Question for Homebirth Midwives...

[MonkeyPrincess]

...do you go to your client for prenatals? Or do they generally come to you - your house/office?

[JunipersMom]

I go to them.. because:
1. I cant afford the overhead of having an office right now
2. I'm not going to clean my house for appointments each week
3. I learn alot about families by being in their environment, that helps me as I'm learning to help them
4. Leaving an appointment is much easier than getting chatty's to leave your house

[Maggi315]

Right now, I have 3 options.

Home office:
advantages:
-I don'thave to travel
-can't forget anything I need
-can schedule more people in shorter period of time
disadvantages:
-have to clean house, which totally stresses me out since it stays that way for about 10 minutes
-they bring their kids, which is fine, but sometimes they trash house and leave or fight with my kids
-my kids are constantly bugging me
-and the big one: THEY DON'T LEAVE AND STAY FOREVER!!!

Their homes:
Advantages:
-I can come and leave when I want
-no cleaning involved!
-gives me a better idea of how they live, what needs to be addressed, problems specific to them
Disadvantages:
-my clients are very rural, I put alot of gas on car
-I can only see 3-4 patients in a day
-If I only need to one prenatal, it's 2 hours driving time
-need to get a babysitter for all these prenatals
-mom always seems to be gone
-no matter how hard I try, I ALWAYS forget something I need! Like a handout, a book, a piece of equipment, lab values, something!

Office Rental Space: Starting next month, I will be renting out space from two nurse practitioners on an hourly basis:
Advantages:
-nice compromise between other two options
-more professional, people won't think they can hang out all day
-no cleaning!!yeah!
-can use some of their equipment, have stirups and lights which makes pap smears MUCH easier than trying to do on end of bed
-can see lots more patients quickly and be away from home less
Disadvantages:
-can still forget things
-won't work well for my horse and buggy clients
-location isn't convenient for everyone
-cost to rent space eats out of my profit


Wow, that's probably more than you wanted, huh?

[MonkeyPrincess]

Originally Posted by Maggi315

Wow, that's probably more than you wanted, huh?

Nope, its just what I wanted.

Thanks to both of you for answering! I was thinking it would be nice to go to their house, so they get used to/comfortable with their midwife being in their space.

p.s. Barb, I live in PA and have 5 kids, too!

[courtenay_e]

Well, here's maybe another option for you. I assist for a midwife who does this: she chooses the client with the most space and the farthest away due date (and sometimes the most centrally located home), and asks her to host prenatals for the next few months. Everybody gathers at HER house once a month for prenatals. Then, as she nears her due date (usually at the 8 month visit), the midwife finds another volunteer to host for the NEXT several months.

It just so happens that, right now, they're at MY house, as my house is really the only central point for the clients she currently has. It benefits all of us, as I bring my kids with me to prenatals, and this way they have their stuff, their lunch stuff, and I can send them to their rooms or to the neighbor kids' house if they're getting too rowdy or whatever...I don't have to spend gas driving out to timbuktu (she currently has some pretty far out clients...in alllll directions!), and the midwife knows that I have basics like a scale, a bp cuff and stethescope, tape measure, etc, as well, so it's less stuff for her to schlep around, she doesn't have to open her home to clients (for allll the reasons previously mentioned)..and it works for the clients, as well, basically for the same reasons. Yes, they need to clean their houses once a month, but really, it's only once a month, and then they don't have to drive.

Plus, they all get to meet one another and become a nice little community!

So, maybe that'd work for you as well...

[MonkeyPrincess]

How interesting! I've been following a couple midwives blogs and someone had mentioned a "group" prenatal.

Very cool! Thanks!