2014 Goals, Reduced Speed Ahead

2013, like 2012, was a very hard year. The first half was studying, NARM exam, finishing up homeschooling. The second half was dealing with major medical issues (still ongoing), finding alternative options, taking care of myself… along with a few wonderful births in the mix. Due to medical issues, I’ve been granted an extension on my midwifery studies, which gives me a big breath of fresh air with less stress having to finish in less than a year.

Here were my goals for 2013:
Every semester – submit AAMI midwifery studies assignments
Every day – study for the NARM exam up until the 2nd week of Feb
February - fly to the US for 2 weeks, sit for the NARM exam and then enjoy some time with my mom
March/April - wait nervously for the NARM results
May - work on starting an ICAN of Thailand (Cesarean awareness chapter)
September – fly to Sydney, Australia for the Trust Birth Conference
December – finish the breastfeeding counselor certification (time to stop dragging my heels on this one!)
All year – not so many births.

So how did I do during 2013? I did submit AAMI work, I did study for the NARM exam and took the test in February and found out in March that I did PASS. I decided that ICAN will not work so well from here and am brainstorming other Cesarean awareness/recovery support options. I did attend the Trust Birth Conference in Sydney, an amazing experience where I met so many midwives and like-minded birth workers (another blog on that someday). I did attend a few births last year. One special birth comes to mind: first time mother, waterbirth, caught her own baby… amazing!

Here are my goals for 2014:
Every semester – submit AAMI midwifery studies assignments
Every day – work on midwifery studies a minimum of 30 minutes a day
June/July – hopefully visit the USA and while there recertify for CPR/NRP
All year – not so many births. Just enough to be able to start precepting an apprentice.

I really am slowing down. I have been push push pushing for about 8 years, when I first started with CBI studying to be a doula. 8 years, 1000s of study hours, CPM, 150 births later… I’m tired.

Longterm Goals
Fall 2016 - graduate from AAMI. This keeps getting pushed back. I’m making steps and getting closer. Was due to finish Dec 2014, but if I pace myself without overdoing reading/studying, which is hard on my eyes, I think I can finish by then. I’ve been given an unlimited extension, but if I focus on “unlimited” I’ll procrastinate, so let me make the Fall 2016 deadline public so I’m held accountable!
2016 - I am seriously considering going beyond my Masters in Midwifery. Naturopath Doctor is next.

Becoming a Lactation Counselor

I decided that since I already had so many roles (pun intended) on my plate that another couldn't hurt.

I first got interested in birth work after the difficult time I had breastfeeding my first baby. I realized that there was no one available to come at my call to help me. There is only one fully trained lacation consultant (LC) in the whole country, Meena. (I didn't know about her at the time). She is so busy working at the only baby-friendly hospital and doing lactation work with other hospitals while also helping to enforce the WHO standards of forumla marketing.

Meena really encouraged me to consider going into lactation work as there was a great need for it and I had come to love working with breastfeeding women while working as a doula and childbirth educator. I enjoyed my training with Childbirth Int'l and was so excited to hear they were about to begin a certified lactation counselor course in October. I enrolled quickly to get an "early bird" discount on top of a graduate discount. I knew that my doula/CBE training was good for breastfeeding education and wanted something way more in depth. While the training will not be as in depth as a LC that is IBCLE trained, this is a close second I believe. This will focus some on education and a lot more on solving breastfeeding problems.

I began the course two weeks ago and I am so impressed. Right now I'm working through anatomy and physiology of breastfeeding. The breastfeeding COUNSELOR part is fascinating, and just by browsing what I will be studying, I know that the counseling skills will be a huge asset to my midwifery and doula services. A lot of what I do with women now is counseling. Sometimes it's just listening to birth stories. Other times it's helping to build a birth plan, explain information to a worried father, debunk baby-sleep myths, and more. What I also already like about the course is that all of the books I need to read and about 75% of the assignments can also be used for my midwifery education so I'm not having to do double the work!

Of course I can't know everything about every topic, though I wish I did. I now have a growing list of people that I can refer to when I know it's a situation that I can't handle. Breastfeeding problems that I can't solve go to Meena. If it's someone in need of major psychological help, depression, marital, etc problems, I have a Christian counseling group that I can refer to. (They're actually the parents of two of my former students!) The BAMBI group here also has support groups for everything from PPD to breast cancer to SIDS.

One of the requirements for certification is to support a minimum of eight women for a minimum of 3 hours each. Since enrolling, I got my first phonecall needing help with breastfeeding just this week. The baby was born 5 weeks early and I had JUST read the section on breastfeeding preemies which was so helpful! Breastfeeding counseling is going to be great for my family because it will be hours that I can schedule more easily than births that just happen when they happen. Will I earn money from this? Not very much, but I just love the satisfaction of helping a mother work through her breastfeeding problems or to establish breastfeeding with a newborn.

So how did I work through my problems of breastfeeding my firstborn? Well I suffered horribly for seven weeks. I suspected it was a latch problem as I heard "clicking" when she nursed. The nurse at the hospital had said she was doing fine before we were discharged. At the 4 week checkup, our pediatrician (supposedly trained in lactation) said, "oh she's just a noisy eater." Never mind that the baby was puking up her whole entire meal three times a day, my nipples were raw, and every second of nursing hurt. I went to a BAMBI meeting (similar to La Leche League) and that day, a woman from Canada was visiting. She just happend to be a LLL leader and said that maybe she could help. She took the time that no one else had bothered to do for me. She watched me breastfeed for over an hour, checked the positioning, the baby's mouth, and the latch. What I could not see over my engorged breasts was a baby that was sucking in her bottom lip! After correcting the latch and training the baby to open her mouth to latch and keep the lip down, breastfeeding was painless within 24 hours. No more puking because she wasn't swallowing in so much air.

I don't know the name of the woman who helped me, but she forever changed my views on breastfeeding. I learned that babies need to learn how to breastfeed as much as the mother does. I learned that women need the support immediately and not weeks later, as that's when most women give up. I was ready to quit a week later if breastfeeding was still not working. 6 to 8 weeks had been my goal anyway at the time. Wow so much has changed in my breastfeeding goals! My daughter was breastfed to 19 months. My son was breastfed to 19 months, weaned during the rest of my twin pregnancy, and unweaned shortly after their birth. He is still breastfed at over 3 years old. My twins are 15 months old and have never had a drop of formula or even a bottle! Nursing them has been a huge challenge and reward.

I'm certified!!! (and other info)

As of this week, I am officially:

Erin Kannon, Doula (CD CBI) and Childbirth Educator (CBE CBI)

I finished all of the births and requirements needed! The two required births were fulfilled in a non-conventional way. The first was a friend who wanted me to doula at her unassisted birth (Hi "M"!) which ended up at my house... maybe she'll OK it for me to post about it here??? The second birth ended up being for a mom that I did all of the prenatal meetings with. Did not attend her C-section, but still gave many hours in a Postpartum Doula role helping with breastfeeding, etc..


Midwifery studies: Though I'm not supposed to start officially with AAMI until Aug. 1st, I'm going ahead and doing the pre-orientation paperwork. I'm also ordering tons (probably 100lb worth!) of books to bring back from our summer visit.


Recently I have been asked how I as a midwife would support a woman in unassisted birth. Many midwives do not support women wanting this option. I am obviously a big fan of unassisted birth: I did a UC with my twins! Let me paste in one of my assignments on the topic.

Unassisted Birth

Unassisted birth is a great option for most women, if they choose to go that route. Women choose to go unassisted for many reasons, such as the need for privacy, previous sexual abuse, lack of money, lack of insurance, no caregiver with the same birth philosophy, previous birth history, or no desire for assistance. I believe that planned unassisted birth is one of the safest options for childbirth. Yes, most women choose a midwife for homebirth, but that isn’t necessarily always safe depending on the midwife’s ways of practice. It is unfortunate that little to no research has been done on this aspect of childbirth.
Living in a country with no options for childbirth other than high-intervention hospitals, I do know of some women who have chosen unassisted birth. I did labor support for one woman on one of the remote islands … over the phone! I am currently pregnant with twins and am planning an unassisted birth for my babies. I refuse the risky testing, “high risk” label, or the “necessary planned” C-section.
As a future midwife, I would be willing to offer support to pregnant women wanting unassisted births. That could be in any prenatal facet, for phone support during labor, coming over to assist when asked, to do postpartum checks, or to help with a birth certificate. The legal situation for a midwife doing this maybe be questionable, but I believe that women have the right to choose what they want for their own medical care and birth.

New Goals for 2007 and on

Dec 2007 - finish certificates in Natural Living and Natural Health with HAcres

Jan 2008 - do full-time enrollment with AAMI's midwifery program

Dec 2008 - complete CBI doula certification births

between these dates, I'd like to find some lactation education/consultant courses as well

June 2012 - finish AAMI course, apprentice, take NARM exam during our 1 year sabbatical in the US

Aug 2013 - return to Thailand and begin legal process to practice midwifery while teaching CBE and labor assisting

Wow, this is all so daunting, but seeing how many goals I met in the previous post make this seem a little more possible!

My Goals Revisited

Hi Everyone!! Been a long time since posting, but after a twin pregnancy and now 5 week old twins, posting wasn't so important for a while. Now in the process of updating all blogs.

In my Feb. 4, 2006 post, I listed my goals for the next few years. I figure now that the babies are here and I have a few minutes during the day, I need to know where I was to know where to pick back up. Next post, I'll update my goals.

Here's what I put in Feb. 2006 and what I did with that goal.

2 more children fit somewhere into the scheme of this...And I'm sure the dates will change (well, who would've thought this would come true so fast. twins definitely fit the "2 more children" bit!)

Feb 2006 - enroll with CBI (Childbirth International) Doula and
Childbirth Educator program (DONE)

June 2006 - finish certificates in Natural Living and Natural Health with HAcres (not done, started up again this week, should finish in about 3 months)

June 2007 - finish CBI training unless certification births not available (July 2007, finished my Childbirth Educator portions, just waiting for feedback and certification in the mail. Doula portion, I need two more births... not easy with nursing two babies... maybe a long time before this happens)

June 2007 - enroll with AAMI (Ancient Art Midwifery Institute), beginning with their ITM (Intro to Midwifery) course (enrolled Dec. 2006)

Dec 2007 - finish ITM (finished July 2007 barely meeting the due date, exactly one week before the babies arrived!... a different post coming up about the course)

the next 3 goals are still in the plans

Jan 2008 - enroll with AAMI's midwifery program or NMI (National Midwifery Institute)

June 2012 - finish AAMI course, apprentice, take NARM exam
during our 1 year sabbatical in the US

August 2013 - return to Thailand and begin legal process to practice midwifery while teaching CBE and labor assisting

my resources

I've had a few people ask about what resources I use in my childbirth classes. I use a combination of:

the Bible!

Childbirth International resources
some of Transition to Parenthood's pages

and many books, such as:
Henci Goer's The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth
Penny Simkins "Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn" and "The Birth Partner"
Ina May Gaskins "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth"
Myles "Textbook for Midwives"
Elizabeth Davis' "Heart and Hands"
Dr. Sears "The Pregnancy Book" and "The Birth Book" and "The Breastfeeding Book"
Mary Renfrews "Bestfeeding"
Nilsson's "A Child is Born"
and many many more I can't think of right now.

Some of my other resources come from direct conversations or online forums with other midwives, doulas, and childbirth educators.

New Life Childbirth!

I have been just too busy to blog! We are leaving for a visit to the States in less than 4 weeks. Things to order online, packing lists, to buy lists, collecting things to keep Grace busy on the plane, finding places to stay. If our families only knew just how much is involved for a 7 week trip!

New Life Childbirth. That's the offical chosen name for the business. It'll work for what I'm doing now and will still work for midwifery as well. It is not overtly Christian, but obviously has the double meaning. I'm still working on coming up with a logo. Not a good artist. I'll have to try to get Dayton to make something for me... though he tends to be better at drawing armor, tanks, airplanes, and guns...

And, it's official! I've been asked to teach a childbirth education class in September. Now I'm trying to finish up the requirements I need so I can count it towards my certification with CBI. I need to find a place to teach it that has the facilities I need. I'd teach it at my house, but it feels too crowded with just 4 adults in it! I'm now hunting for the supplies and videos I need. I wasn't planning on bringing the laptop with us for our trip, but I'm going to have to if I plan on getting all of my handouts, lessonplans, and visuals done in time.

Have I mentioned I have my first official doula client as well? She is so excited and has plenty of questions. Her mom is happy that someone who's had a baby before will be there to support her. There are 2 other expecting couples at my church so I'm hoping they'll be interested in either doula support or a childbirth class.

My neighbor is about ready to have her baby. I told her that if the baby comes to fast, send someone to get me and I can help. I just say that I'm studying to be a midwife, not fully trained, but I can try to help. Now I'm just hoping for a precipitious labor LOL I can only dream, but it would be fun!

Had a nice mother's day. Or "Monster's Day" as Grace called it. Here's a pic from Sunday.

Dead Babies

One of the not so fun parts of studying has been going through the grief and loss sections of reading. The things I've had to read, pictures, etc. have not been easy. But I'm glad I'm reading it because I'd not go there otherwise, and I know someday, I'll have to deal with it in one way or another.

I've finished the communications module. Just a 10 page reflection paper, which should take me a week or so to do, get it graded, and then I should pass the whole module. I started with this module in particular because it has to be completed before I attend any certification births.

Still no word on if I'll be attending the birth in March. I have passed on some info they've requested, so at least I know they're reading!

Communications Module

This post was supposed to be part 2 of Isaiah's birth, but I haven't had the time. I have a client interview on Tuesday and am prepping for that. I've been working full speed through the communications module (2 out of 7 units done) to at least be partially prepared. I have learned so much! This course is teaching me stuff that I can apply to any situation... not just childbirth! I like that the program is from an international viewpoint because it the units on Birth and Culture will help with working here.

Aaargh. Broke one of my toes tonight while turning quickly from the bathroom into the living room to pop a pacifier back in the baby's mouth. Went to the freezer to find something cold to put on it. Found an icepack that was supposed to be used for Isaiah's birth but never got used. Well at least it didn't go to waste!

Oh, and Isaiah's crawling now!


He's such a silly, happy baby... with a lot of hair! Got that from me!

It has begun!!!

As of today, I am officially signed up and studying with CBI!! I'll find out next week if I have my first client. Please pray that she'll say yes =)