I’m not really a morning person. Really, I’m not. After a late night on Bourbon St., teaching a 7:00 am class was a bit of a challenge… especially on the horrible in-room coffee at the hotel.
Now, there was a bit of a snafu – the title and description of the morning yoga class was incorrect. It was actually the title and description of the first half of my 4-hr session. Oops. So, needless to say, expectations were not met for the workshop.
That said; I had a great class. I taught an abbreviated prenatal yoga class, with some modifications for my students. We still did our opening mantra, “keep-up” and closing song. I had a number of compliments after class. All was well with the world… other than a great need for breakfast.
After joining my colleagues for food and chatting, I headed off to a session on social media to enhance our classroom teaching with Jeanette & Sharon. It was a well presented session. Many of the social media tools, I already use for Shining Light Prenatal Education, but there were a smattering of things that were new to me that are implementable. I enjoyed their session.
Next up, I went to Carrie’s session on “Birthing a Business”. I never would have known it was her first time speaking, if she hadn’t told me. I’m glad I met her. I think she and I may have some collaboration to do, down the road.
I have to say, I’m really glad Lamaze had a handful of sessions on the business side of teaching. This will help more educators choose the independent path. We need more independent educators. I will opine that it will build Lamaze’s credibility among the new generation of mothers if we take ourselves out of the hospitals and move back into the communities. It makes us more accessible and less parental. We will be better able to communicate as peers and mentors, rather than as an authority. (this feels like a whole other blog post…)
Note: I am presenting a small business webinar on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
Making the Most of Your Childbirth Education Business
After Carrie’s session, we had lunch and then I stole her and (I am so terrible with names!) another LCCE away to go visit St. Louis 1. How could I not be in NOLA and miss out on the cemeteries?
There was a grand total of ONE rain cloud. I felt like I was in a cartoon. We got rained on, but across the street it was dry. Didn’t matter. It was well worth it to meander through the old stones and old bones. I left Marie Laveau an offering (better safe than sorry!). We had some good conversation and broke through some fears. It was an interesting journey.
Wandering back through the French Quarter, I ended up buying handmade pralines and chocolate to bring home to my family. I left my new friends back at the hotel and went back out to wander a city full of amazing diversity and openness. The vibe of this city is alive. I miss it now that I’m home.
I choose to attend the planned social event at Café Soule without having knowledge that there would be a parade, with a band, up Bourbon St to the restaurant.
My Facebook status: “Oh dear… You know that feeling when, as a kid you are totally embarrassed by you parents… Yeah that was me tonight, following the band up Bourbon st with the Lamaze parade to dinner tonight. #introvert”
There were random people photographing and filming us as we walked. I was not particularly comfortable with it. But the nice man with the blow-up doll actually inquired as to why we were in a parade. When I told him we were childbirth educators, he thought for a moment, looked a the blow-up doll and quipped, “well, it’s kinda related.” *facepalm*
Dinner was decent. The conversation was wonderful – so much so that our table ended up staying far later than intended. We got a bit of a private tour and a history of the restaurant and the building after we were finished.
After getting back to the hotel, I was in time for the Lamaze ‘tweet-up’. There were, eh, about a dozen of us hanging out in the upstairs common area. We chatted late into the night. I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom:
Up next, Day 4 and going home.
Previous posts in this series:
Word!