Callitor · Stella for midwifery, doula & lactation practices — the pregnancy schedule kept by week, the 2am call answered kindly

The problem

The calls come at 6:50 and 10:40pm. The diary lives on someone's phone.

01A first-time mother rings after the positive test. Everyone's out on visits; voicemail. She books with the hospital instead.
02Antenatal visits are spaced by week of pregnancy — and re-spaced by hand every time one moves.
03Home visits, clinic days and a lactation clinic on Thursdays. Three diaries, one phone.

It's not that you need another maternity module. Someone has to pick up — at 6:50, warmly — know who's where, and keep the schedule counted in weeks.

A call, while your hands are busy

Tuesday, 6:50am. Everyone's on visits. A first-time mother calls.

Stranger's number: warm, unhurried, no pointed questions. A booking visit, the schedule counted from her dates, and the on-call number if anything can't wait.

Incoming call · unknown number

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Stella · Willowbrook Midwives

ringing

0:00

Illustrative conversation. She adapts to what people actually say.

ThursdayClinic day · Hana

What she does, all day

Everything a good front desk does — plus she counts in weeks.

The universal six, and two that matter when the schedule is a pregnancy and the calls come at any hour.

01

Answers every call, like a person would

No menus, no “press one”, no hold music, no disclaimer wall. Place, first name, how can I help — in one breath. Then she listens instead of interrogating. And she's there at 7:40 in the morning and 9 at night — when the parent thinks of it, not when you open.

“Good morning, this is Stella — how can I help?”

02

Books into the real book

She searches actual availability — who is where, doing what, for how long, in which chair or room — and never double-books. If she offers 2:20, 2:20 is free.

03

Reminds, and takes the reschedule call

Reminders go out ahead of time. When someone can't make it, she handles the flustered call with warmth and finds the next time without drama.

04

Fills the late cancellation

A cancelled four o'clock is the one slot you can't sell tomorrow. The moment it frees, she offers it — by text — to the people who've said they'd take short notice, who wanted earlier, or who owe a make-up. First yes takes it; nobody else hears about it.

“A 4:00 with Mr. Ellis just opened — want it?”

05

Tightens your day

A four o'clock cancels? She asks the five o'clock if they'd like to come earlier. Nobody is obliged, and it cascades — you finish at five, not six.

“The four's opened up — would you rather come at four?”

06

Learns each client, gently

Someone turns down a 9am; she stops leading with mornings for them. Preferences, never rules — and when she checks, she uses very few words.

“Mornings tough? I'll avoid them.”

07

A schedule counted in weeks

Booking visit, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 31, 34, 36, 38, 40 — projected from the mother's dates, with the right midwife at the right place. Move one and the rest keep their spacing. Postnatal and lactation visits ride the same rhythm.

“You're around seven weeks — the booking visit sits best in the next week or two.”

08

Warm at 6:50, and honest about what she is

The first call and the worried call both come at odd hours. She answers warmly, never triages a stranger coldly, and if it can't wait she offers the on-call midwife — the caller decides. Ask, and she'll tell you plainly she's the assistant.

Last-minute cancellations

A cancellation is not a hole. It's an offer to the next person — the same morning.

She takes the cancellation the moment it comes, whatever the hour — nobody waits for the desk to open. Runway is money: the earlier she knows, the more people she can offer the slot to once your outbound hours open, and the likelier it fills. Your policy — notice period, deposit, fee — is yours; she states it plainly, applies it the same way every time, and stays kind about it.

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Stella · Willowbrook Midwives

text messages

7:50

Illustrative. Your policy, her words.

7:50Freed — Ade cancels by text
7:51Policy applied, rebook offered — kindly
8:30Outbound hours open — offered to 2 people who asked for short notice
8:39Filled — Ines said yes; the rest hear “taken”
·Ade · Thu 1:00 · 28-week kept in window

The freed slot goes to the people most likely to say yes: the short-notice list, the waitlist, make-ups owed, anyone who said “earlier if you can”.
First yes takes it. The others hear “taken” — never who, never why.
The make-up lands in a slot that would otherwise have gone empty; the freed slot earns today.
Your policy is applied the same way every time; the tone stays warm — especially to a parent with a sick child.
Outbound only inside your hours: she'll take a 7:40 text the instant it arrives and start offering the slot when your day opens — never before.
You see it on the panel — freed, offered, filled. Nothing to do.

Everyone on the short-notice list asked to be on it. Nobody is nagged; nobody hears another client's business.

And when it's your side

One sentence into the mic. She does the phoning.

Rain, a burst pipe, a birth, the autoclave, the hall double-booked — the whole block moves, and it's your call, not the client's. You say it once; she works out who's affected, offers each person the right alternative in their own words, waives the fee, logs the reason, and reports back. When it's an overrun rather than a closure she works by who can still act: the people who haven't left home yet get the call and the choice; the people already in the room get the honest ETA and a coffee; nobody further out is touched until the delay is still growing. Nobody hears why; nobody rings the desk.

I've been called to a birth. Clear my clinic morning — Ines takes the 28-weeks, the rest to Thursday, and tell them warmly.

Stella, twenty minutes later5 visits touched · 2 with Ines · 3 to Thursday · every one inside its window · nobody rang

Spacing by week of pregnancy

Visits spaced by the pregnancy, not the calendar.

The antenatal schedule is a standing arrangement whose spacing is set by week of pregnancy. It projects from the mother's dates, names the midwife and the place for each visit, and re-spaces itself when one visit moves.

Booking, 12, 16, 20 weeks and on — from her dates, automatically.
Preferred midwife by default; a colleague only when the mother says yes.
Home visits and clinic days are per midwife per place — she never offers a clinic slot on a home-visit day.
The on-call rota is hers to see: “ask for the on-call midwife” always reaches someone.

For your team

Visits stay visits.

A panel at the clinic and each midwife's own day on her phone: who's next, where, what changed. One button to say “move Ruth to Friday.” Reps and scam calls never reach a midwife on a visit.

Now12:48Clinic day

Emma — 1:00, booking visit (new, ~7w)Hana · then Ruth at 2:00

New caller at 6:50 — booking visit Thu 1:00; schedule projected from her dates
Ines's 16-week moved to Tuesday home visit — spacing kept
A pram company and two robocalls handled. Nothing for you.

“I'm on call tonight — route anything urgent to my mobile.”

A panel, not an appan always-on screen at the desk that answers one question in five seconds: who's next, for whom, and has anything changed? Everyone sees their own day; the owner sees the floor. Something to read, not operate.
One button, your voicepress it and say “move Ana to four, and call Peter back for me.” That's the whole interface. She does the machinery behind the glass.
The shieldsales calls, scam calls, realtors — they never reach you and never appear anywhere. Real callers can ask to be put through; you still choose whether to pick up.
Only what can't waitat the desk, things land quietly on the panel. Out of the building, your phone only buzzes for the next hour or two.
Your whole inbound“tell Peter I'll be home at seven” in the same breath as the schedule. The cost of a personal call is the context switch, not the two minutes.
You are the bossyour team's hours guide what she offers on her own. A direct instruction — from you or from the stylist whose chair it is — is simply carried out, silently, and teaches her nothing about “normal”.

Nothing clinical on the panel — first names, weeks and times. Your notes stay where they are.

What she will never do

Warm is not the same as loose.

No menus

Not a phone tree

No “press one”. No “your call is important to us”. No recorded disclaimers before a human word. Warm, short, present — and honest if you ask what she is.

No inventing

Never makes things up

She offers what's in your catalogue and staff profiles. She won't crown a “best” anyone or promise an outcome. A time she offers is a time that's free.

No gossip

One client never hears about another

A moved client hears “we need to move your Tuesday — let me find you another time.” Never who, never why. And once moved kindly, they're not yo-yo'd back.

No pretending

Honest about what she is

She doesn't lead with it and doesn't apologise for it. Ask, and she'll tell you plainly: she's the assistant. She helps; that's what people remember.

Early access

Give Stella your practice.

Your midwives and where they are on which day — clinic and home —, your visit schedule, your on-call rota, your words. She's configured by hand for the first practices — a few at a time — and this one with particular care.

Stella is in early access with a small number of practices and salons. Tell us about your phone and we'll tell you plainly whether she fits — and when.