Boy there’s been a lot in the news lately. I’ve been trying to finish up my Postpartum Care Series but I just keep thinking about everything happening here in this country. First there are the monumental decisions from the Supreme Court: upholding housing discrimination claims, saving the Affordable Care Act again, ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, and more decisions are coming. Remembering the nine victims of hate in a Charleston, and debating the future of the confederate flag flying at the South Carolina capital, or just removing it. Here in California there’s a bill that takes away a parent’s right to choose whether to vaccinate their kid(s) if sending them to schools, and another that would allow families with Medical to choose an out-of-hospital birth with a Licensed Midwife.

This last one is especially dear to my heart and there was a rally today in Sacramento for midwives and families to show support for the bill. It’s all about the freedom to have a choice in where we can birth. Since licensed midwives are not currently being reimbursed for their clients who have Medical, the midwives may be unable to take Medical clients who cannot pay out of pocket. For most families, this financial burden is the deciding factor in where they can birth. Even if you wouldn’t choose a homebirth for yourself, I think we can all agree that we would like to be in charge of deciding where we want to birth, not insurance companies and legislators. Actually this is true for all insurance companies since many will not cover home and birth center births at in-network rates.

And of course there’s the big stuff happening all over the world, like in Greece.

For these first few weeks of summer break after we came back from visiting the grandparents in Wyoming, I’ve had all three kiddos at home. This is making me even more aware of these current events and how to talk to my older girls about them. We don’t watch TV or have a newspaper, only read the news online and listen on the radio, so it’s up to us to bring these current events up as topics of conversation. These are good conversations to have, but heavy and nuanced. They are starting to think critically about the world and realizing that things aren’t just good and bad, and that their response to a situation matters. Today one of my girls said, “mommy, how come the sign on the girls bathroom has a girl in a dress but sometimes girls wear pants, and the sign on the boys bathroom has a boy in pants but some boys wear dresses?” We discussed but I also showed her this:

Anyway, just really absorbing what’s been happening this week.

Update: Looks like Gov. Jerry Brown signed the CA vaccine bill removing personal and religious belief exemption.

Classes update: I’ve been working out some kinks on the schedule, moving things around and adding some new classes. Please check out the new dates on the Classes tab! I’m also super excited because I may be offering classes held in SF in the near future so stay tuned for more info!