December 5th, 1890 - Hogsmeade Visit
Random Wellingtonshire Home
@'adrienne selwyn'

Winnie was not accustomed to working with an apprentice, but it wasn't quite so long ago that she had been one herself. Win didn't know much about the girl that was tagging along today, but she'd come with a recommendation from Miss Fairchild and so Winnie had agreed to let the lass tag along today.

They were stopping at a new client, a recent addition to her ever-growing roster. Frankly it was a check to make sure the lady of the house was indeed pregnant. Winnie could do this in her sleep but she rather thought she could see if Miss Selwyn had been reading up. As they stood on the stoop after knocking, Winnie looked at her company. "Are you ready for this?" Winnie always went into a confirmation of pregnancy a little wary, people always had such strange reactions.

They were let in and Winnie always felt a little at odds with her station in such a home. She allowed the staff to take her coat, keeping her trusty carpet bag handy they were ushered into a drawing room with the new mom-to-be.

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She'd come to Nurse Moony by recommendation of Nurse Fairchild, so Adrienne assumed it was a sign that she'd done something right. What she'd done right remained a mystery. This was her first time doing house calls though, and Adrienne wasn't without her own doubts.

At the midwife's question, she returned the glance with a nod of her own. "As ready as I can be, I suppose." she replied as the doors opened to greet them. The house was certainly grand; something that she was used to, so a semblance of being a bit more comfortable washed over her as she stepped through the doorway after the other witch.

Stepping into the drawing-room, Adrienne thought she might have recognized the mother-to-be; though that wasn't too surprising seeing as her family had connections throughout a lot of the upper crust of society. Though her mind was racing through the possibilities that could come from this house call, Adrienne made sure to smile kindly, hands folded respectfully, and just behind the senior ranking midwife's shoulder as she looked to her for cues.

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Though Winnie was the one out of place here, she never let herself feel as if she didn't belong. In her tenure as a midwife, especially now with a solid foundation and good reputation behind her, Winnie was comfortable in most situations in her life. The confidence bordered on arrogance sometimes, but she also knew how to keep her tongue in check.

She motioned for Miss Selwyn to take a seat behind her, while Win pulled a leather-bound notebook from her carpet bag. Detailed notes were essential for her job and Winnie kept very specific notes in files, carefully organized in the bag as well. Frankly the bag contained her entire livelihood these days. Winnie cast a look at Miss Selwyn as if to say take notes- literally. "Mrs. Foster, we appreciate you taking the time to meet with us," Winnie was far more soft-spoken than many would have thought her capable of when meeting with a client for the first time. She was good at flipping a switch on her personality for whatever situation came up. "Would you mind please explaining your symptoms to us and if you can remember, the date of the first day of your last monthly course?"

Poised with her quill, Winnie already had the basics from the initial owl, but was always curious to see what was said in a first meeting.

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At the signal to take a seat, Adrienne did so and opened her own bag to fish out a roll of parchment, ink and quill. She took liberty of the small side table and used it as a prop for her notes. The cadence that the young Slytherin heard coming from Nurse Moony surprised Adrienne, however not so much as to pause her note-taking. Writing the date at the top, she moved two lines further and began a column for notes about the senior midwife's appearance and tactics, and the other for taking notes on the patient's symptoms.

The lady of the house indeed looked rather frail, though that could have been the upcoming winter; it was frightfully cold, and there was no doubting it had its effects on people. Before coming, Adrienne herself debated on wrapping herself in furs to keep warm but thought it best for professional reasons to wear something a bit more modest (though no less insulating). As Mrs. Foster listed her conditions, Adrienne scribbled on.

Slight aches, a bit of nausea in the morning, tired, cramping, tenderness.

As she did so, Adrienne was nodding ever so slightly along with what the woman was listing. They all seemed to be the symptoms of pregnancy. Noticing her subconscious action, Adrienne paused her nodding, hoping that the mother wouldn't look to her and think she was confirming any such assumption. After all, it could be a different affliction of which Adrienne had no previous knowledge. As the woman paused to take a breath, Adrienne did so too, looking to Nurse Moony.

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Winnie's hasty scrawl was likely illegible to anyone but her. Fortunately she was the only one that needed to read these notes. If she were writing out instructions or something else of the like for a patient, she would use her more professional handwriting. Making note of the described symptoms, Winnie waited to see if the woman knew about her last cycle, but the information was not shared and so Win was still in the phase of figuring out if this was a possible pregnancy or not. She always had to wonder if their pregnancy brain kicked in this early or if was nerves or something else.

"Any dizziness? Fatigue?" She asked easily. The other noted symptoms certainly were caused by pregnancy, but was hard to determine much if the woman had only had her monthlies, well, a month ago or so. Win rarely took on patients she believed to be less than ten weeks along, especially first time mothers. The poor woman could be coming down with the flu.

Fortunately, Win knew how to work around these things. "If you tell me the date of the first day of your last cycle or when you and your husband were last intimate, I can probably give you a month for when the baby would be due." That tended to do the trick.

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Being in the field that she wanted to hopefully excel in eventually, Adrienne was not unfamiliar with what happened between a man and woman and the subsequent result. True, she had never experienced anything of the sort herself, but it seemed that some people expected her cheeks to bloom in embarrassment anytime this subject came up. Perhaps they did at first, but now Adrienne felt she was at least somewhat more mature to handle the topic properly. Certainly Nurses Fairchild and Moony would not have taken her on had she shown anything but proper decorum.

Regardless, that didn't prevent the witch from at least feeling slightly shy at the topic, and it was with relief that she reminded herself she was neither the one they were focusing on at this point nor the questioner; merely the observer. Even though Adrienne may not have been blushing, the woman in front of them certainly did at the question of intimacy and cycles. Adrienne watched as the patient flushed quite violently. Merlin, if she blushed anymore, one could fry eggs on her cheeks.

Noticing a water glass just out of reach of the patient, Adrienne quietly got up and handed the woman the refreshment — perhaps she just needed to cool down — before returning to her seat.

"My last...last cycle was around two months ago — no one. No, two and a half." the woman finally said, before focusing her gaze to some point above their heads. "We had been.... intimate then...and still...are. Have been."

Merlin. Her pencil paused above her piece of parchment, Adrienne glanced at her superior, wondering if this woman was saying what she thought she was saying.

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Winnie would never understand the hesitancy to discuss such matters, especially with other women, but with Miss Selwyn's gentle prompting finally got it out of her. Win supposed that it wasn't ladylike to discuss relations with one's husband, but whether they liked to admit it or not, everyone knew what married couples got up to after the wedding.

Adding more notes to her book, Win smiled slowly.  "Well, then, that's fine. I'd like to keep an eye on your symptoms for a few more weeks, write down anything you experience, but with the information I have, I believe you'll be due around the beginning of August." Winnie had done the math quickly, based on averages and the beginning of the woman's last cycle (two and a half months made sense). The woman was flustered obviously and Win's goal was not to embarrass anyone here, so she smoothed past it easily.

"I should think I'll need to check back in after those few weeks, but please feel free to owl me with any questions or concerns and I'll get back to you as soon as possible." She smiled. "Do you have any now?"

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Adrienne was pleased with herself that her mental calculations lined up with Nurse Moony's; though simple the date was to come by, the Slytherin would accept any victory that came her way, however small. She watched as the patient observed this information before nodding that she understood.She seemed too flustered to ask any questions even if she had any, and shook her head, the flush still very much visible in her cheeks.

Merlin, Adrienne wondered vaguely. Would she be as flustered as this patient when it came her time to marry and bear children? As much as Adrienne loved children, she couldn't see herself with them. Though perhaps that was because in order to have children, one must be married first — and to be separated from Aristide was not something that Adrienne wanted to contemplate. They still had their final year of Hogwarts to attend and she intended to drink that year in with gusto before even thinking about debuting.

Pulling herself out of her mild trance, Adrienne glanced over at Nurse Moony to take her cues from the senior witch. Looking down at her own notes, Adrienne re-read some of the questions she had jotted down in the margins, and wondered if Nurse Moony might have some time after the consultation for questions.

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Well that seemed to go alright. Winnie had better and worse consultations. She'd certainly be checking back in within a fortnight or so to double check that the symptoms hadn't changed, but by that point, if the woman was correct in her cycle assumption, Winnie would be able to tell with just a quick physical exam.

"Alright that's it for today, just track those symptoms and I will reach out again in a couple of weeks." Winnie made one last note in her journal and packed it back into her carpet bag. She gave Miss Selwyn the come on nod and they were excused from the home without much ado. The young Slytherin seemed to have a good head on her shoulders already, capable of reading people already.

"What did you think?" Winnie said as she jaunted down the steps and turned back toward the town proper. They could spend their walk back until Winnie had to return Miss Selwyn to the school's care talking of the case, it would be good for the girl to get out any questions she had now or write them down for later.

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