Anyway, last month, I finished the accreditation process and am officially a lactation counselor! Yah for me! I'm really proud of myself for finishing. As tempting as it is to say something akin to "wow, that was a lot of work. I'm done now," I'm not. Really the work is just beginning (and by work, I mean volunteering). But that is even more exciting than finishing, I'm ready to see how God can use me in this position to help other moms (and babies :-).
Mostly I'll be working in a small group setting but I'll also be "on call" with a hotline occasionally. This is my first week on call and it really couldn't have been worse timing. Craig's just started night shift work and my whole schedule is wonky. During this pregnancy, I've pretty much been counting on my routine to get me through the day - my brain is just too shot to do more thinking which is obvious by the mess that has been the last week - my first with the new routine. I've forgotten appointments, meals, all sorts of stuff. And on top of that, Lucy is sick. Which meant she hasn't been sleeping well and since Craig is gone, all night time duty is on me although he is around in the afternoons to deal with the super cranky toddler and let me have a break. But I've only gotten one call and luckily I was driving when it occurred so it went to voicemail and I was able to gather my thoughts, hide in the bedroom while Craig played with Lucy and return her phone call with my brain sorta ready to work. Whew, first one down, many more to go!
But don't worry, this won't suddenly become a "lactivist" blog. At least not anymore that it already has been. I love breastfeeding so I probably will occasionally talk about it, but honestly, I don't really care if you breastfeed or not anymore than I care how much tv your kids watch, or when they are potty trained or learn to read, or any of those other decisions you make for your kids. I care about those for my kids but when it comes to your kids, they are your problem - haha.
Of course, I do care if you want to breastfeed but are struggling and need encouragement. I care if you want to but are having trouble finding the information you need to solve a certain problem. I care if you think you might want to breastfeed but are worried about things you hear, like your boobs will end up all saggy (FYI - saggy boobs are from pregnancy and the lack of a good bra, not breastfeeding) or your husband won't bond with the baby if he can't feed him/her as much as you. But if you don't want to or tried and couldn't or had to stop for some reason, okay. That's cool. I'm swear I'm not giving you dirty looks when you pull out a bottle. Pinkie promise.
So that's the new hat I'm wearing these days. And if it was a physical hat, it would probably look something like this:
available from etsy seller printsandthingsshop
*That sounds scary but basically, I want to make sure what I post here remains as my personal opinions and is not seen as this organizations official policy. I obviously agree with them on a lot of issues or I wouldn't be working with them, but still. I just wanna be me!
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