Practicing within Your Midwifery Scope
Practicing Within your Midwifery Scope As midwives, we are always balancing the notion that birth is a medical procedure versus being natural. In today’s society, birth is considered a skilled “procedure” that needs a trained professional present. If that profession (whether being a Certified Nurse Midwife, Certified Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, or Direct Entry Midwife), there is still needed training, educational core competencies met, and skills needed to attend a birth with women. Many midwives choose to be more than a care provider during pregnancy and birth. Some midwives even push the envelope of what is defined as the scope of a midwife. The last thing any midwife wants to do is be considered practicing medicine without a license. Know your State Laws. Some states don’t allow certain licensure types to practice or have no midwifery regulations at this time. Michigan just recently created midwifery licensure. Certified Midwives only have a few states that recognize that educational pathway. When looking at becoming a midwife, it is just as important to understand the different types of midwives as what services can be offered within that defined scope. Certified Nurse Midwives have national recognition and state variations of authority and practice scope. There are some states that don’t allow a midwife to own their own business. Michigan doesn’t allow a CNM to own an independent midwifery practice. Know where you want to practice and what service you want to offer at your practice. American College of Nurse Midwives ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives) defines a midwife as the following: Midwifery as practiced by certified nurse-midwives (CNMs®) and certified midwives (CMs®) encompasses a full range of primary health care services for women from adolescence beyond menopause. These services include the independent provision of primary care, gynecologic and family planning services, preconception care, care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, care of the normal newborn during the first 28 days of life, and treatment of male partners for sexually transmitted infections. Midwives provide initial and ongoing comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and treatment. They conduct physical examinations; prescribe medications including controlled substances and contraceptive methods; admit, manage and discharge patients; order and interpret laboratory and diagnostic tests and order the use of medical devices. Midwifery Care Midwifery care also includes health promotion, disease prevention, and individualized wellness education and counseling. These services are provided in partnership with women and families in diverse settings such as ambulatory care clinics, private offices, community and public health systems, homes, hospitals and birth centers. There are always additional skills a midwife can add to her resume like circumcision, first assist during cesarean sections, insertion nexplanon or IUDs, biopsies, and other gynecological procedures. Those skills need to come from certification or documented apprenticeship from a competent care provider to hold up in court that training was provided. Additional certifications like Electronic Fetal Monitoring, Inpatient Obstetrics, NRP, PALS, ACLS, BLS, or First Assist will help show that additional education was accomplished. Your experience and reference from colleagues and past clients will also help your scope definition and skill set. National Standards Midwives can get into a gray zone when national standards contradicts they way he or she is currently practicing. For example, offering VBAC in home setting with three prior cesarean section. No national or local organization will consider this a low risk delivery and part of the scope of a midwife. Breech is considered in some states a variation of normal (like Texas). There are additional training and continuing education courses needed to show these unique skills are present. Many midwives have said to, I have been doing it for thirty years and have the skills for “X, Y, or Z.” My response is always the same. “If you go to court or have a licensing board evaluating your scope and competencies for a specific case, it will always come down to national and state laws, scope, and standards of care.” Even if you have done VBAC for women having 3 prior cesarean sections in the past with good outcomes, that is not the national standards of care for a midwife. When starting out your practice and continuing to maintain your established practice, keep up with national and local regulations. Things change with standards as new evidence comes out. Scope of practice guidelines fluctuate to needs and training being provided to midwives. Continuing Education Continuing education courses are essential to keep up with ever changing guidelines around birth and gynecological services offered to women. State laws change creating midwifery licensure and defining local standards that midwives can provide within their practicing state. Join local midwife support groups and advocate to autonomy within our defined scope. Women deserve to have choices and not be restricted from midwifery care. Support your community by knowing your scope of practice and standards of care present in your local region. This is a great introductory course into midwifery and birth centers for anyone wanting to learn more about this amazing profession! Going Back to Basics: Midwifery Scope & Standards YouTube Video: Midwifery Scope of Practice
POWER OF VISION BOARD FOR YOUR MIDWIFERY PRACTICE
Vision Board When you hear the term vision board, what is the first thing that comes to mind? No matter how you feel about vision boards, I bet you never imagined creating one to help grow your business. Until this year, I hadn’t either. A few months ago I was sitting with a fellow blogger congratulating her on her success over the past year. To my surprise, she told me that she included several milestones on her vision board last year and that led to many accomplishments. Never heard of a vision board? Let me break it down for you. A vision board is a tool one uses to help clarify and concentrate on specific goals. It relies on the power of visualization to help you manifest your vision into reality. Because studies have shown that visualization can channel your subconscious mind and motivate you to work harder toward your goals, a vision board is the perfect tool to help you achieve what you dream. Even as an entrepreneur, I never thought about making a vision board for my business until recently. But after chatting with many people in my community, I almost felt late to the game. There’s no time like the present, they say, so this year I am creating a vision board to propel my business forward, and you can too! How to Set Realistic Financial Goals At the end of every year, you should set goals for your business to achieve in the coming year(s). Some of these goals may be quantifiable, such as increasing sales by 10%, while others may be personal goals within your business, like implementing a four-day workweek. Goals are essential, but they must also be realistic and obtainable. For example, I wouldn’t recommend forecasting a 100% increase in sales when your business typically grows by 10% each year. Looking at your numbers and knowing your company’s financial position will help you set goals you can achieve. QuickBooks is a great way to run a YTD report for the current year and the previous one. This will not only show me my numbers for this year but also allow me to compare my growth or decline to the year before. These reports help me to set quantifiable quarterly and annual goals for the following year. Unlike a report, however, a vision board balances realistic goals and big dreams. Your board allows you to list your current goals while providing a landscape to the ultimate long-term goals you are working toward. How to Create a Vision Board Creating a vision board is not as difficult as it may seem. You don’t have to be an artist or DIY master to make one for yourself. First, I recommend that you review your list of business goals to see which ones you want to include on your board. If you have a small team or work for yourself, it may make sense to add some personal goals that relate to your business to the board as well. For example, you may want to take two vacations this year or hire more help to have more free time. Once you know what you want to accomplish in the upcoming year, find photos or text to represent those goals. I started by flipping through magazines that relate to my business. Then I cut out header text and titles that made an impact on me and added them to the board as inspiration for the whole year. You can use printed numbers to represent an increase in sales or customers. Once I thumbed through the magazines, I turned to Pinterest, where I searched, took screenshots, and printed out images to add to my vision board. Keep in mind that not every goal needs to be represented on your vision board; focus on the biggest and most significant goals for your business. Once you’ve zeroed in on which goals to include, get a poster board or display board and add all of your images to it. They can be arranged in a collage or more uniform fashion, whatever you choose. Once your board is complete, display it in your office or where you will see it on a regular basis. Track Your Progress Ultimately, your goals are to grow your business, increase sales and profits, and possibly even lower expenses. So now that you have all these incredible visual goals planned out for the year, how do you know if you are achieving them? I keep a close eye on my finances every month. QuickBooks is an easy-to-use tool and the perfect way to track my financial progress. Every month, I make sure my income is updated and send invoices to any customers whom I have yet to bill. The software links business bank accounts and credit cards to sync the data. It pulls in all of my expenses and income so that they are ready to be categorized. Plus, you can use the QuickBooks app to keep up to date with all things financial, even when you aren’t at your desk. Running reports, invoicing clients, and recording payments are now only a few taps away. On the back of your vision board, make a list of all of your goals and check in periodically to see how you are doing. Cross off goals as you accomplish them and hone in on targets that need more attention. Good luck with making your midwifery practice goals a reality! Reference: https://busywifebusylife.com/living/money/how-to-create-a-vision-board/
Power Of Side Hustles & Multiple Income Streams For Midwives
Multiple Income Steam I want all midwives to have choices, resiliency, and the ability to expand the services to their ultimate potential. Making those things happen takes time, money, and resources. The more multiple income streams a midwife can create in their business and personal lives, the broader the opportunities that will be available and accessible. If you want to open that amazing birth center, multiple revenue streams can make it possible. If you want to retire early—perhaps so you can do international midwifery—this is made possible when multiple revenue streams are present. Too many people think that only the rich or those who come from a family with a sizable inheritance are able to have multiple income streams. Thankfully, this is not the case. It comes down to knowledge, relationships, and the willingness to learn how to create those income streams for yourself. Doing so doesn’t have to be overcomplicated When you look at classic directions to health, wealth, and happiness, clear themes are present: multiple income streams (some active, but more often passive), business ownership, and real estate investing. An example of passive income would be expanding your current midwifery practice to include a lactation consultant, doula services provider, childbirth educator, or another midwife offering services that aren’t part of your current practice menu. They then pay you rent and perhaps a set fee for shared services such as a receptionist, biller, or clinic assistant—who you were already paying. Any midwife can do those things. We can start a birth center or community center where we own the property, have a property manager keep an eye on the tenants, and have income coming in each month. We can hire a team within our practices to start leveraging their knowledge and time to grow our practice revenue streams. We can take a few nights each week to write a book, create an online course, or work on a business idea that has been gestating in our minds for years. Anything is possible. We all have the same amount of time. The thing that separates those who just dream from those who build their dream is what they choose to do with that time. Do you sleep in on your days off, watch TV during your downtime, or scroll for hours on social media, looking at everyone else’s life but not living your own? Or do you take that time as an opportunity to grow? Think outside the box Examine which unique talents and skills you have that can serve the masses. Plan carefully how to put these to best use in order to reduce the risk to your life and business. Are you ready to put in the initial time and hard work that will potentially create revenue for an unlimited amount in time? The more we can create different directions of money into our lives through investments and multiple business ventures, the more we can serve families with access to midwifery and build our own dreams for life! Check out this great interview discussing the impact that side hustles can have on midwives: The Power of Side Hustles for Midwives – YouTube Interested in more information? Take this online course about creating multiple income streams for midwives: Creating Multiple Revenue Streams for Midwives | Empowering Midwifery (teachable.com)
Power of Search Engine Optimization for Your Midwifery Practice
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), will allow you to drive more organic traffic to the website, and if done correctly, will improve your blog’s ranking in Google search results. You can optimize your blog for search engine optimization using a variety of techniques. These 6 SEO blog writing tips will help you increase your blog’s visibility and generate more traffic to it. Keyword research is a key factor in planning your content Search engine optimization will make your blog easier to find by search engines and visitors. To optimize your blog properly, you must first research the most important keywords. Keyword analysis is a way to determine the topics that your target audience is most interested in using search engine data. This allows you to determine what topics your target audience is most interested in using search engine data. This will ensure that you only write about subjects that people are searching for. It’s also a great way for you to think of new topics for your blog. You have many options for keyword research to find relevant keywords. We have written a blog on 3 keyword research tools that can be used to find relevant keywords. Make sure to use a catchy title for your blog posts A search engine’s main purpose is to show relevant sources based upon a search query. Your blog title is the first element that a search engine uses to determine the relevancy of your content. It also serves as a guide for a reader. It is very important that your keyword be included in the title. Google will cut off titles at the end of the title if you don’t include your keyword within the first 60 characters. Internal linking You should link to at least one article or webpage from your blog. This allows users to navigate to other pages easily, engages them more and creates a context relationship between your webpages. If your article is shared on another website, this will result in a link back from your website. Good content will increase its shareability and allow other websites to link to it. So make sure you create quality content. Make your blog easy-to-read Search engines consider readability an important ranking factor. It is important to use shorter sentences, shorter paragraphs, punctuation and headings. To make it easier to read, we recommend using images and white space. It is important to have a clear hierarchy when using headings. Your main title must be H1, and your subheadings should be H2 or less (e.g. H3, H4, etc.). Write unique content Copying text from your website’s internal content or external content is not allowed. Each page’s text must be unique. The siteliner tool allows you to check if you have published unique content on your website. This will allow you to determine the content that needs to be optimized for your website. Gain insight into your content results You can use a variety of tools to see if your content is performing well. We recommend everyone install Google Analytics. Google Analytics, a Google tool that tracks traffic to your website, reports it back to you free of charge. You can see metrics such as the number of users, average time on a page, bounce rate, conversions, and many more. This information is very valuable as it shows which website or blog is driving traffic to your site and how users are engaging with the page. This article will help you optimize your blog posts for search engine optimization. To ensure more organic traffic to your website and blog, it is important to employ SEO techniques. Enroll to OUR COURSE On HOW TO MARKET YOUR MIDWIFERY BUSINESS https://midwiferybusinessconsultation.teachable.com/p/marketing-your-midwifery-practice Related Blogpost:https://midwiferybusinessconsultation.com/marketing-tips-for-midwives/
Power of Positive Thinking
Power of Positive Thinking It’s been proven time and time again that if you think in a positive manner, you will have positive results. But how do you fully cultivate the power of positive thinking? We are born with this innate desire to be happy and grateful. How does our society create so much fear and uncertainty into us as we age? When people are positive, it shines through their bodies. Stressful situations aren’t perceived as “so bad.” It is easier to see the solution to a problem when your mind is in a positive state. You know people out there that look at the “glass always half empty versus half full.” Everything is always wrong and negative comments are always coming out of their mouths. Do you want to be around that person much? Do you feel your energy being sucked out of you just being around them? Truth About the Power of Positive Thinking. When you create a midwife business, there will definitely be challenges and road blocks to overcome. There is a reason 90% of businesses end first five years of opening. Most of it has to do with endurance and plans are present during the “hard times.” Midwives that are positive emit this energy that people want to be around. There client customer base increases faster, consults go really well, networking is easy when everyone “just wants to be around you.” Positive thinking creates wealth and prosperity (not just financial wealth). Your mind thinks more clearly when stress isn’t present. Your view points and surrounding is easier to analyze. Memorizing names, pertinent information, and people’s stories is less challenging when positive energy is present. I had to take professional courses to retrain my mind not to be so negative. I would always have excuses, make negative comments, and always complain about situations. I didn’t take personal accountability for situations I was in or try to fix what was making me unhappy. I was comfortable being in this state of mind. I didn’t realize how damaging it was to my soul and health until I took personal development courses. Being in a Positive State Takes Practice and Habit Forming Tactics. Once you smile more often, having more empathy and compassion, and keep in perspective the good in everything, life goes great and the situation may not have even changed! Our minds are very powerful things. We can have the same situation occur to two different people and be perceived completely different. Psychology has also become one of my self taught topics. The power of one’s mind on diseases, success, wealth, and happiness all lie within ourselves. We live in a society where blame and excuses are common. Entitlement makes people not want to earn things, but expect things. “Just Be Happy” slogan really says it best. When there is a smile on your face and positive outlook on life, gratitude and personal peace explodes through your life. I am not saying it will solve all of life’s problems, but it will allow you to figure out solutions versus have a “solo pity party.”
Power of Positive Ratings
Power of Positive Rating Whether it is Yelp, Google, Facebook, or your website’s direct testimonials, reviews can be help or hurt your midwifery business. Referrals and recommendations is the greatest free advertising you can have. Encourage women and their families (husbands, parents, and siblings) to put feedback in writing to use for marketing material. Have them spout your praises on the world wide web. So many people research a provider with reviews, website content, and services far before making their first appointment. Make your presence a consistently positive brand they see. Spend the time doing raffles, asking families after birth to spend a couple minutes while emotions are fresh about their experience with your practice. If there were concerns presence, allow for criticism and make sure that improvements are attempted to avoid that feeling by clients again. Families like to know their good and bad opinions matter and are making change in the community. A Review is Only as Great as its Response The right response can make a 5-star review even more powerful and minimize the damage of a negative review. When responding to reviews, both negative and positive, take some tips from these businesses. There are many ways to respond to reviews. By being creative and personable, people know you are a real person and truly care. Having a response out quickly allows for direct communication that public can see you are actively trying to fix their concerns with your business. Using humor in this line of work is a bit tougher, but food industry does it all the time. Positive feedback should be cherished and recognized. Reward your staff for positive reviews. When negative reviews occur, offer to follow-up privately. Even the most frustrated customer is not necessarily a lost cause. When you receive a scathingly negative review, try to avoid responding defensively, as this only escalates the issue. Reviews are very powerful marketing tools. Use them to maximize your exposure in a good way. Get your brand out there faster with having your clients talk about your amazing care. Midwives are busy for a reason, women talk about our services to their friends all the time! Check our course on Marketing Essentials For Midwives to know more about how you can succeed in your midwifery business.
Power of Having a Life Coach for Midwives
The term “life coach” refers to someone who will be there to help you in the hard-hitting and challenging moments of your life and who is capable of guiding you through the process and leading you to see things in a different way as well as refine your strategy to reach your main goal. The majority of us are stuck in our own ways; unless another individual helps us see things clearly and helps us understand, we are often not aware of the factors that could be hindering us. It’s an enormous task to tackle this on your own. In that regard, here are 5 reasons you need a life coach if you’re serious about achieving success in whatever you’re striving for. Reasons Why You Need a Life Coach as a Midwife You have trouble sticking to the plan in achieving your goals For many people, reaching targets and sticking to the plan isn’t easy. It’s not only the art of setting goals that they find challenging but actually following through. A life coach can assist you not only in setting your goals but also in finding strong, sufficient reasons why you need to succeed in the first place. Aside from that, A life coach can give you a fresh view of what you may have missed out on, why you’re not capable of achieving the huge objectives you’ve set previously, as well as how you can organize your life in a way that empowers you instead of holding your back. They can also serve as an accountability partner, standing by your guidelines step-by-step to help you see things from a different angle. 2. Limiting beliefs stops you It is often difficult to keep up with our goals in our lives because, in our minds, there are limiting beliefs that keep us behind. Life coaches are crucial in helping you determine the limitations of your beliefs to help you push ahead instead of feeling behind. For instance, if you’ve always been told that you’re a big-boned person and have been telling people the same story for years and years, how can you be sure that you’ll lose some significant weight? That belief that you’ve told yourself over and over will affect your capacity to actually follow through. A life coach can identify this limiting belief and will help you beat it. 3. You don’t know where to start with improving your life Sometimes we aren’t sure how to start. We get caught up in the idea of success and we know that we’d like to accomplish something but feel overwhelmed and helpless, which is why we don’t know where to begin. Perhaps it’s because it’s not something we believe that we are worthy of or it could be a different reason, but we aren’t sure where or how to start. The sheer magnitude of huge goals can sometimes overwhelm us. It’s difficult to stay focused on the issues when you’re not able to even overcome the feeling of being helpless and being overwhelmed by the idea of where to begin. Life coaches will assess your individual situation and help you to take the first step to pursue your goals. 4. You are often anxious and stressed Life can get stressful. I’m aware of the times I fell short repeatedly during some courses of my life, I experienced many of the stressful moments of my life. I was devastated beyond imagination. Although, I gained a lot from the experience of failure and having those constant emotional states become a regular feature within your life isn’t a good thing at all. If you take all our obligations that range from family to work and social life, it’s easy to understand why we are overwhelmed. It’s not a pleasant feeling, mostly when you feel like the walls are closing in upon you. Having perspectives and outside assistance of life coaching can help you overcome those depressing feelings. 5. You feel alone and not supported by family and friends It’s difficult to remain in the present and focus on what you want to achieve in the absence of the backing of those close to you. If your friends and family members don’t support your goals, it’s easy to forget about the larger perspective. If we’re constantly dealing with the negativity that surrounds us, what can we do to advance? Your life coach is there to help whatever. They serve as your helper. Even if your family and friends don’t support you, they’re there for you. Even though it’s not cheap, it’s well worth it. The knowledge and experience of life coaches can be an invaluable tool to help us to achieve our goals. We sometimes don’t acknowledge these reasons and will just ask ourselves, why am I not doing good? What are the reasons why I constantly fail? Or What should I do to be successful? If you’ve started asking questions like this, a life coach can certainly help you. This is my personal life coach for the last 5yrs, and she is an amazing support for midwives and birth workers. She really understands our challenges and how to balance all the demands of being in the world realm. Your Highest Light Elizabeth Cermak, Life Coach & Counselor www.yourhighestlight.com
Power of Having a Business Consultant
Business consultants A business consultant can offer a multitude of advantages to an organization, regardless of its size or scale. The value of a business consultant stems from their proficiency in providing expert guidance, novel viewpoints, and strategic discernment. When we begin our own business, our most important advocates are our business consultants. They help you turn any problem into a solution. Their job is to solve problems within your business. Consultants can solve many business problems. Different types of consultants have different solutions. It is not always easy. Finding the right business consultant can be difficult for business owners. You need to search for the best qualities that are most suitable for your business. A consultant must have passion for their work, drive to excellence, and an eye for detail and organization. It is important to find a consultant with expertise in your industry and experience solving the problems that your company faces. Why a midwife business consultant is necessary? Some companies wonder why they need a business consultant. Because they already have smart people, why would they need a business consultant? There are many reasons it is a good idea to hire someone outside. Here are the most common reasons to hire a business consultant: Insufficient expertise – Sometimes the skills required for growth aren’t available within the company. Expert consultants can provide the expertise and experience required to complete a project or solve specific problems. Time constraints – Sometimes employees don’t have the time or the resources to complete a project or conduct the necessary research. Business consultants can be an invaluable resource to quickly staff up for short-term tasks or projects. Inadequacy of experience – It’s hard for employees to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. This results in a shortage of skilled employees who are knowledgeable about the most recent tools and methods. Training can be provided by business consultants to meet the demand or provide support until the skills are acquired. Flexibility in staffing – Businesses can hire business consultants to help with short-term projects, without having to pay a salary or benefits. Once the project is complete, the consultant’s contract expires. A company doesn’t have to budget for severance pay and other HR obligations. Unbiased opinions – It’s important to have an objective opinion when there are conflicts or problems. Experts in strategy, business consultants can offer perspectives that may be overlooked by stakeholders who are too close to the problem. They can help you think through the problem, navigate within politics and provide sensible solutions. Cross-pollination of new ideas– Business consultants have worked with many companies and industries. These ideas can be cross-pollinated to help businesses think outside the box and include new concepts and methods. For special projects that require speed and efficiency, companies can hire consultants who have previous experience. Perhaps you are looking for a new solution to a problem in your company’s software. An experienced consultant can help companies quickly overcome the learning curve and implement new tools in a cost-effective manner. Assessment – A business consultant can help companies identify data and define the problem. They will then recommend solutions. Conflict resolution – A mediator can be used by an outside consultant to help resolve conflicts. Business consultants can act as neutral mediators to resolve disputes in different situations. Compliance – Businesses must adhere to all federal, state and local regulations. Compliance consultants can help companies avoid violations. It can be difficult and complicated to implement regulations. Hiring an expert can help you save time, money, and resources. Benefits of Hiring a Midwife Consultant 1. Expertise A business consultant’s greatest advantage is their ability to specialize in specific areas. This allows them to provide the necessary expertise for each sector. Consultants will often work with several clients within their specialty area. This allows them to keep up to date on the latest developments and trends in the field. This can help organizations stay ahead and make the most of new models and methods. Consultants can help clients make immediate decisions and build a long-term structure that can increase productivity and performance. This can easily be quantified as a return on investment. 2. Independence Permanent employees may be subject to internal “politics” within an organization. This means they might agree to things in order to please their boss, rather than because it makes sense. Consultants bring a different perspective that could make a significant difference in how you run your business. Good consultants will be objective and impartial. They are not connected to the company and can therefore focus on the client’s goals/plan without getting distracted by internal distractions. 3. One-off-costs Organizations that hire external expertise to assist with individual projects don’t have to pay overhead costs. These include providing benefits or even providing a computer and workspace. Clients can also extend their contracts based on their needs and the results of the initial term. They don’t have to worry about having to contribute to another pension fund or covering holidays or sick pay. 4. Best practices Consultants can work with a wide range of clients and have the ability to draw on experience from many industries and companies. They can offer innovative solutions because of their diversity of thinking. It also allows them to share best practices. Organizations can learn from the top performers in their industry and find ways to improve their operations. 5. Maintaining the business in operation For some roles, organizations can use internal resources to staff their projects. However, in certain cases, the running of an organization may be affected by the removal of resources. In these cases, consultants can be a useful way to ensure business continuity. Related Blogpost:Businesses A Midwife Can Create Have a 30-minute schedule with me and Enroll in the Course: https://midwiferybusinessconsultation.teachable.com/p/midwifery-business-consultant
Postpartum Services to add to your Midwife Business
Postpartum Services Midwives are excellent at postpartum services and care compared to our traditional OB provider partners in the United States. We do home visits usually on days 1 and 5, and office visits 2 weeks and 6 weeks postpartum for mother and baby (baby taken care of by Ped provider at 6-week visit based on the scope of midwifery). We are great at catching early challenges with breastfeeding and mental health concerns. We promote family bonding in their own environment versus hospital-routine recovery stays with multiple doctor visits in the first month of the baby’s life. We really do help families adjust to their new little ones. There is nothing better than allowing a mother to rest in her bed the first week of life with a new baby while the family supports her needs (care for other children, community meal preps, a partner keeping up household chores, and a midwife visiting her directly for checkups). Sleep is so important for a mother and baby, and I truly believe most of our mother’s challenges in the first month of life stem from a lack of hard sleep. Many mothers don’t sleep when their babies sleep and are exhausted by 4 a.m. when the baby is having its day-awaken cycle. Breastfeeding The trouble with breastfeeding and limited bonding cues from the mother towards the baby are preventable in most cases. Spend time prenatally talking with families about the importance of defining each person’s role during the postpartum recovery process. Provide a sign for the house door stating a new baby is in the home, and here is a list of things to help this family out with the new baby. Families want to help but are unsure what exactly to do besides buy baby gifts. Start a community food list for meals and have designated days that sisters, aunts, and extended family take other kids out for the day. Make the house as quiet as possible during the day so the mother and baby can rest peacefully. Cadillac of Care As for the midwife, there are many ways to make your “Cadillac of Care” stand out from the competition. Go the extra mile to customize her postpartum period to her needs. Have a postpartum doula as well as a labor doula on staff with practice. Create a postpartum plan, just like a birth plan, with your family. So much of our culture focuses on birth, birth, birth! The hard part is truly raising the child and taking care of the responsibilities that come along with parenthood, which many new parents aren’t prepared for. Do extensive education with families around 36 weeks of gestation about the postpartum recovery process and normal or abnormal changes in the mother, baby, partner, and children during this time. Older toddlers may revert back to baby features to yearn for parents’ attention; breastfeeding is a learning curve; stress all the support available; and connect the family with support groups in the area to keep mothers around like-minded individuals. Our goal as midwives is to improve our communities. We don’t want to be the family’s strength for guidance. We are only in a family’s life for a short amount of time. Create community connections and have women support each other long-term. There are some great ancillary services midwives can get trained to provide to mothers. Pelvic floor therapy is needed for most postpartum women. Specific exercises to help get the vaginal tone and support back to women’s baseline will help with urinary incontinence, painful sex, and other prolapse symptoms. There are many insurance codes available for these services, and they pay very well. Most out-of-hospital midwives provide newborn care. Get a collaborative agreement in place with a great family practice or pediatrician in the area to help with transition after the first month of life and be able to call if there is a baby needing additional services beyond what your practice can offer. Provide the hearing screen (many states have grants for out-of-hospital midwives to help improve this compliance rate with home births), and do the CAD screening and metabolic screening at home. Those are all billable services that help keep mothers and babies away from sick places like hospitals and doctor’s offices. Postpartum depression is a very real and on-the-rise event in the United States. We expect so much out of our new mothers that self-care gets dropped to the bottom of their priority list. I stress to families that self-care makes families stronger to care for their partners and children. If self-care is inadequate, milk supply goes down, tempers get short with family, mental health disorders increase, and bonding with new babies decreases. Our culture needs to change. Many societies provide 6–9 months of maternity care for mothers and fathers. Our society gives mothers 6–12 weeks of postpartum recovery, often unpaid. Our financial pressures from inflation and the cost of living increase, so most families need both parents working to survive. Mothers are forced to return to work far sooner than their bodies are ready. Many jobs don’t have a place or provide breaks for pumping mothers. As her midwife, be proactive in discussing the financial cost the family will have with recovery and make a monthly savings account for that additional time for mother and baby to bond before going back to work. Planning ahead versus reacting to problems occurring now will decrease families’ stress levels. Midwives play a pivotal role in families growing their families and supporting this fragile time. Take that responsibility seriously and give your midwifery practice access to all the resources and skills needed to care for mothers and babies during the next year of postpartum transition together. We are the keepers of normal births and normal postpartum recovery transitions. Brag about it, and what are all the unique services offered compared to a traditional medical provider in your community? Midwives play a pivotal role in families growing their families and supporting this fragile time. Take that responsibility seriously and give your
Platinum Rule: Powerful Tool for Midwifery Business
Powerful Tool for Midwifery Business When meeting with a client for the first time, having a potential new midwife interview, or running your monthly staff meeting, a powerful tool for midwifery business always remember to treat people with kindness and respect. Don’t focus so much on how you would like to be talked to, listen to the word out of other people’s mouths and then you can understand how they want to be treated. People that constantly talk about number, policies, wanting proof are validator personalities and need that style of communication. They want the facts, data tables, hard references from where your opinions are coming from. Women that want to use their hands, be interactive, and like visual aids do great with Power point slides. Standing up and doing simulations really tap into their learning method. Learn your clients and teams style of importance and focus on that when presenting ideas and educational material. Create Personal Value The Drive system by Woody Woodward really goes into details what each person’s personality type is and how to motivate people based on their internal needs. It will strengthen your position in a discussion by having someone connect the topic of discussion with their personal value. Midwives are more likely to get a consult to stay with them for prenatal care if these internal motives are being tapped. Many times the women is driven by very different motives than her partner. You need to present your first impression with a strong connection to each family member’s internal values. Staff will stay with practice longer when value creation using their personal drives are being met. Some people really value community and relationships with colleagues. If your practice is small, private and mostly done as home visits, that midwife will have a harder time staying for the long haul. During an interview, learn how to pick up on each person’s internal values and wants. It will make getting the great midwives easier for your team. Tips for Writing a Midwifery Business Plan is a course we created using our own experience in the industry.