Birth Bag

This was a fun module. It was all about gathering the supplies I need for births and home visits and figuring out how to pack them in my trunk. I also made a list of the things I still need to buy for my practice.

Speaking of "my" practice, I came to a realization not so long ago about how this is all going to work. T and I are going to work together, but we'll each have our own practices. It's the best set up, really, because we get to do all kinds of things together (like create forms, learn insurance billing, etc) and share all our expensive supplies, but we still get to be independent practitioners with our own client base. We'll back each other up and be each other's assistant. It feels really good knowing I can rely on her, I trust her, and I like her. Oh yeah, and she feels the same about me.

I'm still working on a name for my practice, but I'm leaning toward Yellow Rose Midwifery. Louis thinks it's too boring, so I'm still open to suggestions.

After working on this module, I started adding a few items to my Amazon wish list using the universal wish list function. It's amazing how many more (expensive) things I still need to buy. A hemoglobinometer is like, seven hundred bucks, or something. A fancy, professional thermometer is more than four hundred. I won't even get started on the set of German steel birth instruments and suturing instruments I need. It feels like it's going to take me so long before I start seeing a profit from my humble little business.

Even the little things are adding up. I still need to buy cups for urine samples, paper tape measures, doppler gel, an extra stethoscope, etc. For now, everything I own and use is packed in my trunk. It will live there permanently, so that I'm always prepared for a birth. Once I'm licensed, I'll start carrying oxygen tanks around with me. It kinda makes me nervous considering how fast I drive, but it makes me more nervous to think about being at a birth without oxygen.

I'm so excited to be getting started as a new midwife. I'm still trying to figure out what supplies I want to have with me at a birth. How much of my preceptor's style will I copy? How many supplies will I ask the client to buy ahead of time? What kind of sutures will I prefer to use? What kind of gloves do I want? How am I gonna sterilize stuff?

I can't believe I'm the one making all the decisions now. Fortunately I can just call up T and be like, "you wanna order a case of 50 peri bottles and split the cost with me?" and she'll be like, "sure." It's cool. I'm going it alone, but I'm not really alone.