Getting Organized

Whether your baby is in the NICU or at home, it is important to keep all of your baby's medical information organized and in one place. I am not an organized person by nature however with both of my kids I quickly realized that in order to stay on top of their ever increasing amount of paperwork and information I needed to create a system that would allow me to organize everything in one place and be able to take it with me when we went to the doctor.
This was especially true with my daughter. At one time she was on up to 13 medicines. It would take 5 minutes just to list, spell and go over dosages with the nurse every time we saw a doctor (which is a lot). I put together a binder that has been an absolute lifesaver for me (and them!).




In the binder I have a section with contact information for all of the doctors, therapists, and medical supply companies we deal with. I also have a list of all medicines, dosages and a schedule of when they are given. Now when we go to the doctor, I just pull out the binder, turn to the medicine page and let the nurse write everything down. This alone saves a ton of time and energy. I also keep all authorizations for services in the binder - that way I always know that we are covered when we go to other appointments. Any paperwork that the doctor or therapist gives me goes in the binder as well. I also keep receipts for co-pays, medicine and anything else that might be tax deductible.

If you haven't already created a system for yourself, I would highly advise that you start now. The tinier the baby - the more paperwork they will have. The keys are that it should be expandable, simple and portable.

For those that don't want to go out and put it together themselves, I've created a binder that you can purchase. There are three sizes - 1", 1 1/2" and 2" binders based on your needs. Each binder has multiple copies of key pages that can be filled out including contact information, medicine dosage and schedule, hospitalization and surgery histories, etc. It also has a calendar for scheduling appointments and an envelope for receipts. Click on the Paypal store that is just under my profile for more information and pricing.

Once you have a system - use it! If all of your information is in one place than you and anyone else who is caring for your child will know how to find things quickly and easily.