The trip from my home to either St. Paul's or BC Women's Hospitals takes about 5 minutes.

Since I try to work within a small area in Vancouver (see the map on my contact page), the majority of my clients live within 15 minutes of me. We lived in Tsawwassen for 17 years, and I would have to commute to Vancouver at least 4 days a week. It was an exhausting schedule. It was definitely NOT slow.

Living in Vancouver now gives me an extra 2-3 hours a day to work, play, and love my family. So, it's a slower life here in the big city. I generally walk or cycle to client visits. We walk to the shops. I use a car share to reach my Commercial Drive clients and my previous clients who live outside my catchment area (yes, I still try to attend repeat client births, wherever they live.) I even sold my car to ensure that I would keep my environmental footprint small.

Living close to my clients means that I can pop over to check on clients having long slow starts to their labours, do impromptu breastfeeding visits, actually get to meet former clients for tea, or even walk to "meet and greet" visits at my usual haunt Elysian Coffee on 5th Avenue. I live and work in the same community.

All of this ties in with my philosophy of being conscious and conscientious about all things, and putting family first. It took 17 years to "get back home" to Vancouver. This particular slow birth was really really slow, but so worth the wait!