Life on the road...

Brain dead but blogging- completed my whirlwind trip to St. Louis yesterday- 8 hours of roundtrip driving! My buddy Charlene was supposed to help me drive back, but she has night blindness, so she contributed by talking to me and keeping me awake. We had our state breastfeeding coalition meeting at St. John's Hospital. What an awesome facility. That place was huge- 8600 births a year (about 10% of folks born in MO are born there). The L&D, a well baby nursery, an admit nursery, NICU, stepdown NICU, and postpartum units were spead over 4 floors and they are building a new building to add even more! Their new NICU was particularly swank- it had private 'pods' (private rooms) like an adult ICU would have, not just an open wards of isolettes like most NICUs I've seen. The NICU stepdown (also something I've never seen) was for feeder/growers (this is lingo for babies who are not sick, just small). Thier NICU even has a 'milk tech'- a job I've never heard of. This person's job is to mix the special formulas for the NICU babies including human milk coming from the banks in Denver and Texas. Just the new NICU expansion we toured was ADDING 46 beds!!! They deliver on average 25 babies a day! Thier NICU pods included a room for quadruplets! This place was really impressive in its scope. They have a staff of 5 lactation consultants not including the 2 who are dedicated to the NICUs. Having said that, we didn't get to tour the labor and delivery unit, (but in my mind I imagine a giant conveyor belt)! I heard something about a 40% c/s rate (they weren't shouting that from the rooftops). But all in all an impressive facility with wonderful hospitality. Our hostess for the day touted that hospitality was a conerstone of their philosophy of care- and it showed, in many small ways and interactions with the staff. The meeting itself was cordial and productive. We had about 20 attendees from throughout MO (1 Kansan, and 1 Illini), and we voted in the officers, and bylaws. The website is up and going http://mobreastfeeding.org and we gave feedback on what kinds of information should be included on it. It was nice to see so much diversity, folks from large and small hospitals, folks from cities and rural areas, folks from outside the hospitals, folks who were and were not LCs, folks from government agencies, folks in private practice, and folks from non-profs. We also discussed ongoing plans for statewide activity (or what will be the primary role and function of our organization). We ended the day planning for the next meeting. I liked that we also discussed our sister organization in Kansas (no website as yet but they are a really productive group) and what we can do collaboratively with them. For those reader who want to get involved with a breastfeeding coalition in your own state, follow this link to the US Breastfeeding Committee. They have all the state coalitions listed. We had a productive meeting and a much nicer drive back home (thanks to Charlene). Today, I look forward to a relaxing date with my husband tonite at a church dinner, a movie with my daughters this afternoon, and shopping for myself for a coat and boots. First things first- I need to get payroll done at the office. I'll enjoy this relaxing weekend. Next weekend, its two more 12 hours shifts at the hospital with my students. Life is good.