Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Great new blogs, and a minor LC update

You can take a look at my blogroll (greatly in need of updating) for many of the blogs I love. But I thought I'd highlight a few new (or new-to-me) that I've been enjoying:

First the Egg is not exactly new, as it's a expanded reincarnation of Feminist Childbirth Studies, but it's new enough! It's not just a blog but also a "nonsexist space for people who want to learn, reflect, commiserate, or laugh about being pregnant, giving birth, and helping children grow up whole and happy." There are feminist resources on pregnancy & birth (including breastfeeding), parenting, and women's health.

A Midwifery Journey is the blog of a nursing student who has been applying to CNM programs. She blogged a bunch about her impressions of various schools and opportunities, and has recently decided on Yale. It's been an educational and helpful read for me, given my constant personal swirling vortex of thoughts about the future ("midwife? yes? no? yes? no?" would be a short version, maybe someday I'll post the long version). I'm looking forward to hearing more about her experiences!

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine's new blog is great! With posts on the science, medicine, and policy of breastfeeding, this is quickly becoming a new favorite for me. Check out the post on how to critically evaluate media reports of breastfeeding studies, and the studies themselves.

That's all for today! I have a training all day, every day this week for my LC course. It's a review workshop for people interested in lactation support/planning to be LCs/planning to sit the exam. It's a mix of good, interesting stuff and a little more boring, less useful stuff, as is almost every workshop and/or conference. It does feel like a very solid review of everything we've learned this year which is both good and bad: good to review everything and get it compressed into one place in our heads (and notebooks) before the exam. Bad (or at least less good) not to be learning so much new stuff. We were talking in the car on the way back about how since we're the first class to go through this LC training, we're the guinea pigs for things like our textbook (there will be a different one used next year) and this review course (TBD if they require it again next year). The disadvantage is, of course, being guinea pigs for the things that don't work; but considering the plans to expand the training next year, I feel so lucky to have been a member of this first small class. The close relationships we've been able to forge with each other and with our precepting LCs have been so wonderful. And even when I'm getting bored in the workshop, I sit there and remind myself how incredibly lucky I am to have gotten the chance to do the training this year. I just cross my fingers that I can find a way to keep doing clinical, hands-on work with breastfeeding dyads. It is one of my favorite things in the world to do!

No comments: