This · World · I · Live · In....

I was accepted as a midwifery student for this fall!!!!
I logged on this afternoon to see if anything was posted online, and there it was: ADMITTED. I couldn't believe it so I actually called their admitting department to double check. The woman working in "Admitting" laughed and said "yes honey, you are admitted...congratulations!" This was followed by a whole bunch of whooping and happy dancing around the house! I still can't believe it!!! I am so excited!
Shortly after I updated my Facebook status, a doula friend/acquaintance of mine called to congratulate me. She said that there had been a buzz on the street that someone from Red Deer had gotten an interview but that nobody knew who! She said that Barb (our local senior midwife) had heard that the minimum GPA that wound up being accepted was 3.75. She also said that all core high school classes had to be above 60% regardless of how much post secondary education was completed. Wow. At any rate, I phoned Barb tonight to and left her message telling her "who" the Red Deer applicant was, lol. I had no idea that my application/interview had created so much interest in our local community!
And now I am going to just bask in the happy feelings that are flooding my body right now. I am going to intentionally NOT worry about the logistics and semantics of how this is going to work. For today I am happy, appreciative, thankful, and very very excited! Tomorrow (or the day after) I will figure out how the HELL I am going to make this work.

Both phone calls from Mount Royal regarding the interviews have been mildly odd. Both women, one of whom is the chair for the program, made great efforts to convey the honor of being selected for an interview. When the second call (today, from the chairperson) came in, and she started the call by congratulating my on my outstanding achievement...I had to ask: "How many people applied to the program?" She replied that they had quit counting after 200 and that about 100 met the GPA minimum for the program. They were blown away by the volume of applicants. From there they chose the top 30 to interview.
Holy shit!! Thank dog I'm such a nerd!!!!
My ego is adequately stroked for the day. :-P

Oh yes I did!! Today I got a phone call from Mount Royal asking for an alternate address so that they could "courier me a very important letter"!!! I had missed the call and "Fran from Mt. Royal" had left the message. I called back and was trying to play it super cool. I gave her my sister's address in town and once she had taken down all of the info, she explained that I was being asked to come for an interview and that the chair of the program would be calling me within the next couple of days! I kept my voice as calm as I could, but inside I was FREAKING OUT!!!! Once I had hung up, I happy-danced around the house a few times and shrieked and squueeeeeed with pure unadulterated joy!!!!! I had to remind myself that this is not a guaranteed acceptance, and that I should probably settle down a bit and remember to BREATHE. This is only the first hurdle cleared of many I'm sure. On the plus side, I usually interview quite well. Here's for hoping!!!
The only thing that dampened my excitement is that a good friend who is equally (or even more so considering her education)worthy to be interviewed was not granted that opportunity. I had really wanted to do this journey with her, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Sometimes life isn't fair and I am struggling to be happy for me when I feel that she has suffered an injustice.
And so....on June 18th I will head south to Calgary with butterflies in my stomach as my dream is dangled so close that I can almost TASTE it! Tanya M., I hope to be able to meet up with you at some point during the day just to say "hi" and to re-center myself a bit! This whole thing feels so surreal. I'm sure between now and then I will flip flop between being excited and terrified about the prospect...cuz that's just how I roll. But one thing is for sure, I have been granted this opportunity, and like Dina (Birthingway) so famously says, "to not accept it would be like giving the universe the finger." I am meant to do this, so do it I must.
And now my friends I am going to enjoy a celebratory glass of wine and toast my good fortune.
G'night all!!

For some reason, I am feeling a little bit dozy, so what better time for a quick LJ blurb.
I arrived in Vancouver last night to find Dina waiting for me with wine in hand. Now THAT is a friend! We chatted and caught up on the drive back to her house where we drank some cider and visited some more.
This morning was a little rushed for me since I decided to phone my fam to check in before getting in the shower. My intended 5 min convo turned into 20 min and I wound up having to skip on the shower. This was no great tragedy since Dina and I walked through a monsoon to get to the conference. Ok, it wasn't quite a monsoon, but it is very wet and chilly here. The spring clothes that I packed are likely not going to see the outside of my suitcase. Tomorrow I am going to get up 20 min earlier so that I can check in with my peeps *and* have a shower. Win. I am also going to purchase an umbrella when the conference let's out today. Double win.
The speakers today have been fantastic!! I really identified with the topics that have been presented. There has been much discussion as to what exactly defines "normal birth" amongst HCPs vs. how the average woman defines "normal birth". I have to say that I'm shocked at how regular women define normal birth. There appears to be a little resistance to the word "normal", which is understandable considering that the alternative is an "abnormal birth". Clearly more discussion here is needed.
The only downside so far is that Dina is sitting in a totally different section. I was late submitting my conference application so I missed out on the hugely discounted student rate. Instead they offered me a different "student nurse" rate that was still discounted but a little more expensive. This turned out to be a blessing because I get to sit in a nice, comfy leather chair with my very own microphone in case I want to participate in any discussion. I am however on my own. Dina is stuck in a section with crappy chairs, poor line of sight, and no table surface to write on. I am trying to convince her to defect from the student group and sit with me...tomorrow perhaps ;-).
Well I should sign off and start paying attention again. More later.

If I had an icon of a woman hopping around a room looking like a total fool....well that's the one I would use!!!
Birthingway just emailed me a link saying that the Mount Royal Midwifery Program is a go for this fall!!!! So with shaking hands and baited breath, I filled out my online application, paid my $70 application fee, and hit SEND!!!!
Could this really be it?! Might I really be in the program that I want to be in, just 4 short years away from being a practicing midwife????!
I am hoping and praying with all my being that everything I have done to date is enough to gain me entrance into this extremely elite program. 10 applicants....two reserved for aboriginal applicants. 8 spots in all of Alberta (or more if they accept out of province students). Have I done enough??
Oh do I hope so.

Last night, the Conservatives won a majority government with the NDPs being the opposition. This election has been a very thoughtful time for me. My family and friends are staunch conservatives. The reasons are less about the red button issues of abortion, homosexuality and overall religious undertones, but rather because of the focus on capitalism (business growth), balancing the budget, and living within ones means. I guess we've always assumed that the issues surrounding healthcare, education, the environment and the elderly would be resolved...?
This year I actually pulled my head out of the sand and took a good hard look at the platforms. Away from the influence of "how" our family votes...I sat up and took notice of the cuts (some proposed and some executed) to social programs at the hands of the PCs. I would be a hypocrite if I said that haven't cursed the powers that be that continue to slash funding to special ed. programs and the lack of accessibility to specialized healthcare for most people. I have been oh so blessed to have support, both financial and emotional, to manage the rough road of being Austin's parents. So many people with children with special needs are left out in the cold trying to make sense of a healthcare system that is so broken, an education system that ignores and tortures their children, and struggle with poverty to boot. I can't even imagine....breaks my heart.
Yes, there is more at stake here than oil, successful business, and healthy (or not so healthy) capitalism.
And yet, I wasn't thrilled with the leftover options. Both Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff had expressed an interest in forming some kind of a coalition in the event of another conservative minority. If memory serves, Jack Layton was even willing to form a coalition with the BQ. It's a hard thing to vote for someone who is already plotting to form a coalition with a party that I didn't support. Add to the that the fact that Michael Ignatieff did not present himself well period. He was arrogant, condescending and had a big ol' chip on his shoulder.
Well despite my conflicted emotions, the PCs pulled off a majority government and what will be..will be.
Ok, I have to cut this short because Dina just forwarded me news that the Mount Royal Midwifery program will be running this fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am about to apply online!!!!!!!!!!!
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

88% on my FINAL paper (dubbed the porn paper)!! My final grade in PSYC345 (Psychology of Women) is 85%. I'll take it. I was thinking that my final paper was going to be somewhere in the 70-75% range, but I guess my brain was working better than I thought it was. I have to say that this correspondence thing is a whole lot more work than I expected. Wowza. But it is done and now I must rally my motivation and finish the bioethics.
I can DO this.

Last night, at 10:22pm I submitted my final assignment for my Psychology of Women class. I can't honestly say that it was my best work, but it was decent. I did the very best that I could considering I've had a massive head cold for the last week and a half and the kids are on spring break this week. Seriously, what's a nerd to do under the circumstances?? I am anxiously awaiting my final grade so that I can put this course to bed.
Now to focus on my Biomedical Ethics class. I have until May 31 to finish.
Why oh why do I do this to myself??

So I got 80% on my research proposal. Bleh.
I was so pumped by my prof's email that I was all ready for a 90%+. Ah well. If my paper was one of the better ones, then I can't imagine how badly the other students did.
One more assignment and then I am done this class. D.O.N.E.
So my last assignmment? Oh my. I have much reading on my hands.

"Use the knowledge and understandings that you have gained from this course, as well as resources from your Psych 345 course materials to critique the lecture on "The Politics and Psychology fof False Memory Syndrome" by Carolyn Enns.

False memory syndrome? Well shit. I'm afraid I musta missed that chapter.
Back to the books!

Edit: My essay topic changed. When I went to read the article in question, it wasn't there! After a few harried emails, turns out that the false memory lecture was in the 3rd Ed textbook, and we were given the 4th Ed..conveniently missing the "false memory" lecture. Too bad, it would have been interesting!
New topic: how pornography harms women. Ok, no prob! Should be interesting...