Inventory

I survived my very first prenatal :)

More importantly, the client still likes me and wants me to be her midwife. It actually went really well, considering I had to compete with a three-year-old for my client's attention. I kinda envy the OB who can get away with a 10-minute in and out prenatal visit. Midwives involve the other siblings (and grandmas) in every visit, so during and in between our chats about nutrition, birth plans, and the financial agreement, we also field questions from the little ones about whether we'd like to see their entire My Little Pony/Star Wars/Lego collection or whether we'd like to play knock-over-the-tower-of-blocks with them, or (my personal favorite) whether we'd like to meet and hold their pet chicken who lives in the house and objects to being held.

To prove that we're kid-friendly (a nice way of saying we know how to prevent tantrums caused by lack of attention), we invent ways toddlers can "help" during an exam, like holding one end of the tape measure while we get the other, or pushing the button on the fancy thermometer. Part of the reason our visits are long is because we find ourselves listening to the mom's heart, the kid's heart, and the teddy bear's heart ("nice and strong - Teddy must be eating all his vegetables!") and figuring out ways to chart while we have a toddler on our lap. Of course, while the performance/prenatal exam is underway, grandma is typically in the corner with the classic just-how-much-experience-do-you-have look on her face, thus requiring some personalized attention of her own.

This is the stuff they don't teach in midwifery school. Fortunately, I did a ton of close observing during my apprenticeship, so I managed to muddle through on my own alright. I love the experience of involving the entire family, but omg, I was wiped when I got home.

Today, I started the process of taking inventory of all my supplies and equipment. I'm trying to figure out how to get insurance coverage for my stuff, but in the meantime, I have to figure out how much my business is worth. This morning, I tackled my stash of books, DVDs, magazines, and journals. Not including the big ol' stack of 50+ books that I haven't yet read, my total came out to $5000. Goodness.

I got an email from Amazon saying my shipments are being delayed because of severe weather. Ah, man.

My bedtime reading right now is a book called Today's Moms. It's very cute. It was written by a couple producers of The Today Show on NBC, and it includes snippets of parenting advice from all kinds of staff at The Today Show, including the big name anchors.

Tomorrow, I hope to get all my supplies and equipment inventoried and valued. I have to unpack all my bags, take pictures of everything I carry in my car, and make a list of what is found where. I have to count up all the medications, herbs, and homeopathic remedies I carry and enter their expiration info on a huge spreadsheet. Every needle, chux, and pack of gauze needs to counted. What a huge project. I'm tired just thinking about it. I wonder if it's too early to find myself an intern.