YouAsk Kim
Four friends of different ages walking arm in arm along a stone street at dusk, one carrying flowers

Together · 15 min

The numbers on the fridge

One sheet, in one place, with every number you might need during pregnancy, so nobody has to search when it matters.

15 minutesFrom the library, free to readFour steps
Save for laterTry it today

During pregnancy there are suddenly new people to know: a midwife, a maternity unit, a doctor, perhaps a clinic. When something feels wrong, or labour starts at three in the morning, nobody wants to be searching through old messages. One sheet in one place solves it.

The steps

Four small steps,in your own time.

  1. Find one sheet of paper and write at the top: who to call.

  2. Ask your midwife, doctor or maternity team which numbers you should have, and what each one is for. Write them down: the midwife, the maternity unit or labour ward, your doctor, and your local emergency number.

  3. Add the people who will help: your partner or birth partner, someone who can look after other children or pets, and someone who can drive.

  4. Put the sheet on the fridge, and save the same numbers in your phone and in the phone of the person who will be with you.

The reason

Why it helps

When you are worried, it is hard to think clearly. Having the right number already written down, with a note of when to use it, means you can act quickly and get the right advice from the right person. It also means anyone in the house can help, not only you.

A gentle variation

If you share a home with others, read the sheet through with them once. If you speak more than one language at home, write a line next to each number in the language everyone reads best.

One hand resting over another on a wooden table

WE · TRIBE

Try itwith someone.

Go through the sheet with your birth partner or whoever will be closest to you. Ask them to save the numbers too, and to know where the bag and the notes are kept.

Make it a plan in HIVELIVE, with WE

Try it today

This week, ask your midwife or doctor which numbers you should have, and put them on one sheet on the fridge.

Add it to your day

More like this

More from VIVE Together,for real days.

All of VIVE Together
Friends at a rooftop dinner at dusk

Together · 3 min

A meal shared

Food eaten with another person feeds something that food eaten standing at the counter does not.

Two people on a sofa at dusk, a brass lamp lit behind them

Together · 3 min

A conversation

One real exchange a day, where you say how it is and someone hears it, does more for you than a hundred messages.

Two people on a sofa by a window, the city lit at dusk

Together · 10 min

Find your next shared yes

Choose something to enjoy together without guessing what the other person wants: each of you names three, and you look for the overlap.