I went to visit the midwife I used to apprentice with the other day. She is taking a break right now so she can garden (her real passion) and write. Being a midwife for years can take its toll, in fact, almost everytime I see her she tries to talk me out of this career, but I'm stubborn.

Now that I have worked with about five midwives I can really appreciate differences. I am trying my best to hold onto what I believe is right, picking and choosing the techniques I agree with, and I'm hoping that I don't pick up bad habits. I told my past preceptor that the new midwives I work with have more hemorrhages (of course my whole conversation with her took place in her garden while she weeded). She asked me if I had an idea why and I told her they mess with stuff too much. They are in too much of a hurry to get the placenta out. I remember attending births with my first preceptor and she always waited until the mother felt the cramping of the placenta detaching itself, even if the amount of time that elapsed was quite long. She told me that whenever she questions what to do she thinks about how birth would have been thousands of years ago. "Thousands of years ago, a mother would have pushed out the placenta on her own once she felt cramping. You can't mess with perfection." I couldn't agree more.