Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Mother Sounds

The last few days have been crazy. I find one day where I can write and write and then it stops and I can't seem to write for days.

In addition this baby hasn't decided whether it's coming or going. Yes, that's my polite way of saying the pregnancy seems to be threatened. We are doing all we can but right now it's in God's hands.

I had to write an entry for a scholarship grant that I want for my schooling. Here it is:

Mother Sounds
By Michelle Puffer

Stat, down the hallway. The buzzer is ringing; I must get there. I've just signed in and there's no time to lose. Ah yes, here's the room. I walk in taking in the scene before me. The woman crying out in pain and the man looking on in a daze. She looks at me, begging me to stop this torture. I cannot, for it is nature at its best. I smile and reassure her, I smooth her brow with a wet cloth. Checking her vitals I tell the couple that we are almost there. Just a few more minutes, maybe half an hour and we will be ready to go. You can do it, look how far you've come. Turning to wash up I notice the nervous grandmother sitting in a corner. I smile at her and say, "It's almost show time." She tells me how, in her day, it was nothing like this. Nodding because I know how different this seems, I start to get ready. I page the staff that will need to be in attendance and check my figures one more time.

Here we go…I hear the patient grunting. That's it! One, two, three. You can do it. Breathe. Ok, relax now, gather your strength. One more time and on it goes. The baby is crowning, here it comes. Careful now, slowly. We've got it. It's a boy! Wiping the wee child and having the Father cut the cord; I tenderly place the babe on his Mom's chest. She looks at her husband and starts to cry. Tears of joy accompany every face in the room and Grandma is in awe. We have just witnessed another miracle and we know how lucky we are.

Walking home I am tired but content. Once again I have been part of something so very incredible. This is my job, to help others deliver new life in to the world. I am a nurse/midwife and this almost always has a happy ending. Yet, for those times that it doesn't, it can send me scrambling to the deepest depths with the families whom have lost. Thank goodness, there are more ups than downs in this profession. I get to meet wonderful people who want to have a warm and fuzzy birth experience. I get to take a journey with every mother and hold so many beautiful babes. This is my dream job.

Entering my front door and hearing a cheering sound I hold my arms out wide for the two figures that rush in to my embrace. Ah yes, perhaps this is the ultimate dream job. Being a Mom and having these loving children. Yes, this is definitely it.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Loss of Muse

For the last week I've been unable to be very productive with my writing, either here or with my WIP. It seems that the curve ball I was thrown really did throw me for a loop. Or a writer's block or something. :-(

The whole job thing resolved itself and even though it came down to me and one other person in the end she had just a bit more experience. I think it turned out for the best as I was trying to figure out how to accept the job and do tell them I am pregnant or do I wait or....

Now I'm back to seeing if this writing will actually work for me. I'm on Chapter 4 of my WIP. A little discouraged as others have received request from the contest I was in. Now I realize there were a lot of entries and this was just my first time and blah blah blah. Sheesh, I'm working the pity party quite well here LOL. It must be the hormones.

I think I will come back when I'm in a more up mood. That could be in 5 minutes they way my moods are going right now ROFL! :-)

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

I'm what?! Pregnant? Are you sure?

It's been a busy couple of days since I posted last and a lot has changed for me. How in the space of two days does life change that fast? Wel,l you find out you are pregnant when you were (or thought you were) protected! :-) So here I am at 37 (I'll be 38 in December) with a 6 year old, a 3 1/2 year old and I was getting ready to go back to the Corporate world after running my own business for a few years and then whamo things change just by peeing on a stick! LOL. I have a second job interview tomorrow for a job that, until two days ago, I desperately wanted. It is a good management job, at a solid company with a great salary.

So...what do I do? If I'm offered the job do I tell them that I'm pregnant, even though it's still early, or do I take the job and wait to see what happens. That sounds rather strange I guess but I had two losses between my other two children so it's not a foreign concept to me, although now that the shock has settled I really want this baby. Do I just not take the job and just stay home and continue writing and hope something comes of that? In the meantime, walking my son to grade 1 and my daughter to her first year in preschool, I can spend more time with them and cherish this time. I've decided to go to the 2nd interview tomorrow and just see what happens. For once I'm not going to stress about the outcome because whatever happens is what is meant to happen. Well, I'm not that casual but that's what I'm hanging on to.

On a writing note I've just had a book review I wrote for Romance Divas published - you can find the link here:
http://romancedivas.com/bookreviews_files/HotCase-MichelleP-template.pdf

I'm up to Chapter 4 in my WIP and I received some good feedback on my Romance Junkies contest entry.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Staff Reviewer for Romance Divas

Well I'm very excited as I just became a staff reviewer at Romance Divas! I hope to not only improve my writing skills while doing this but to read more, learn more about my craft and to give credit to other authors who work so hard at what they do. Not that all books can be great but most of the time you can find the positives in them. I think I have only ever stopped reading a book once and that's because they killed a puppy in it. I just didn't get it and it wasn't relevant to the story and well, I really like puppies! LOL Not that I don't like people but puppies are defenseless.

Now, other than this I have not written a single word today. I received some more feedback on my piece at RJ and it said it was missing something. Somehow that depressed me. I know that you can't please everyone but until that point the reviews had been pretty decent. Anyway, if I take this comment to hear then I can't be a writer because there is always going to be someone somewhere who doesn't like my stuff so I need to get a grip and stop using it as an excuse. Write on....ok, first dinner and then I promise I will start writing. :-)

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

First Blog Ever

OK - today I write in my blog for the first time. This is my blogging site for my writing. Well for the writing I am trying to do. Bare Essensuals is the name of my soap and body product line (if you are interested you can find it at http://www.bare-essensuals.com) and I felt it appropriate to use it here too as I am writing about heroines who are strong and sensual and get down to the bare essentials. At least that's what I hope I'm writing! LOL

Oh I wanted to add that I have (for the first time ever) submitted my writing to a contest at one of our romance writing websites. I am so excited. I don't think I'm allowed to say where it is since they want each post judged on its own merit and not because we sent people flocking to the site to check us out. Well of course I want to be checked out but mostly I want to know what people think. Nicely of course! LOL

Cheers,
Michelle