30 Things – My Dream Job
Tonight I’m tackling #7 – What is your dream job and why?
(Again, you can find the original 30 Things My Kids Should Know About Me post HERE!)
I think for me, this changes every few years. When I was in high school all I wanted to do was lead a youth group and and worship, that was EVERYTHING to me. Then I met my husband, and if you’ve ever been part of a youth group… a really great youth group, you may have noticed that the spouse of the Youth Pastor is almost always very involved with the ministry program. My husband, my sweet, wonderful husband… he’s not cut out for a life around teenagers all the time. That’s just not his thing, so with falling in love with him, my dreams changed. (And before we get all huffy and say, “no man should change your dreams!”, HE didn’t change my dreams, I changed my dreams because God brought this wonderful man into my life!)
Anyways, after we got married and prior to us having kids I went back to school with the dream of becoming a teacher! I was super excited about it, took some introductory courses at the community college where I was getting my AA… and then I got pregnant with Boogie. Things changed. After having her, we couldn’t imagine putting her into public school, we couldn’t imagine placing her in an environment where she is 1 of 30 children or where she will be tested and tested and tested to use her as a statistic in her school district. No thanks. So, my dreams changed.
It’s been 3 1/2 years since I gave birth to sweet Boogie, and during that time I’ve dreamed of many careers for my future, and if I’m being completely honest, I’ve been rotating between three specific jobs over and over and over. So I’m going to share all three.
In the forefront of my mind my dream job would be to become a birth doula. A birth doula is there to support the momma (and her spouse or family!) during her labor, the birth of her child, and for postpartum care (granted, some doulas only are there for labor and birth and then there are separate doulas for postpartum…. but I would want to be available for both). I LOVE giving birth. My birth experience with Boogie wasn’t what I dreamt it would be, but the miracle of her coming into the world was AMAZING. Then Bubby’s birth was just… it was breathtaking (and I kind of mean that literally… that was intense!). I would love the chance to be there for other mommas during the miracle of their sweet baby’s birth. Too help educate them on natural labor and birth, to educate them on breastfeeding and MORE!
Second, another dream of mine is to be a lactation consultant. My biggest dilemma with this, is that if I really wanted to impact a lot of people, I would need to go to school to be an RN first. That’s a lot of schooling, and a lot of time away from my babies if I decide to pursue that career. It would be well worth it, but if this is the path I choose, it would have to be when my children are much older and much more self-sufficient. There is so much bad information out there about breastfeeding, and so many uneducated nurses who work with labor and deliver and mother baby units, not because they MEAN to give out bad information, but most of the time that’s NOT something they really learn about or focus on when they go to school. I want the chance to really make an impact on new moms and moms to be. The county we live in especially needs more lactation consultants, for our one hospital there are TWO, and then ONE for the WIC office. There aren’t any classes or educational outreach programs, there aren’t any peer groups… it’s ridiculous! So yea… another dream of mine.
Lastly, this dream is a little more far-fetched, I don’t know if I could ever afford to do something like this but it would be AMAZING. I’d love to open up a children’s shop. Just something small that carries organic, natural products for children and families, cloth diapers (though we have personally stopped cloth diapering… that’s a whole different story though and I can’t tell you I’m happy about it), woven wraps, soft structured carriers, mommy necklaces, wooden toys, clothing… maybe even a small consignment area for clothing. I’d want to have babywearing classes, birth classes, breastfeeding classes, cloth diapering classes, play groups… all kinds of amazing things to reach out to the community. It’s a risky endeavor though… and my community probably wouldn’t embrace something like that. Our hometown would though!
So there you have it… maybe not answered entirely correctly, but those are my dream jobs!