EP34 | Why We're Falling in Love With Virtual Visits

Leah: Well, hello, Annie.

Annie: Hey, Leah. How are you?

Leah: I'm doing well. How are you doing?

Annie: I'm good. I am recording this from my bedroom where I spend all of my time these days because I am at home. And at the time of this recording, it's near the end of April. We are staying home at least through May 15th. So we'll see how much longer that goes, but hasn't been so bad. I like my apartment. I feel like I'm appreciating all the many corners of my apartment. In a new way,

Leah: I definitely can resonate with that so much. I am, you know, I've said before, I podcast from my closet because it's like the only sound proof ish area in my entire house. And that's taken a whole new meaning now because I have six people and, and two dogs in my house. So, you know, the thought of getting a quiet space to like actually podcast in peace is, has a whole new level of um, challenge, but hey, it's been a learning curve and we're learning and I'm trying to just, you know, like you kind of appreciate all these little moments that I am getting to. grow and figure things out, you know, so it's a very interesting time in all of our lives. I know we're really all communing in that we're all in this together and figuring it out together vibe and I really appreciate that.

Annie: I know I haven't really talked to anyone who feels Like they're not affected. I think we're all struggling in different ways. You know, there's, you know, the health impact. Some people get sick or people are getting it or getting sick with other things and like, Oh my gosh, do I have to go to the doctor now? And then, you know, just I think most of us are experiencing some kind of financial impact on our private practices just as business owners because of the restrictions and, you know, all of those considerations and just the, you know, the Stress of being in a pandemic that we're all living with just on a daily basis, you know, virtual hugs is.

Leah: I know, I feel like I have to, you know, try new ways to connect with people has been a real challenge, you know, but you have to like really reach out and hug virtually and connect virtually. It's been such a huge just turn in our lives. You know, I always keep thinking back. We'll never forget these times.

Annie: We'll never forget these times. And you know, all of you who are listening and sitting here and saying, yeah, these times, everybody keeps saying these times and like, what else? Like language fails in a pandemic. They are unprecedented. They are something we could never Every cliche on all those emails you're getting from like every corporation. Yeah. In these unprecedented times,

Leah: How, I think that's the title of like 25% of the emails that are in my inboxes

Annie: I know. And I'm like these may be unprecedented times, but your subject line is not unprecedented at all. ? Yes.

Leah: Can we come up with a new word for that? Because I am just overhearing that. Be the start of like every newscast every email. I'm like,

Annie: I'm over it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, we are Looking forward to being on the other side of all of this, but we're here and we are going to try to make the best out of what we have. And as Leah and I were talking about the topic for this episode, what we realized is that there's a lot. of good that's available to us. So we're hoping to just give you guys some inspiration, some ideas for moving forward with your private practice, continuing to help families, even if you're doing something you've never done before. If this is your first time doing virtual visits and you are like, Oh my gosh, I don't know if this is for me. Well, Leah, how did you feel when you started jumping into virtual visits?

Leah: I definitely felt like I was jumping into the deep end and forgot how to swim. That's kind of how it felt in the beginning, but I just was trying really hard to remember that. If I could just keep an open mind and be patient and calm, like it would come to me because it can, you know, I'm still in front of the family. I'm still there with them. And I felt like, okay, I know this can work out. I know other people are making this work, you know, so I was just like, took a deep breath and jumped and really surprised myself. Actually, the first day I was so scared. I was thinking, what if this is like a total fail? And what will that mean? And then I left that day like really inspired. And I was like, Oh, wow. Okay. I know there's still gonna be a lot of rough patches, but was so like, Okay, this is a viable option. And since then, that that vibe and feeling from me has continued to grow, which has been really nice because in the beginning I You know, like many of us, I felt very, you know, kind of hopeless. Like, gosh, how is this all going to work out? And, and will this even be doable? And now learning more with all of you guys, alongside all of you guys, learning and growing and learning new skills and tapping into old skills that I had kind of pushed to the side that I wasn't needing. So, It's been an interesting journey for sure and has left me feeling pretty inspired in a lot of ways. How about you, Annie?

Annie: Yeah, I mean, I think the same. I hadn't done virtual visits before I had to, and I had always thought, I had never really considered them for myself. A lot of that probably had to do with the fact that until this fall, my children were homeschooled. Irony of ironies. They love that they are homeschooled again, it's going to be a problem when the schools actually reopen and they're like, not going to want to go back. But I never had a sense of being alone in my apartment until this year when my kids were in school. But even so I was like, Oh, maybe I would want a physical office one day. And now that virtual consults are here. And I was like, I guess I got to learn how to do this. That leads us to the topic of our episode today, which is why we're falling in love with virtual visits. And so before we get into some specific ways that Leah and I have found virtual consults really working for us and for our clients, Leah, what is your. Motivation for today.

Leah: Well, I really wanted to inspire you to think about this not being a moment where we're going to react like, Oh, we have to do virtual visits now and like we're being reactive and kind of forced into something, but to really start to seek where your strong points are in that and then use that for both motivation in yourself and also if you're going to be marketing, like not marketing from An angle of now we have to do virtual visits and they might not be as good as, you know, in person, but this is what we're forced to do, but coming from the angle of all the good that can come out of a virtual visit that we can get so much benefit out of it. And keep families and ourselves safe during this time. So I really feel like, you know, if we just change the, our perspective and ourselves, it helps you the way you're going to come to your client, but it also helps how you're going to come to those that you want to promote your services to as well. So just that shift from, I don't have to do this. We can do this and it has so many benefits and these are the points that are really strong for me. And it could be different for every lactation consultant, you know, what points are strong for you in virtual visits and then really tap into that strength that you have inside of you.

Annie: What I love about that is that it gets us thinking not about what I'm Missing or what's been lost, but about what is right there and what can be made the most of and to think like, okay, yeah, I'm grieving many things about the world right now, but now I have this whole new area I can go into that that has so many benefits. So I think using that in your marketing, on your website, in your social media, the way you're presenting your services to your community, I think will also feel really good to them because now they're not like, Oh, it's just like a subpar backup, but more like, Oh, this is really exactly what I am looking for. So thanks for that. So the big thing about virtual visits, that's been the shift for me and Leah is that. We're not doing home visits and sure, it's sad. I like going to people's homes. I like, you know, holding their babies, but there are some things about not going to people's homes that I'm super into. What about you, Leah?

Leah: Totally. Um, point a would be driving, driving and no more driving. No more driving. I love that. I can not drive, but still have all this connection. But then the other thing is, my reach is so much further. Because here in Houston, we, well, and I know for you, it's, y'all are closer together, but the traffic is horrible. And here in Houston, the traffic is horrible and we're more spread out. So it's like, there were days I would be driving for three hours a day. You know, I mean, we would just be so Much driving which took away so many things, you know, and I've said before I've made the best of it You know, I'd listen to podcasts and read books. I tried to make the best out of it So those things have gone to the wayside. I haven't had that time but What I'm finding is that I my reaches further my ability to put more people in in a day So I can see more people in a day, which is really awesome. And like, I can get to people so quickly. So as before, somebody could call that same day, but if I'm on the other side of town, I could potentially have like, quote unquote, the time. But with added drive time, I can't make it work. You know, I would get home at 8 p. m., because I had to drive an hour. And so now it's like, yeah, somebody can call in the morning, and I can say, yeah, you, I have space for you, because I don't have to think about the logistics of How can, how am I going to get to you? You know, so that's been, that's been huge and I really am appreciating that so much right now. I know I'll like going back to my job.

Annie: I am loving It's, I mean, when I think about my days and how I would have to schedule things, you know, in a school day, needing to get home by three to get my younger daughter from school, I really can only fit two home visits into that time. And between the driving, looking for parking, having to figure out how to eat lunch. At some point, there's really only the possibility of fitting two visits into a day. Whereas with virtuals, I can do many more. I can see people at later times in the day because I'm not having to think about like, okay, I have to end by this time. So I can drive home and eat dinner. I'm like, oh, I can like, Pop dinner in the instant pot and then go do a virtual visit and then come back out dinners ready And the other thing though too that I realized very quickly It was that I was able to see more people because I'm making my visits shorter and they're happening more frequently So just like we tell families where their babies are dealing with reflux, we'll try shorter, more frequent feedings. Well now I can tell my families that are having complicated breastfeeding problems, let's try shorter, more frequent visits. And my family's really like them and I love them. I love being able to say, okay, let's check in on Friday. And they're like, great. I love it.

Leah: Yes, I'm totally seeing the same thing. Like I'm seeing so many more follow ups, which is so good because it's such, it's not so overwhelming for the family because they're already so overwhelmed. So we can like have more single focus. visit like, okay, we're going to focus on this today and then we're going to come back on Friday and we're going to kind of add to this and look at a couple of new things on Friday. And I think the families are loving that because I know they're overwhelmed right now anyway, and unsure, and this gives them a way to like have assurance that we have these touch points planned. And I just think it's really building their confidence too. And they're. reassurance that there's support there for them and easy access to that support.

Annie: And I think they like that there's something scheduled where they're going to talk to somebody who is interested in their problems with their baby and they're feeding and they're just being a new mom. You know, they're just, I would think back to when I was a new mom and the thought of like, if I had like the ability to talk on the phone with. Somebody who cared about me and could help me a couple of times a week, that would have been amazing, like, you know, and that's totally, and I feel like some of my families, they're, they're just showing up because we have a, now we have like a nice rapport and it's a check in, not necessarily even to, because we have to change anything or, but because they just want to say, okay, here's what's happening. And I'm like, great, you're doing an amazing job. And. Yeah. Just keep going and they're like, okay, can we see you again? You know, early next week. Yes, you can. I love it. Yeah,

Leah: I definitely am loving that part of it, and it's just, it's so, I don't know, it just feels so much easier. I think once you take out all those logistical aspects, it really is feeling like such an easy thing to offer so much more. Whereas before, I really would have to think in my head, okay, could I get to them Friday or would I need to think, you know what, I'm like trying to think the next. I'm available so that I could recommend them, you know,

Annie: or they would call you and, you know, be somebody that you've seen a few times and say, Oh, I want to have a consult to get ready to go back to work. And you're like, Oh, I, yes, I want to do it. But I would sometimes be like, from a triage perspective, I have these clients that have more urgent needs and I can't squeeze you in. But now I'm like, yeah, we could totally do that. You want to you want to do one in a couple of months for starting solids, like a lot of different visit types that I've never thought about offering, like, you know, flange fittings or starting solids would be one weaning some things where people are just not in my area or like, maybe it's me. I don't know. They don't. want me to come to my house for a 30 minute pump session. I don't also want to spend an hour in the car for 30 minutes to talk about this, but like, oh my gosh, I could totally do that through a screen. And so it makes me feel excited about the different kinds of services that I can offer and ways that I can reach people who would have just, I can't help them because of the limitations of home visits. And so really seeing virtuals as an advantage. And with that, that I've just been appreciating so much, which is I'm really returning in a lot of ways to my roots as a peer to peer counselor and doing parent to parent support, counseling, listening, empathetic responses, where I just really need them to Tell me what's happening. And that's not always something that has happened for me in a home visit where the focus is so clinical and on that evaluation. And let's, you know, get the baby weighed and dress undressed in a dry diaper and get on the scale. And let's get, you know, move, move everybody's bodies around and And of course, we're doing counseling and all of that, and we're listening or empathizing. But here it's like, you know, just remembering when I used to be just a voice on the phone to the people who are calling with, with problems. And when I was doing that, I felt like I was helping them. I've been loving that. What about you?

Leah: Yeah, well, you know, we both come from the same background, from that peer to peer support background, and I am totally tapping into so many more of those communication skills training that I had during my legislature league years. And really feeling Like, we, we need to elicit from the family so much more information versus us, like, taking it in from being present. And so, it really has opened up so much more communication. I mean, I think, yes, I can get that in person as well, but This need to like get their take on things even more so and guiding them into assessing their own situation and then being able to really help them communicate that and for me to Be able to listen and be very empathetic, but then also really empowering them In their abilities, and that's all things that I learned in that time that I was a peer to peer support and yeah, I mean, I just go back to all the years that I spent like really impacting people with just a phone, you know, and like you add video to that. I'm like, this is. So powerful. This is so, so powerful, the work that we can do and now being able to really couple that, um, in a new way. It's been great and it's really helped me to develop some of these skills even more. So, so I look forward to the time that I would be, be able to get back in person with someone, and I think it's enhanced my skills, you know, like I'll take these, these learning moments with me forward, these things that I've figured out and that's really exciting to me.

Annie: It's like a muscle that was there and it was strong, but I'm like, Oh, now it's got to be a lot stronger. And that's only going to be good for everything else that I bring to a clinical situation in a home. And what you said too, about empowering the parent is that more than ever, I think the people coming to us. They're not expecting me to be, you know, the magician with the magic hands, who's going to fix their problems. They're coming because they want help and they want somebody to talk to, and they need ideas. But everybody knows that they have to do them. And I think there's a sense, at least I'm seeing from my clients, that it's not that they're trying harder because parents always try. I mean, parents, they're amazing when their babies are struggling. They're always doing so much and going so far. And I feel like there's, maybe it's that. The fact that I'm not there in person centers them where they feel like they're willing to trust their own strength more that because they have to. And, I actually really, really love that.

Leah: I 100 percent feel like, you know, the parents are coming out of these virtual visits knowing that they're the ones that impacted the changes that just occurred. They're the ones that got their non latching baby to latch. It wasn't because the lactation consultant came and Pulled the baby into the breast just so and that's how the latch was happening. It's them and it's just us guiding them to their own. ability, you know, and I just think it's so amazing to see this different. It feels a little different to me, like how much ownership they're taking in the good outcomes they're seeing versus before. I think they would lean on us. And let that be kind of owned by us. It was us who came in. We showed them what to do. We did it with them. You know, they lean on us, but now they can't lean on us and they can really stand in their own ability and their own power to do it. You know, and I think it's just, I don't know. I think it's so awesome. And I will sit there in the consult and I will like remind them. I'm like, that was. All you mama, like you just did that. Can you believe, you know, and I'm just like trying to reiterate to them or just like help them see, like, guess what? You are breastfeeding your baby for the first time right now. Like, do you know you just accomplished that? Like you did that. And they're just like glowing and so happy and they don't have to think, well, it's because you just did it. So that's why, you know, they don't have us to lean on. So

Annie: I don't know. I love it. I'm seeing that. I'm seeing that too. I love it. And it just reminds me of what is. What are we here for? We're here for their goals, and we're here to lead them to self efficacy. And so we always we want always want our families to feel like I'm the one doing this. I have what it takes to do this. I'm the expert in my baby, and I feel like I'm seeing how Virch, the virtual, the limitations of virtual actually make it more easy to get that point across to families like this is your journey, your baby, your strength, your love. I'm just here along the side to facilitate amazingness with your new family.

Leah: Yeah, like you're saying, it's, it's not that those things aren't happening in a home visit, because they are, but to get to that, to get them to believe. That they're the ones that did it. Even if I have my hands off and I am not latching, you know, like, I'm not helping and I'll tell them, okay, you just did that and but if I'm standing right by them, they still think it was something that I magically brought into the room or something, you know, and I have to convince them and have them try it again and do it again. But this just like happens. It's just happening, and they own it so much easier and so much quicker. They believe in themselves so much quicker than, you know, the 10 minutes. I'm gonna have to convince them that they can do it. in a home visit, you know, I have to like work really hard for that. And then this way, it's like they own it so much quicker. And that's just so powerful. And what a great reminder for us as lactation consultants that we are not the doers, we're the coaches, we're the guides, we're the information sharers. And these parents are really The essential person for making this happen, you know, absolutely.

Annie: And it feels to like it's been a good antidote to some of the burnout that came on so quickly as I rushed to pivot my business to virtual and just dealing with just all of the personal and emotional and physical impact of all of the changes that were Thrust upon me. And I got to a point where I was like, I'm, I'm so burned out and it happened so fast. And I think that burnout feeling is a natural response to trauma, which is what we're in right now. And I've been so refreshed by being forced to remember that it's the family's doing the work. And then it does, it has fed me emotionally and been something that has really helped me look forward to my virtual visits and look forward to meeting these people and being with these families and seeing how they're surviving and thriving and all that good stuff. And then like my, I'm going to, Tell you my favorite thing about virtual visits is, you know, how, like at the end of a zoom call, there's always the part where we're like, okay, bye. And everybody's like, okay, bye. The person running the meeting is like trying to end it, but you're like, okay, bye. While you're trying to close your screen. I love it. My virtual visits that the families tip the camera down so I can say goodbye to the baby. And it's like, I'm like, goodbye.

Leah: We're doing Dusty.

Annie: Astute! Okay, goodbye! And then I'm like, okay, close my screen. Yeah.

Leah: I had that happen yesterday, and totally, I don't know how this baby, like, totally smiled. And I was like, what? This is amazing! And it was like, I wanted a screen capture of that. I was so sad. I'm like, that was the best moment and made my day. It totally made my day. What's so fun to have this shift? I know there's been so much trauma and overwhelmed for all of us, and it's not that we're trying to be Pollyanna and just like, Oh, everything can be turned to a positive. But I think there are some really good things that are coming out of these virtual visits and that it's a place where we can grow and learn and, you know, do our best and a good reminder that even in the hardest of times, you can really try to rise from it. And, and that's what we're doing. Yeah. So I know you have a tech tip for us that's going to help us be even more effective with these virtual visits. What you got?

Annie: I do. So you may already know this tech tip because we're all like experts on Zoom calls and Google hangouts and all of that, but wherever you're sitting at your desk or if you have a standing desk, take a look at how high your screen is because if it's too low, your camera is going to be looking up your nose and that's not so fun. So I have my camera, my. laptop is actually on on top of the breastfeeding Atlas and the breastfeeding textbook that just got a new edition came out and then like a nonfiction book and a fiction book and then it's up here and I'm also like it's a really tall table and my chair is down really low. So just. Because I don't want anybody looking at my nose and also like I took my head back. You can see my eye bags. So I'm trying to trying to just like minimize any unpleasant distractions for the families who have to stare at my face and also because I'm staring at my own face, which is also weird and interesting to imagine the impact that is going to have on all of us of like staring at our own faces for hours a day. But that'll be that's some. Psychological that's a book like a Malcolm Gladwell book or something. I don't know. So,

Leah: Well, I have also bought, I bought, I've been doing mine from my phone. We're using the spruce app and so it's on my phone. And so I bought a little stand that like you can. Bend the little arms of the stand all different ways. So I've been able to like really tweak the angle of the camera, but then the camera is like completely out of my hands and it's just standing next to my computer. So then I can look like right at them, but still be like typing and everything. So good. I definitely think the angles make all the difference in the world.

Annie: You're sure? It's true.

Leah: It's kind to the parents to make sure we have good angles, right? We're trying to be kind in that moment.

Annie: Exactly. Well, this has been so fun. I'm glad we're finally back podcasting together, recording, and we will see you next time. Yep. See you soon. Okay, bye. Bye.

Leah: Bye.