04/17/2025
Somewhere in the middle of a move, an influx of patients, and the general busyness of Spring, First Step quietly passed a major milestone. It’s been 10 years this week since I saw our very first patient. Back before the plants, the intern - even before Becca - it was just me, an activator, and a couple of quotes on the wall. Sometimes it was just one patient. Sometimes it was exactly no patients and the rollercoaster of the door opening for it just to be the mailman with an insurance check for $0.23. But then it was a day with 10 patients. And a week with 50 and thinking “Man, I need some help around here”. And then it was Becca helping schedule around five new patients in a day. It was navigating a pandemic in our fifth year and thinking ‘Maybe this is as far as we go’ as our numbers dropped back down to 10 in a day…and then one… but then coming out of it with our busiest year ever. It was bringing two babies of my own and two babies of Becca’s in to be loved on by so many of you. It was getting to rock and hold and care for so, so many of your babies. It was holding just as much space for the pregnancies and for the babies we never got to meet. We’ve celebrated your marriages, hugged you through your tears. We’ve shed tears of our own when we’ve lost patients to moves, to illness, and to the passage of time. It’s been 10 beautiful, stressful, chaotic, hilarious years. 10 years of running always just a couple minutes behind (but maybe dragging my feet just a little when I saw strangers striking up a conversation in the waiting room). 10 years of “I’ve got someone for that!” 10 years of “I don’t know, but let’s give it a shot and see what happens!” 10 years of “Welcome to the party!” and “Stay out of trouble.” I can’t wait to see how much we grow together in the next ten. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for joining us for any and all of this ride — Dr. Pam 💕
