understands what I'm communicating. I realized that this is a part of my life I've been missing deeply.

Some of the time we laid in silence, looking up at quaking aspen.

We finally had to pack up and head back into the valley. Salt Lake Valley is a neverending city with overly wide streets and unnatrually lush green lawns (hello, Utah is in a megadrought--please stop watering your lawns!) and gigantic shopping centers. We stopped by Ikea in the south part of the valley to pick up houseplants for her sunroom, then a grocery store for dinner and snacks for tonight's gathering: a feminist book club.

I helped repot and arrange her houseplants. Her sunroom feels like a little oasis with all of the greenery.

My friend prepared a delicious curried lentil soup and I made a dark chocolate tart. Around 7 pm, her bookclub friends started showing up. We shared delicious food and drinks, talked politics and religion and intersectionality and marriage counseling, and also eventually got around to discussing the book (Audre Lorde's collection of poetry, The Black Unicorn: Poems).

The most moving part of the evening was when one of the women, her first time at this gathering, revealed issues with her marriage that she hadn't shared with anyone. We all affirmed that what she was experiencing was not only gaslighting but abusive and that we had her back, whatever she needed. Some of the women had great advice for first steps in protecting herself and what to do if she wanted to end the relationship. I know it might sound cliche, but let's just be honest: if women could run the world, we'd get things DONE.

My friend disappeared before the end of our book club, trying to find where her youngest had gone. I haven't seen her since, so I suspect she fell asleep with him. Too bad...I was hoping for more moonlit hot tubbing! 

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Salt Lake City breech workshop, naked dolls, and naked hot tubbing in the moonlight

I have such a weird and interesting life.

My OB colleague and I arrived at 7:30 at the Miracle Midwifery birth center in Layton, a small birth center with one birth suite. We were anticipating 28 people but were a few short due to the inevitable: midwives getting called away to births! I had a lovely time and was completely exhausted by 6 pm. Teaching is both invigorating and draining. I packed up and said goodbye to my colleague--he is teaching another day tomorrow to a smaller group.

Then I headed to my friend's house in Cottonwood Heights, near the canyons that go upinto the big ski resorts (Brighton, Alta, and Snowbird). One of her little children met me at the door and immediately spied my fetal doll. "Oh, you have a doll!! And she's NAKED!?! I will get her some clothes!" She ran off and fetched a dress so now my fetal doll model is sporting a sun dress.

I dropped off my bags and we headed out to a sushi and tapas restaurant, which was fantastic. One of her friends and teenage son joined us for a few minutes, and later on one of her college-age daughters joined us to finish off what was left of dinner.

I was beyond exhausted and thought I might head straight to bed after dinner--it was quite late to my body's clock, which was 2 hours ahead of local time. But then my friend asked if I wanted to go in her hot tub. Sign me up! And then she said we could either put on swimsuits or go naked. Of course I chose to go naked.

We stayed out in the tub, soaking in the water and moonlight. It sounds idyllic but the tub hadn't been covered that day and the water was just 95°F/35°C (lower than body temperature). By the end I was shivering, but the conversation was so good that I didn't want to get out.

Hoping for more naked hot tubbing tomorrow night--this time in hot water!

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Salt Lake City

It took me 12 hours to get to Salt Lake City, between getting to the airport several hours early (due to Eric's schedule) and the normal wait for baggage, airport shuttle, picking up a rental car, then driving to my final destination in Layton. I stayed at a simple airbnb--bedroom with a shared bathroom--as all I needed was a place to crash for one night.

I got settled, read in bed for a little while, and then passed out.

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It's been a busy few days...my apologies for the radio silence.

Yesterday was another soccer marathon. Inga and Dio both had day-long tournaments out of town, and Ivy had a game as well. Inga's team won the first two matches and made it into the finals. I was able to go to that last game (swapping with Eric so he could take Ivy to her game). Unfortunately, they lost 6-0 and there was much crying afterward.

On the upside, Inga and her two best friends had a sleepover directly after the tournament, which helped raise their spirits. They even had an outdoor movie!

Today was more relaxed. Lots of family time, some movie time in the early evening, and just one soccer game (Ivy's) that both Eric and I went to. They won 6-4 with Ivy scoring 3 goals.

I'm packing for another breech trip, this time to Salt Lake City and Guadalajara.

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Stranded at school

22,918 steps I finished editing and encoding my new breech maneuvers lecture! It's under inspection from some of our BWB team to check for any typos or errors before I upload it to our course platform. I estimate that for every minute of footage, I spent almost an hour in production and editing. It's close to 1 hour long...so yeah, a lot of work!

Zari got stranded at her school after soccer practice; the girls she normally rides with had other things going on. She tried calling me using her coach's phone, but I was in the middle of a Zoom meeting and couldn't answer (plus I didn't recognize the number). She couldn't call Eric because she didn't have his phone number memorized.

Finally I got a call from another unknown number, the assistant coach as it turns out. I told him I'd be out the door ASAP...and then I discovered that Eric had the car! He was an hour away watching Inga and Dio's soccer games. She didn't know how to walk home, either. (It's not exactly easy--there's a hidden path through the woods that connects to the main roads.)

So I picked her up the old-fashioned way: I rode my bike there and we walked home. It was 2 miles away so took about an hour round-trip. We got home right on time for Ivy to arrive back from her soccer practice (getting dropped off by her coach).

Seriously, life is too crazy.

Oh, here's a sneak peek at our new book! This is our NZ printer's proof but it's basically the same thing, except for British English spellings and a slightly different page size.

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14,277 steps

Zari had a stressful sendoff this morning--she was doing math homework until the last moment and wasn't watching the clock. She had to run out the door with undone hair and chewing gum in lieu of brushing her teeth.

I had several Zoom meetings: one to talk about an article I'm co-authoring, another to consult with parents expecting twins (babies #5 & 6) who have no support for a vaginal birth in their area, despite 4 previous vaginal births. My other time was spent video editing.

I let myself take a little break after I picked Ivy up from school--well, during that break I still cooked dinner (split pea soup), but at least I took a short break from working. She was outside making Halloween decorations and playing with a neighbor's cat. I joined her on the front steps and enjoyed the fall sunshine.

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21,511 steps

I'm so exhausted that I feel nauseated. Ugh. Definitely a day of feeling overwhelmed with how much work I have to get done. And it's never "done" because there's always more to do. Today was all video editing.

Same for yesterday--I was too tired to write.

Poor Zari is still doing homework and it's after 11 pm. There ought to be a rule that high schoolers can't have more than 8-hour workdays. After all, we make that rule for adults and they actually get paid for their work. And then we turn around and punish students for not "working" unpaid overtime. Normally I can help her, but it's a certain type of math problem that I am not familiar with. I can figure it out the back way, but not the way the textbook wants.

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Soccer & Smores Sunday

I slept in for the first time in...a long time. Just until 8 am but it felt great.

Eric was gone all afternoon at soccer games (Ivy's, and then Inga's). Once we were all back home, we had dinner together and then sent the kids off to gather firewood at the pack in our back yard. We made a big bonfire, roasted Smores, and enjoyed the cool air and warm fire.

I've been falling asleep just about every time I sit down today. This is highly unusual. Anyway I'm off to get some real sleep in a bed on purpose.

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Chores and thrift stores

4,468 steps

In the morning, I gave the kids a list of chores (put your laundry away, vacuum your bedroom, and vacuum one other room). I told them that I would be back in an hour and expected their chores to be done when I came home. If not, I'd give them one more job to do.

Then I went off all by myself to the thrift store! I needed some winter pajamas and found those and more. The chores were all done when I got home. Well done :)

The rest of the day was relaxed. Eric took Ivy to a soccer game and I got a ride with Inga to hers. It was one of those idyllic fall days: warm in the sun, cool in the shade, crisp air, and a gentle breeze.

Dinner was steamed broccoli, pork chops with melted pepper spread (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019370-melted-pepper-spread), and ice cream.

We watched a movie after dinner, but I had to leave right before the end for a breech live session. It was quite lively.

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23,699 steps

I've been exhausted in the evenings the past two days. Then I looked at my step count for today! Maybe that's why. 8,000 of those steps were "real" (mostly running) and the rest were on the treatmill while I was working.

One big advantage of my walking desk is that my core temperature stays much higher. I normally get cold very easily and can't warm up. But when I start walking, I stay warm and even shed layers despite a cooler house.

Zari's school had a lockdown due to a weapons threat. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm. It's so frustrating to live here, never knowing if there will be a school shooting.

Yesterday I re-filmed one of my breech lectures--again--because the first refilming was out of focus on the whole time. Take 2 worked.

This is Inga's school team photo. She plays on two teams: her middle school team and a regional league.

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Filming day

7,651 steps

I spent most of my workday re-filming lectures and simulations for our online breech training course. After over 2 years of hybrid courses and 3 years of teaching, it was time to update our materials.

The next several days will be full of video editing. Then I have to do it all over again once my MD colleague sends me his new lectures.

We're in a heat wave but it's supposed to be 30 degrees colder by tomorrow. I finally broke down yesterday and turned the AC on. It got up to 90°F (32°C) today, which is unusual for September.

We have Zari's followup visit tomorrow to see if she can go off crutches. We anticipate at least another week of rest in a boot or brace. She had a theater audition tonight--the first she's ever done. I'm hoping she gets some sort of role--big or small, it doesn't matter. It's fun to be involved in theater.

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15,235 steps

When I'm walking on my treadmill desk, my fitness tracker doesn't record the steps. But my desk itself does. Between my morning run to drop Ivy off and walking for a few hours at my desk, I'm at 15k steps for the day. Pretty typical. It would have been longer, but I decided to pick Ivy up via bike rather than on foot.

I had a webinar late in the afternoon (breech-related). I feel so lucky to have the job that I do. Yes, it's often never-ending and hard to put down, given that I don't have a clear end to my workday and there's always more to be done. But on the other hand, I get to use all sorts of creative and intellectual skills and I see the real-time results as parents and birth professionals write back to me about their breech birth experiences.

If the light cooperates tomorrow, I'm going to refilm one of my breech lectures in Breech Pro. If it's too overcast, I'll need to wait another day.

We all were home for dinner tonight, which was unusual given the kids' soccer schedules. It's such a normal thing for us in France but not a given over here.

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Post-apocalyptic thunder

We were all jolted awake at 2:30 am by one of the loudest noises I have ever heard. In the milliseconds it took me to wake up, my brain processed it as a huge bomb going off and I even started to wonder if this was the beginning of a global apocalypse. Yeah, it was that loud and that foreign.

We figured out it was thunder when we saw lightning flash in the distance, but it sure didn't sound like thunder--none of that rumbling or rolling or crackling.

Then we were hit by a huge storm that, had it not been 2:30 am, would have been fun to go out and watch.

Then I lay wide awake the rest of the night, drifting off to sleep a few minutes before my alarm went off. I read a book for a few hours because sleep was eluding me.

Anyway it was an exciting night and an exhausting day for all of us. Eric is in bed at 11 pm, which, if you know him, is NOT normal.

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Marathon Saturday + restful Sunday

I was so tired after yesterday that I put off everything else in the evening. It was fun but busy. Eric and I both did some yard work in the morning. Then I played chauffeur for several hours, dropping Eric and Ivy off at a soccer game, picking Dio up at a county fair 15 minutes away, coming home to pick up Inga and Zari, driving 30 minutes south of town for a cider press activity, driving back home in time for Inga and me to catch a ride to her soccer tournament 45 minutes away. As soon as we got home from that, Eric dropped Zari off at a school dance and then had to come get her 2 hours later.

So much coming and going! It was my first opportunity to watch one of Inga's games this season. She went to a sleepover right after the game with two of her teammates, and I think (hope) they went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Right when she arrived at the school dance, one of Zari's crutches slipped and she feel, hurting her ankle again. So she had a frustrating time and stayed on the sidelines with a painful ankle. She had planned on going out to eat with her friends after, but her ankle hurt too much. I'm just so frustrated on her behalf!

Today was quite restful in contrast. Eric and Ivy had another soccer match in the afternoon, in which Ivy was on fire and scored 3 of the 5 goals. The rest of us stayed home, watched a movie, read books, and otherwise took it easy.

Dinner was roasted brussels sprouts, marinated chicken, basmati rice, peach cobbler (from the peaches we picked last month), and fresh apple cider.

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Several hours of walking, bike rides, and sore eyes

8,411 steps

Note to self: don't put hydrogen peroxide in my eyes. (I already knew this, but I grabbed the wrong bottle of contact solution and put it in my eyes...owwwww! First time this has ever happened since I started using H₂O₂ solution as a teenager.)

I still have very red, sore eyes and I imagine they'll take some time to heal.

Zari's arms and shoulders are sore from using crutches.

Inga had two friends over after school. They ran around and played, ate dinner with us, and made Smores around a bonfire. They're fun kids.

Ivy was at a birthday party for several hours. They had two bouncy houses so she wore herself out. (This family bought used bouncy houses a while back and they've paid themselves back and more, between all of their kids' parties and renting them out to people in town. Good idea!)

We have a busy day tomorrow filled with soccer games and youth activities all around the region.

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Sprained ankle

6,478 steps

Yesterday I was all sorts of motivated. Today...well...I was lethargic and wanted to curl up in bed.

Bad news: Zari came home last night with a sprained ankle. During her soccer game, she stepped in a hole on the field and twisted her ankle. She was still in a lot of pain this morning and could barely hobble around. I brought her to an urgent care clinic, which turned out well because the physician had been trained as an orthopedic surgeon in India before immigrating to the US.

She has a sprained ankle with some torn ligaments, so she's on crutches for a week, a boot for a week after that, and then who knows when she can go back to playing soccer. This means she might miss the rest of the season. Poor girl--she is so disappointed.

I'll probably get to bed early again. I can feel my body shutting down.

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Lots of steps, hours of walking, biking around town, and jetlag

On the clock it's close to 10 pm, but my body thinks it's 4 am. I am TIRED right now. Plus I woke up early, as is normal coming back this direction.

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Walks in the rain and good food

11,193 steps

After an easy morning catching up on some work emails, I walked to the Old Town with one of the conference speakers. It was raining when we headed out, but we were undeterred. We had a nice chat about parenting (she has 3 boys about the same ages as my kids) and about the medical device she invented (the Hegenberger retractor).

We popped into a restaurant that looked inviting and we were not disappointed. It was in a (rebuilt) Renaissance building with vaulted ceilings and old decor. I had goose with chanterelles in cream sauce, crispy potatoes, and a salad. Delicious!

We parted ways after lunch; she had an appointment and I had some free time. I wandered around the Old Town and found some little presents for my kids and a patch to add to my Breech Without Borders apron.

Then I ducked into a large cathedral, where I got to hear an impromptu organ concert; the musician was rehearsing for a recital later on in the afternoon. There's something grand and awe-inspriring about listening to Bach on a massive organ; the sound moves through your whole body.

I was done being a tourist after that. I thought about visiting the Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski) but just wanted to go home and warm up. I took a picture of the remains of the castle after WWII--it was just rubble on the ground. All of the buildings in these pictures were completely rebuilt after the war.

Another few hours of work, a 10-minute cat nap, and then a live session in the early evening. After that I went to dinner with a German midwife.

Tomorrow I'll be teaching breech all day, then back home the next day!

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12 hours of conferencing and 2,367 steps

I think this was the longest conference day I have ever attended. But it was great. By the end I was very tired and hungry. I had breakfast leftovers in my room (since I fast until lunchtime or mid-afternoon, I hadn't eaten anything at breakfast) so that turned into dinner. Not very filling but I was too tired to think about going out for food.

I think my presentation went very well. I talked about why vaginal breech birth is an important skill (from perspectives of safety, autonomy, law, ethics, and women's experiences) and how it works, about 15 minutes on each topic. A good overview without going into exhaustive detail.

I have met some amazing people from all around Europe. I hope this brings future collaborations of many sorts.

I managed to catch Eric and the kids at home for the first time and just got done video chatting. It's almost midnight and time for bed!

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Uprising museum & the oldest restaurant in Warsaw

11 hours of sleep and 11,234 steps

I went to bed at 8 pm last night local time, woke up briefly at midnight, and went to sleep again until 7 am! I can't remember the last time I slept so much. I lazed in bed for a while enjoying my rest.

Today I felt 100% great. I've never had such an easy jet lag transition. (Of course, who knows what will happen tonight?) But so far, it's been seamless.

I walked to the Warsaw Rising Museum about the 2-month long uprising in the summer of 1944 as citizens and insurgents tried to take Warsaw back from the occupying German army. It ended in defeat with over 200,000 dead, mostly civilians, and the complete depoulation and destruction of the city.

At the start of the war, Warsaw had 1,300,000 residents. After the uprising, citizens were forced to leave and the city was systematically destroyed, block by block, until 85 of the buildings were rubble. Only 1,000 people were left living in this city that used to have well over a million people.

I'm still stunned by the extent of the destruction. In some areas of the town, the German army systematically massacred entire neighborhoods, up to 65,000 in one day. Men, women, children, elderly, hospital patients--everyone was rounded up, shot, and burned. Those hiding in cellars were killed with grenades.

One of the museum exhibits was a 3D movie reconstructing the destruction of Warsaw based on archival photograps and movies. It was from the point of view of a small aircraft flying over the city. Think of any zombie apocalypse dystopia movie you've seen...and the level of destruction isn't anywhere near what happened to Warsaw.

So that was a sobering morning. I made a brief stop to the Jewish cemetery on my way home. Lunch was my breakfast that I had packed away for later--cold cuts, cheese, vegetables, and bread. I decided to stay in for the afternoon and do some work on my presentation and on the book manuscript that we're sending off to the translators.

Around 5:30 pm, I met up with our host/conference organizer and a group of midwives from all over Europe and the US who were presenting tomorrow. We walked around the Old Town (completely rebuilt after the war, although you'd never guess that the buildings were just 50-70 years old, rather than 300-500 years old).

We ate at U Fukiera, which claims to be Warsaw's oldest restaurant. I walked inside and said, "This is what I want my house to look like!" Old vaulted ceilings, a sort of Bohemian feels, old oak paneling and pews lining the walls that looked lifted straight from a monastery, rich carpets and tapestries, electic paintings and prints on the walls.

We shared an assortment of appetizers: pierogi (I had ones stuffed with duck and cheese), liver pate with horseradish and beet sauces, a platter of cured pork cuts, and a platter of goat cheeses. I chose Żurek, a sour rye soup for my main dish. It's made with a fermented rye starter. In the soup were a hardboiled egg, pureed potatoes topped with crumbled bacon, and homemade pork sausage. Delicious!

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To Washington, Copenhagen, and Warsaw...all in one day

I made it to Warsaw with zero issues, despite two very tight airport connections. This might have been the smoothest international travel yet. I didn't get to sleep on the airplane, although I tried. We left early enough that it was just 1 am to my body when we landed in Copenhagen.

I'm staying on a university campus. The building is multifunctional; there's a preschool/elementary school run by the university, a private high school, auditoriums and conference rooms, and finally some hotel rooms on one of the floors.

I'm trying so hard to stay awake! I have a little down time before my hosts pick me up to see some of the historical sights and eat dinner. I let myself have a cat nap (with a timer to ensure it didn't become anything longer) and I am still nodding off if I sit still.

My hosts are very gracious and so thankful that I'm here (likewise for me--I'm honored that they would send me all the way to Poland!). The main conference on Saturday has 300 attendees. I'm speaking during one of the morning session. Then breech training on Monday.

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Off to Warsaw

7,125 steps plus a few hours of treadmill walking

I can't believe it's already time to pack up again...this time, I'm heading to Warsaw! I'll be speaking at the International Midwifery Conference on Holistic Childbirth and then teaching a breech workshop 2 days after the conference.

Today was dedicated to packing, catching up on CME applications, grocery shopping, and other errands. Eric was gone until late in the evening at Zari's soccer game out of town.

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Not much labor on Labor Day

5,146 steps

We had a lovely holiday. Eric had to work but the rest of us got to stay home. I had all the kids fold and put away laundry, vacuum their bedroom, and vacuum one other room. They were amazed and disgusted by how much stuff came out of the carpets.

After lunch we watched Miss Congeniality. Zari LOVED it and was laughing so hard. I'm not surprised because she identifies so strongly with the main character--disdain for anything feminine, hates high heels and makeup and girl culture.

We made a bonfire after dinner, but we didn't have enough ingredients for Smores. I got the kids to come out and do homework/reading/whittling by the fire.

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Worn out by weeds

Yesterday wore me out. We did yard work in the morning and then took it easy the rest of the day. I was so tired, though, by mid-afternoon! Pulling weeds shouldn't wear me out that much.

We watched one of the newer Harry Potter movies yesterday--the one about Dumbledore. It was very confusing and hard to follow.

Today we all went to play Ultimate Frisbee in the afternoon. Well, I went to watch and wished I'd brought exercise clothes. I might have joined in after all. Then we watched a hilariously bad movie, Moonfall, that was fun to roll our eyes at.

Tomorrow is a holiday for the kids but not for Eric. Maybe we'll have a bonfire and Smores, if it's not too hot out in the evening.

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So many steps...

I'm getting used to the treadmill desk. I overdid it yesterday and scaled back to just a few hours of walking today. I'd hate to give myself tendonitis or plantar fasciitis by doing too much all at once.

Zari needed a ride home from school, so I brought Ivy with me and we ran errands together: Walmart (socks, underwear, & a bike innertube), Home Depot (hose, spray nozzle, spray for our driveway cracks), and Kroger (groceries). It's crazy how much more expensive food is here. I am making myself just buy the food and not fret too much about the prices. But I still do price comparison on most things because I know what I would pay back in France for almost everything.

I got our book's copyright filed with the US copyright offce and am working on a CPD application for RANZCOG (the obstetrical society of NZ & Australia). I need to finish my conference presentation for next week in Warsaw. I have two lectures to refilm, several hours of video content to edit, and so on. It never ends!

We watched the US Open final tonight with Serena Williams. Eric, Dio, and Inga left after the first round to play soccer on campus and it was still going when they came back! What a nail-biting game.

We have yard/house work planned for tomorrow. We'll probably do something fun, too, like watch a movie together or go to the swimming pool.

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Breech For All

11,397 steps

I generally keep my breech work separate from these daily updates...but today is an exception! We are starting our newest fundraiser called Breech For All. Our goal is to raise enough money to fund every scholarship request.

We've already awarded 113 scholarships in 2022, but we have over 100 more people on a waiting list and a residency program wanting to train 48 residents and 12 faculty. If you value what we're doing at Breech Without Borders--even if you're not in the childbearing stage of life--please consider donating. You'll get a copy of our new book, A Guide to Physiological Breech Birth. (ps, if you don't need the book, send us a note and we'll gift it to one of our scholarship recipients!)

Donate here: https://chuffed.org/project/breechforall

On to other news from today: my fancy walking treadmill arrived. It weighs 153 lbs and was a challenge to carry upstairs. I took the lighter side and Eric the heavier side.

Eric was gone from 5-9 pm at soccer practices and soccer games! I'd like to come to some of them, but that would mean no parents at home the entire evening.

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9,338 steps

Another full day of work. I had some time with Ivy after school--she was reading and I was working in the same room and/or reading next to her. Then she and Eric went to watch everyone else's soccer games and they were gone for several hours. Seriously, some days I hardly see my children! What is up with that?

I've been waking up in the middle of the night, or very early in the morning. Sometimes for no apparent reason and other times because there's something I'm fretting about and my body decides that 3:30 am is the perfect time to think about it some more. Yay.

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12,054 steps

Another busy day full of breech work...My treadmill was scheduled to arrive this morning between a certain time interval, but not a peep from the delivery company.

I had to shuttle people around to various soccer practices and games this evening. While I was in the car, I decided to run errands that had been on my to-do list: lightbulbs and water softener salt at the home improvement store, hair elastics and kitchen utensils at the dollar store, lunch bags and acne scrubs at the big box store. Totally inconsequential errands but necessary nonetheless to keep the household running.

That's about it.

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New work space

I put together my standing desk yesterday! It adjusts up and down with the turn of a crank. The top is still slightly tacky more than a week after putting on the final coat. I've had some good experiences with Osmo Oil but this time I am not impressed.

The treadmill arrives today so I will be able to be less sedentary while working. I love having a proper desk to work at. For years I've been sitting on the couch or at the dining table.

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Back home

I had an easy travel day--nonstop flight, no delays. Thank you! Eric picked me up, along with Ivy and Inga who had just finished soccer tournaments in the area. It's so nice to be back and to see my kids.

My suitcase, however, did not fare so well. A whole corner broke off on the flight home. I called Baggage Services when I got home and they said I have to go back to the airport. What?!? It's not exactly a quick trip.

I hope to sleep well tonight and recover from the marathan of breech teaching. It was a fruitful trip and nice to catch up with my OB colleague and talk about future directions for BWB.

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Breech Week, Day 4

We didn't get back from teaching until 11 pm so that's all I'm going to say. It's bedtime for me!

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Breech Week, Day 3

This was our longest day by far, from 7 am - 10 pm. We did get some much-needed down time in the afternoon, though. We started off again with a group of residents, then went to the nearby freestanding birth center and trained a group of around 10 midwives, nurses, and physicians. Our evening session was a one-on-one session with a 3rd year resident from Iran. He was very gracious and benefitted from 2 hours of private instruction!

A few photos from yesterday...it's been so busy that I forgot to take pictures and had to grab them from video still shots. 

Dr. Cammarano, who will be heading the breech team, is learning fundal pressure in the first picture and practicing a Side to Side (Louwen) maneuver in the second picture. One of my favorite quotes from him was, "I've just unlearned 30 years of obstetrics!"

We ate lunch with a few midwives who will be part of the breech team. I had so much fun swapping birth stories and midwifery chat--I miss this so much from my grad school days. We stayed in for dinner (onion, bell pepper, and tomato frittata with white cheddar). All cooked with just a paring knife and a hot plate. This kitchen in under-equipped: no stove or oven! No cutting boards. No knives except the paring knife. No mixing bowls.

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Breech week, day 2

5,657 steps

2 (real) breech births
Hundreds of (fake) breech births
A lot of laughter

Our day started at 7 am and didn't finish until 9:30 pm! To be fair, the last few hours were dinner with the head OB and midwife involved in making breech week happen at Reading Tower Health. I don't consider that part work 🙂

David Hayes got called by a midwife during our lunch break; she had a breech in labor and called with some questions. A few hours later David got an update that the baby had been born. Then during dinner, the OB's pager went off: a local direct-entry midwife had a multip breech in labor that needed hospital transport and didn't seem to be a good situation for a vaginal birth. He had to leave dinner early to attend to this birth.

We trained a group of residents first thing, then had a few other simulation sessions with a mixture of attendings and midwives. I'm quite impressed with how the OB department has changed their culture here; they used to be unfriendly to home birth transfers, and now they have cultivated relationships with local midwives and strive to create a supportive, non-judgmental environment to encourage seamless transfers. They were able to give the transferring midwives doula privileges, so the midwives can stay with their clients after transfer.

Anyway so much more to say, but I'm completely exhausted. Time for bed!

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Breech week!

6,493 steps and who knows how many births

My life is breech for the next 4 days at Reading Tower Health. We arrived at 6:30 am and left around 8 pm. It's been great over here--such positivity and eagerness to learn.

We had time to eat lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Dinner was cooked at home (tilapia, brussels sprouts & avocado salad, and a banana).

And I am wiped out! I'm going to brush my teeth and read in bed until I fall asleep. That will likely not take long. Tomorrow we train a group of residents at 7 am, followed by a few more training sessions and probably some mega-sims in a labor room if L&D isn't way too busy.

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Airport day

3,183 steps

I left the house at 7:30 am and arrived at 10:00 pm. The trip shouldn't have taken quite as long, but OF COURSE my first flight was cancelled and I didn't get onto the next flight either (I was on standby). This is probably our new reality post-Covid.

We'll be training residents and staff at Tower Health in Reading PA for the next 4 days, plus a group of midwives at a local birth center. I have a 7:10 am Grand Rounds lecture so I will be up way too early 🙂

Bonne nuit tout le monde!

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Quite the fright

12,189 steps

Ivy almost got hit by a car on the way to school. I was running right behind her on the sidewalk when a car pulled out of a driveway right in front of us. I yelled (okay, more like shrieked/screamed) and the woman slammed on her brakes. I then proceeded to yell at the woman and tell her to be more careful, and she had the audacity to be defensive and tell me, "I WAS paying attention." I yelled back at her that she needed to stop *behind* the sidewalk and look before pulling onto the street.

Eric had several aggressive run-ins with cars today while he was on his bike, where they deliberately rev their engines and cut him off or turn in front of him.

It's not even been 2 weeks and already I feel like I want to say very mean and profane things about this town and the people who live in it. And about Americans in general. And about cars and car culture.

I don't know if Ivy has ever heard me yell like that in her entire life. At first she was worried that I was mad at her!

We had lunch with a former student (he took a writing class from me first, and then several creative writing classes with Eric). It was great to catch up several years later. Eric keeps trying to convince him to become a writer--he certainly has the talent for it.

I'm getting ready to teach in Reading, PA for Breech Without Borders. It's going to be a fun, exhausting several days.

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Serious Sunday

5,619 steps

Today was lazy, especially in the afternoon. I read a book, took an accidental nap, read a book some more, cooked dinner (corn on the cob and spinach & ricotta cheese tart), and read a bit more with Ivy until bedtime. Eric played Ultimate Frisbee but couldn't convince any of the kids to come with him.

I ended doing a lot of breech-related work in the morning, including a debrief about a recent surprise breech birth (discovered 4 minutes prior to rumping!) where the baby would not have survived had the midwife not trained with Breech Without Borders recently. Stories like these are sobering but also affirming that we're doing good work.

I hardly went outside all day, as evidenced by my lack of steps, until the evening when Eric and I went on a walk. Oh well...back to high gear tomorrow.

Inga is feeling better, other than some lingering headaches. Zari had a brief bout of nausea, too, which passed as quickly as it came on.

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A clean(er) house

9,066 steps

We repainted our house when we first bought it 11 years ago. Within a few years, we noticed a blackish grime on the paint, getting worse every year. Finally it was time to take action. We weren't sure what it was--dirt? mildew? stains?--but we assumed mildew was the culprit. We bought a special product meant to remove mold and mildew that you spray on and then rinse off a few minutes later.

It was amazing!

Within 30 seconds of spraying the product, the black grime complete disappeared. We enlisted all the kids to help, putting them to work washing and rinsing after we had sprayed. They even got to go up on the porch roof. We all got wet, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not.

There are very few home projects that work better and go more quickly than expected. This was one of them.

Our family reward after all of this was to watch Avatar. Zari and Inga had never seen it.

Oh, poor Inga woke up in the middle of the night to tell us she was feelingsick. Then she woke us up again a few hours later to tell us she had puked. She spent the day in bed with a fever. So she was excused from today's cleaning.

The picture shows what the change was soon after spraying on the product. It's like magic!

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It's off!

12,710 steps

The book is off to the printer and I am awaiting the final proofs tomorrow. All the fiddly last edits took most of the day, right up to dinner time.

We had a rare afternoon all at home at the same time. Being in the US is certainly not good for family togetherness. No 2-hour lunch breaks together, no going to the park or the beach after school...Most school days the kids are gone until 6 or 7 pm at soccer practice, later if there are games. Ivy is home the most, with practices just twice a week.

After the got the kids to bed, we watched part 1 of Untold, the story about Manti Te'o and his girlfried who turned out to be a fake person. Wild story.

Tomorrow will be a home renovation day, probably our only free Saturday the rest of this semester.

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