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My Journey to Boobs

How I Found My Calling

By Ashley LichensteinPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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As my bio reveals, I have four little boys. Their ages are eight years, five years, three years, and two months. I nursed two of them for two years, and I'm currently nursing the youngest.

When the five-year-old was born, I knew I wanted to breastfeed him. I wasn't quite sure how, but I knew I wanted to. I had tried to the best of my ability with my oldest, but I've come to realized that I wasn't armed with enough information to give it a real go. So, when the five-year-old was born, I joined a breastfeeding support group on Facebook. It was tough, at first. I started learning and reading, as well as connecting with other breastfeeding moms, but pretty soon, I was still in pain and started looking for permission to quit. Permission was something I did not find.

When I was pregnant with my first baby, I was a very poor newly wed. My husband barely made any money. I wasn't working, and we were pretty broke. I was recruited by the Nurse Family Partnership program at my local health department/WIC office. The Nurse Family Partnership program is a team of registered nurses that visit you in your home and teach you about pregnancy, what's happening to your body, what to expect going forward, and how to take the best care of your new baby. You have the same nurse for two years, at which point you graduate from the program. They target low income families, and they help you set and meet goals. My nurse was amazing! She really was. Her name was Karla, and I loved Karla.

So, fast forward, I've graduated from the NFP program, I've had another baby, breastfeeding is going pretty well, not great but ok, and I'm still in touch with Karla. I call her all the time. I tell her all the new and fascinating things I'm learning about breastfeeding and breastmilk; a lot of things that SHE didn't even know! One day, I call her, and I'm wringing my hands about finding a job, and she says to me, "Why don't you try to get a job at the WIC office as a peer counselor. You've learned so much, you have the experience, and I think you'd be perfect for a job like that!" And a light goes on in me.

Now, at this point, I had been very active in the breastfeeding support group on facebook; soaking up as much information as I could and helping my peers troubleshoot their breastfeeding problems and reach their breastfeeding goals. That was all I did, all day, FOR FREE! Then, I have Karla in my ear telling me that I could get paid to do that! What a dream! I love doing this! I love helping moms meet their breastfeeding goals so much, that I would do it for free just to be able to do it, and you're telling me that someone could PAY me to do it? What is this magic?! I'M SOLD!

So, I start making some phone calls. I call my local WIC office, WIC offices in other towns, I look online, and the only openings that are available require the applicant to speak languages that I, unfortunately, do not speak. Well, fine. I'll start my own practice. How do I do that? I need some credentials or certifications to do that. Okay, IBCLC, I'll get one of those. I start doing research on how to become internationally board certified. I apply to my local community college and start classes the following semester. I get involved with my local birth and breastfeeding community, and earn a scholarship to become a Breastfeeding USA breastfeeding counselor. Then, I start hosting breastfeeding support meetings, and I'm still going to school and raising, by this point, three babies at home. I eventually earn a scholarship to become a Certified Lactation Counselor. Finally, a chance to open a private practice, to help moms do what I've done, experience what I've experienced, share what I've shared, feel what I've felt! I have a chance to help babies thrive in their mothers' arms. I have an opportunity to help, and each and every time I do, it feeds my soul. That is why I do this. It feeds my soul.

That is how I knew that I had found my calling; it fed my soul.

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About the Creator

Ashley Lichenstein

I’m a Certified Lactation Counselor, wife, mother of 4 boys, positive thinker, and perpetual student of the world.

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