Certified At Last!

Hey all!  So, I missed last month completely. Sorry for that. I'm sure you all can relate to how crazy busy it can get around this time of year.
I have exciting news to share with my readers:
     I am officially a certified lactation counselor!

To anyone who is interested in the program and looking into getting certified, let me give you a quick run down of the process. I went through the Healthy Children Project certification training course in October. It was a week (5 days) of classes that took all day and we were thoroughly educated on everything from basic female anatomy to counseling techniques to assessing a good latch. To say it was intense is a bit of an understatement. Imagine attending school full time, no... Imagine attending school double the full time credits for a week, then add homework every night onto that plus group practice work in and out of the classroom. Then a final exam on the afternoon of the last day after your last lesson is crammed into your brain during the morning of that same day. FUN!
So, as you can assume, there is no life to have during that week; especially if you take on a 2 hour round trip commute each of those days as I did. My family suffered through with a shell of a wife and mother whose mind was distracted and body was exhausted. The house suffered as well since its main keeper was preoccupied... the laundry was at mountainous proportions by time the weekend came. If you can prepare yourself ahead of time for all of that, you will be able to focus all of your efforts on learning and passing that exam. Now, the exam is no joke. It's a 2 part exam divided between a multiple choice part and a video assessment part. As challenging as the multiple choice questions could be, the video assessment was truly nerve racking!! You get 3- 30 second chances each to see the right and wrong of 2 different latches, you are stuck with what the camera can show you... Challenging!!! But not impossible. :)
 It's one week of major sacrifice and dedication but you'll emerge with an immense wealth of fresh knowledge and confidence in how to support these lactating moms on a whole new level! And if you do well, you get a piece of paper that legitimizes your hard work and a few initials you get to add to the end of your name. So, there you have it! This is an ideal program for doulas, midwives, nurses, WIC employees, pediatricians, obgyn's, daycare workers, and anyone who works with pregnant/lactating women and/or babies on a regular basis. Also great for anyone who is interested in gaining more knowledge in the realm of breast milk/ breastfeeding in general!

Next stop on the certification train, IBCLC!!!! Woot Woot!