I had the day free today--and I needed it! Yesterday was an intense teaching day that started at 3 am (not on purpose!!) and ended close to 10 pm. I was exhuasted and in pain and so happy to get back home. But I love teaching, too. I just wish it weren't so taxing. We had another fantastic group and I was super excited that Agnes Gereb attended yesterday's training. And the night before yesterday, I got a message from Betty-Anne Daviss, saying, "Hey, I happen to be in Budapest. Could I come to your training?" I said, "yes, please!" So she and Dr. Bisits helped participate and gave short imp ..read more

Day 1 of 3 is done! Kristine flew in late last night from doing a full day of training in Vienna, then was up about 6 hours later to teach all day today with me & Dr. Bisits. Today's participants were from Hungary, Italy, and Georgia (the country, not the state!). I'm continually impressed by how well-prepared and engaged our European students are. Unlike our US, NZ, and Australia trainings, which are majority midwives and minority physicians, it's the other way around here. It leads to a different set of questions and perspectives, which is always very interesting. I'm completely ..read more

I woke up early (not on purpose! what is going on?!). I was dreaming about my alarm not going off on time and I dreamed I woke up and checked the time and I was suuuuper late...and then I woke up from that dream to check what time it was. Only 5 am! My day started early with a ride from a lovely, enthusiastic OB who was the first to bring upright breech to Hungary several years ago. He attends vaginal breech births, water births, etc. Our next stop was to pick up Andrew Bisits, aka the "Breech Whisperer," who is visiting all the way from Australia and who will be co-teaching with us. We drov ..read more

I'm in the airport awaiting my flights to Warsaw and then Budapest! So here's some catching up. Yesterday was an "off" day while Kristine was teaching her Breech & Twins Master Class. I slept in until almost 8 am, which felt amazing. On teaching days we have to be up early, plus I generally wake up even earlier without wanting to. I went for a nice run along the river, circling around the old town. I worked on the book until lunchtime, when I went down to eat with the group. I decided to bring my computer with me for the afternoon and listen in on the last part of the Master Class as we ..read more

We arrived yesterday afternoon in Wroclaw, Poland. By time we unpacked, checked out the conference rooms, got ready for teaching, ate dinner, etc, I didn't have much time for anything else! I also got my US taxes sent off, which was no small feat. However, I did prioritize some time yesterday to take a nice 5 km walk around the Old Town. Yesterday's dinner was mushroom pierogi and then a cutlet of pork with potato dumplings, beets, and creamy pickles. Yum!! Today's dinner was a salad and beets from a local grocery store. I was too exhausted to want to go to a restaurant. I took the f ..read more

I injured my shoulder yesterday while pushing out a baby 1 million times (it felt like that, at least!). I can move it a bit today but it's very painful and is making weird noises. While Kristine was teaching her Master Class, I took a trip on foot to a local home improvement store, Bauhaus. I needed to buy her a replacement ratchet & strap. I got all prepared to explain what I needeed in German, and also to explain that I didn't speak German because I was American and living in France. I even practiced a bit on the way there! I found the store, found the ratchet, went to the checkout, a ..read more

It's been just a teeny, tiny bit busy with my life and now I'm in Berlin and did I mention I just finished a full day of teaching? Kristine and I taught at a gorgeous old hospital complex. I walked inside and my jaw dropped. This is the first hospital I've ever been to where it truly felt like a healing space as soon as I entered. The entire center of the complex is a huge park/garden, surrounded by ivy-covered brick buildings. We had an easy day with a small group and two instructors. Tomorrow is the opposite with a sold-out crowd. Then Kristine teaches her Master Class on the following d ..read more

Eric was gone all day at 2 different soccer events: Inga's all-day tournament and in the middle of the day, Ivy's game. Zari also had a game that they won 10-1 or 10-0 before the other team forfeited in the 2nd half due to someone getting badly injured. Zari scored a goal! Inga scored 2 goals today (out of 5 total) and I can't remember about Ivy's without asking Eric. Anyway it was just me and Dio for a while at home. He went downstairs to the barber and got a much-needed haircut. I worked on the book and, besides editing many chapters, managed to design the dust jacket from start to finish ..read more

I have a headache nearing migraine levels behind my right eye...ugh... I went running, then ran errands, worked on the book a whole bunch, put up the old iron hinges and the door knocker, worked on the book some more, made dinner, worked on the book some more. The outside of the door has the lion's head door knocker. The inside has these huge, heavy old hinges that we repurposed. It's the best we could do to make the door look like it dates from 500-600+ years ago...without actually going full-on historic reproduction. We just don't have the tools, time, or materials to hand-hew planks from ..read more

Most of my day was super non exciting work...however I broke up the tedium of book editing by putting myself in dangerous situations. Just kidding, it only felt dangerous standing on the windowsill on the 3rd floor to paint the exterior window...because I had my climbing harness on and attached to a heavy beam! I applied the decorative nails to the exterior of the door today. Eric prepped the huge iron straps. I also finished painting the WC and electrical cupboard doors. They can go up tomorrow. The pace of my days has been accelerating as I'm trying to meet the self-imposed book deadl ..read more