Talk about being all about kids. Between managing a busy pediatric practice in Jackson and having raised six children of their own, Amelia and David Self, live, eat, breath and sleep kids. Being so immersed in kids has a given these pediatricians, who are first generation physicians in their families, a wealth of practical knowledge that they can share with patients and parents in their practice as well as in their own home.
For Amelia, who was named for her grandmother, growing up in Hartsville which is in the smallest county in the state of Tennessee where farming was king meant going to college was the exception not the norm. Her graduating class had 43 in it, with only ten of those going on to college or trade school. Amelia started college at the University of Alabama with plans to study criminal justice and eventually go to law school but instead transferred to Middle Tennessee State University. She also realized she enjoyed biology and chemistry so much that she changed her major to pre-med, which did not surprise her family at all.
“My mother had gone to nursing school but never finished so we had medical books around our house while I was growing up and I always loved to look through them. Of course, going to medical school was a dream where I grew up but my family was very supportive of me pursuing it,” said Amelia. “After taking biology and chemistry as prerequisites at Alabama, I was hooked and realized medicine was where my heart was and that was confirmed even more as I pursued a pre-med degree at MTSU.”
For David, who grew up in Brentwood, medicine was what he knew he wanted to pursue since he was a small child. After graduating from Lipscomb High School, David started college at Vanderbilt then transferred to Lipscomb University where he graduated with a pre-med degree.
The couple met while in medical school at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City and married in their last year there. While the Selfs agreed to a lifetime together, they did not initially agree on pursuing the same specialty. David was drawn to pediatrics all along but almost went the obstetrics route. Amelia originally thought psychiatry.
The couple matched for their respective internships at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. “While we were in medical school, the pediatric program was really just getting started so I did not have a lot of exposure to working with children but I knew I wanted to go into child and adolescent psychiatry,” said Amelia. “During my year long internship I realized it wasn’t psychiatry I wanted, it was working with kids. So when I finished up my internship, I did one in pediatrics which put me a year behind David, who had already started his pediatric residency which meant when I started he could be my boss. After one rotation, that did not happen again because I wanted to chart my own course and did not want people to think I was getting any breaks.”
While the Selfs were busy with interning and starting a residency, life at home was also busy with two kids, a daughter and a son and only got busier. Their third child, a son, arrived at the end of Amy’s psychiatry internship with the fourth, also a boy, coming in the first year of her pediatric residency. “Funny thing about our residencies was that the kids always knew one parent was coming home, just they never knew which one would it be,” said David. “We would just sort of pass each other. We might be home together one or two nights out of four. It was tough with no family there but we made it with the help of sitters. Only one had to spend any time in day care.”
While David waited for Amy to finish her residency, he went into private practice in Augusta. “When Amy came out of residency she was asked to stay on as a professor at the Medical College,” said David. “And she was contacted by the Children’s Clinic in Jackson about an opportunity to join their group. Although they were initially looking for one doctor, they were willing to take both of us. Moving to Jackson meant we could be closer to our families, while we were growing our own.”
Within ten months of arriving in Jackson, their household grew to include one girl and four boys. Four years later, the last son arrived. Today, the family has four kids out of the house, one which has graduated college heading to graduate school, one who is married with three children and lives in Texas, one who works for Eco-Lab, a junior in college, one who will start college this Fall and the youngest who will enter high school this Fall.
One may ask how they managed six children and a busy pediatric practice. Amy says putting kids first, whether that was in the office or at home, was key. “David and I have always had different days off is that helped with the kids schedules. We were also fortunate to have great babysitters that could help with carpool or with the kids until they were old enough to go to school,” she said. “Things were hectic with running a practice and managing kids, but we always made sure to spend quality time with our own children. I honestly can say I miss all the kids being here everyday. I am so thankful we have four more years before the last one is out of the house.”
Raising six children has given the Selfs wisdom far beyond what a textbook can provide and they draw upon their own experiences when dealing with patients. “I tell patients that about 50 percent of what I know is from a textbook and the rest is from life experience,” said Amelia. “I don’t know how you can do pediatrics without having kids. It all comes to life when you have a household. Each one is different and has their own unique personality. And with six, we have had quite a variety of an education with which we can share with patients.”
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