New Year’s Eve 2019 Reflection
In 2019 we had the privilege of doing this work for our 5th year.
The longer we support growing families, the more we learn! 2019 was a year filled with opportunities for us to grow in the ways we support the parents who trust us for guidance as they welcome their little ones.
Highlights of 2019:
We worked with over 140 families this year.
Between all the services we offer - as well as teaching Baby Care Basics and Breastfeeding 101 at South Coast Midwifery birth center in Irvine - we were lucky to work with 140 wonderful families this year. Every journey we supported was different, helping us to hone our skills even further.
This year, our clients’ job descriptions included: stay-at-home parent, entrepreneur, historian, Disney cast member, yoga teacher, video game designer, chemist, preschool teacher, IT professional, photographer, branding manager, physical therapist, patient advocate, classical musician, pilot, therapist, FBI agent, grant writer, biologist, accountant, language tutor, hairdresser, firefighter, nurse, mechanical engineer, teacher/professor, and many more. What a diverse bunch!
We focused on continuing education.
Combined, we completed nearly 80 hours of continuing education this year. That’s almost 2 full work weeks at a 40-hours-a-week job!
Among the topics we explored more deeply this year were many different aspects of lactation (including a seminar with the world’s leading researcher on cosleeping and the author of one of the only books about inducing lactation), as well as a course from Birth Monopoly designed to help birth workers advocate for their clients’ rights during labor.
The courses we’ve taken this year have been invaluable and are already influencing our work with parents!
In addition to Baby Care Basics, we now teach Lactation 101 at South Coast Midwifery.
We were thrilled to take this class on this past year! Teaching about lactation is one of our very favorite things, and we love being able to spend time with parents before birth to explore the (not so simple) basics of feeding a baby.
Speaking of lactation… we had a record-breaking year!
Marlee had lactation consults with over 40 families this year! Lactation consults are one of our specialties, and we’re so glad to be able to offer this kind of gentle, practical, hands-on support.
We added more resources to our blog.
These were our top 3 blog posts visited in 2019:
To all of our amazing clients, THANK YOU.
Thank you for welcoming us into your homes. For asking us hard questions. For being vulnerable with us. For sharing your joy with us. For allowing us to walk with you in your fears. For welcoming us into your lives for a brief, intense window of time. For sending us baby pictures!
Thank you for telling other families about us! Your referrals mean the world.
Most of all, thank you for trusting us to support you on the life-changing journey of parenthood. We are constantly inspired by your strength, compassion, determination, and love.
We are so grateful to continue doing this work, and to be able to work with such amazing people along the way!
