Future Career Idea??

So at my 6 week postpartum check-up, I had a long talk with my midwife.  We chatted about the typical "how are you feeling?" & "how's the baby sleeping?" type of questions and then we got to talking about how much it meant to me to get my vbac. It was soul cleansing for my body to prove that it indeed can do what I knew it could.  And it's amazing how well we're still doing with breastfeeding.  I never thought I would make it this far & am so proud of my accomplishment!  I've breastfed Noah longer than both girls now & we're still going strong!  I do get annoyed with my breasts not making enough milk sometimes & get jealous of moms who can do that.  But I'm still a work in progress & am trying to overcome that jealousy.  I think it's because I hate bottles & Noah doesn't like them much either.  He loves nursing & sometimes when he's upset, the only thing that will calm him down is letting him nurse--no pacis or bottles for this boob man!  I need to look into a supplemental nursing system I believe so I can satisfy his desire to nurse & give him the supplement his tummy needs at the same time.

But anyway, my midwife & I were discussing how much I researched & learned about vbac & breastfeeding and how this is something I could research and learn about for hours on end.  I absolutely love to learn and I finally found an area I am passionate about.  I'm pretty sure we're done w/3 kids, so all of this knowledge just can't go to waste...I want to find some way to share what I know with others.  I have a stock pile of books built for this reason & have been collecting them since I was pregnant with Sophia to share, but no one to pass them to.  My midwife suggested I look into becoming a hospital social worker with the healthy beginnings program (a program designed to help pregnant women not only medically, but also mentally and emotionally prepare for baby.  The workers also work with the women for a period of time postpartum to provide support & help wherever they can.). It sounds like a PERFECT fit for me!!

I LOVE social work.  It was a total fit for me educationally & I did fabulously in all of the classes.  I love motherhood & have experienced a wide variety of births/children so far--induced "overdue" 31+ hour pitocin labor w/an epi & unintended totally natural delivery; an emergency csection at 33 weeks, 6 days that produced a preemie who stayed in the NICU for 18 days; a labor that started on its own & progressed continuously for 21 hours (including an epi) that became a successful vbac 2 days before my "due date".  I've experienced the colicky, high maintenance, reflux baby; the baby who struggles with nursing; the baby later reaching milestones, the baby who doesn't eat much; the baby who defies the "rules" and eats/sleeps when he decides--not 15 minutes each side every 3 hours.  I feel that combining the two would be a perfect fit for a career down the road.  After the kids are in school all day, I do want to go back to work as long as there's a way I can still be there for them.

I am excited to find a career goal! I've never had dreams of becoming an astronaut or a teacher when I was little.  All I wanted to do was become a wife & mother.  I've met that goal & love it, but know I will need to figure out something else to do once the kids are older & eventually moved out (scary thought! they're too little to grow up like that darnit!).  I went into college undeclared & fell into social work.  I had no career planned out, though I thought about school counseling at some point.  I just knew I wanted to help people, but not sure what direction I'd eventually work in.  Now I have a goal...something I'm excited about & I can't believe I never thought about this as a career choice!  Here's hoping something pans out in the future! :o)