Exactly 2 years ago today we celebrated the launch of Beautiful One Midwifery. We were bold to throw ourselves a party, anticipate great things, and ask for the blessing of our families, friends, and colleagues.
We didn't realize at the time (no one ever really does) but we were ambitious and took a bite off that only grace could help us chew. We were lofty in our goals and challenged in our ideals. We learned about partnership, flexibility, radical service, and caring deeply for women and ourselves.
We set out to do great things and we accomplished many of our goals together, reframed several others and dropped a small handful along the way. Check out the blog we wrote 2 years ago about our practice goals HERE. Let's see how things really went for us...
2019 Goals:
Teamwork- Our vision for splitting the work of the practice is by far the greatest success and sometimes the only thing that lets us keep going. Sustainability remains a #1 priority for us as we work hard to balance personal and family life alongside midwifery.
Self- Care- Practicing what we preach about health, wellness, managing stress, asking for help, spiritual disciplines, moving our bodies, taking time off-call, and eating well have been a work in progress always, but all-in-all successful. (Thanks to all that teamwork!)
Business- Renting an office, growing clients through word of mouth, hosting events, sharing creative motherhood products and donating our time and resources to local charities were all huge wins for us as we endeavored to be well-rounded and purpose-driven.
What We Have Learned:
Midwifery is super hard- Being available around the clock for birth 24/7 and walking out the hard and beautiful and vulnerable aspects of caring for families at a very important time in their lives takes a ton of heart and grit and fortitude. Even with all the protective and proactive systems we have in place, we have met our fair share of burn-out and overwhelm here and there throughout these 2 years.
We Can't Do Everything Well All of The Time- Our enthusiasm for so many passions and creative ideas at the start had to get simmered down slightly as we navigated balance in our efforts. We simply can not give the crazy-good amount of personalized care to clients, run all the back end of a small business and medical practice, show up for our own families in meaningful ways and take care of ourselves well if we have a half dozen creative irons in the fire as well. Our mom shop Whole Mother Co transitioned from apparel to women's health support. Our Wine & Gyn events were put on hold thanks to all the turmoil of 2020, and we rebranded our podcast, Lady Stuff, to include more pregnancy and birth content.
We are adaptable- We have learned the art of pivoting like no other season in our lives. We have risen to challenges, identified problem areas, worked and re-worked many moving parts, and come out better for it. We are continually amazed at how good God has been in giving us each other and how covered we are in the areas of continually having the same vision and wanting the same things for our practice. We could have never hoped or dreamed for the absolute treasure of a friendship that has come out of this partnership. We are adaptable but even more so just dang thankful!
2021 Goals:
Sustainability: A thriving midwifery practice can not have true sustainability without a plan in place for each midwife to have regularly scheduled time off. We have done our best these 2 years to schedule in breaks, block off due dates on our calendar and take all the last-minute trips we can when time allows. It's not enough to keep our cups as full as they should be to continue serving clients well. We want to do this work for a long time!
We will be hiring a third midwife this year to share in our clinic and call rotation with us. It's a huge, but necessary step toward giving clients an enthusiastic and well-rested midwife each week while taking care of ourselves. We plan to maintain 2 midwives at most prenatals and every birth, which allows each of us to take a whole week off every 3 weeks. That's 4 months total of PTO each year- what a huge milestone for us to have achieved!
(For more info about #SustainableMidwifery as a practice check out Believe in Midwifery.)
Growth: 2020 was not all gloom, it was one of the best times for midwifery in modern culture! So many families questioned their birthing choices and chose homebirth instead of hospital. We have been so encouraged by the flock to midwifery care, and are finally catching up to the surge of business. We have some great pieces in place to grow even more this year and help more families than ever have a connected and peaceful birth experience. With our 2 midwife team we took on 2-3 births a month but with our 3 midwife team (and all that glorious self-care) we will have the practical and mental-emotional capacity to be able to serve 4-6 homebirth families a month.
We have been using our Google listing to house testimonials of the amazing clients we have worked with. It's been a great place to show off the value of midwifery care and delight of homebirth to couples exploring the idea for the first time. If you felt blessed by any of the interactions or care you have had with us and want to leave a quick blurb about what midwifery care means to you, we would welcome a contribution! (Click HERE)
Connection: We have done some soul-searching and why-asking on how we want to represent midwifery care to the greater community and how we can be a light to women looking for alternative health support. We endeavor to create more online spaces for ladies to connect to their bodies and one another through our Podcast, Instagram and Online Course. We want to be spreaders of helpful education, connectors of common experiences and facilitators for women owning their health and feeling whole in their bodies.
Check out Fixing Your Period course right HERE, it's sure to be the absolute fastest and most supportive guide to menstrual freedom.
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As we step out into this third year of midwifery practice, relationship remains the driving force behind what we do. We are grateful to share in the weighty exchange of trust, affection and vulnerability that fuels our passion to serve.
Although we are licensed midwives by profession, we are not YOUR midwives. All content and information on this website is for informational and educational purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice. Although we strive to provide accurate general information, the information presented here is not a substitute for any kind of professional advice. For more information, click here.
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