Sarah et al --
I have to say I feel truly privileged to be a family physician.  Doing
"womb-to-tomb" medicine, I have many multigenerational families in my
practice.  Since I do provide maternity care, I have the opportunity to work
with families as they think about having children, during the pregnancy,
during the birth (where I usually consider myself as the "assistant", helping
mom and her partner to birth their own child), and then I have the joy of
caring for the new infant.  This continuum of care allows me so many
opportunities to promote family health, and there is nothing that fulfills
the concept of family health better than breastfeeding.  For me, being an FP
is truly a calling from G-d, giving me the opportunity to help so many
people.  I've wanted to be a doc since I was 4 years old, and can't imagine
myself doing anything else in terms of a job (of course, being a mom is a
full time job, but we're talking about professions here).

The only difficulty w/ my chosen profession is that, ironically, it is
difficult for me to bring my children to work w/ me.  Despite this, I did BF
my first for 15 months (I did grow to loathe my pump though).  Because of
this, I have chosen to take almost a year away from formal work (although I
seem to be doing bits and pieces that allow me to be a mom first, doc
second).  Also, when I do go back to work, I'm going into academic medicine,
which will allow me more control over my schedule, more time w/ my family,
and more opportunities to influence future generations of docs to be active
supporters of BF.

A long answer to a short question, but something i care about a great deal.
Thanks for asking!

Elizabeth Steiner MD, FAAFP
Portland OR

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