Guest Post: Kitty's first day of midwifery school!

Kitty is a birth assistant at the birth center I work at and started midwifery school at Florida School of Traditional Midwifery, where I went, this week! I asked her to write a guest blog post, so here it is!

The Birth of a New Day, by Kitty Lakey, Student Midwife

Someone once asked me if I preferred sunset or sunrise? My immediate response was sunrise, because it usually meant I was driving home from a birth. This day, driving up to the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery for my first day of school, has much the same feel.

Before I leave, I peek in on my children sleeping as children do, heavily and happily in their beds. I load my car and kiss my husband good-bye. I leave in the wee morning hours when the stars are sharp and the air is cool. The drive ahead is long by many people’s standards but I cherish this moment of quiet reflection. This is the deep breath before the DIVE. It’s been a journey to make THIS journey and today it becomes a reality.

As I drive I ponder the faces and information about my classmates that I’ve gleaned from Facebook and emails. Each person is unique in this journey. I’ve never met a dull midwife and I wonder what I will come to know of my classmates and future sister midwives.

When the sun begins to rise I am near to my destination. It is in this moment, as I’m trying to capture that beauty with a bit of roadside photography that I realize this is the BIRTH of a new day.

My road side Zen moment completed, I drive onto to pick up and officially meet my first classmate. She is a fellow midwifery zealot and mom. I will be staying a day or two a week with her and her family for the next three years. My heart is deepened by the fact that this “stranger” is willing to welcome me in to her home. We chat on the way to school, sharing stories about our families, dreams, passions and lives.

We arrive and I scurry up to the library to seize what books I couldn’t beg, borrow or steal. Before I know class has begun. It is being taught by the infamous Dr. Scott. Dr. Scott has the reputation of being an excellent educator. Upon visual inspection she seems comfortable in her own skin. She look as if she could diagnose any illness in the African bush with a pen light. As I listen to her instructions I find her sharp wit and well-timed humor to be in keeping with reputation.  

We break for lunch. I sit with Michelle, a licensed message tech, Margo, a tattoo artist, and Megan a mom-to-be and former substitute teacher. I mentally note the diversity of the participants and think about how midwifery has called to each of them. The need for midwifery care is so deep, so universal, that it calls to all souls and I LOVE that.

The rest of the school day is a blur of paperwork and smiling at vaguely familiar faces. I work on actively relaxing the tension in my shoulders. I work on keeping my mind sharp after a 5 a.m. drive. I look at my hands and think of what they are working to become capable of. Deep breath, release shoulders.

The night is homework, reading dry words, reveling in the kind words written about me on Facebook, FaceTime with my boys, more birth talk and sleeping in an unfamiliar, but much appreciate  bed.