[00:00:00] Abby LaBounty: I am Abby LaBounty. I’m a family doctor here in Monticello. I’ve been at Stellis for almost eight years now and I do full spectrum family medicine, including delivering babies. I grew up in Minnesota in Moose Lake, which is about an hour south of Duluth.

[00:00:20] Abby LaBounty: As a family physician, my role during a women’s pregnancy is to help guide her to help her make the healthy choices and maintain a healthy low-risk pregnancy. And also to identify if things aren’t continuing to be low risk and identify if we need to ask one of our specialists to help us out and make sure that mom and baby remain safe through pregnancy.

[00:00:43] Abby LaBounty: Mom’s role during pregnancy is the most important one, and that is to continue to make healthy choices during pregnancy to keep herself and her baby healthy.

[00:00:51] Abby LaBounty: I love so many things about my job. I love being able to take care of tiny babies and be able to hold them when they [00:01:00] are six pounds. There’s no feeling like holding a newborn.

[00:01:03] Abby LaBounty: I love being able to see toddlers kind of toddle about in the clinic as they’re first starting to walk. I love taking care of moms through their pregnancies, answering their questions, listening to them when they first tell me about, gosh, I felt baby move for the first time last night.

[00:01:19] Abby LaBounty: Now that I’ve been in practice here for eight years and I’ve seen some babies that I’ve delivered now be almost eight years old. It’s really fun watching babies and children meet their new milestones and be able to have them recognize me and sometimes give a high five, sometimes even give a hug. Like, there’s nothing better than a toddler giving you a hug during a clinic day.

[00:01:42] Abby LaBounty: And so I think the benefit to choosing a family physician is that I will develop a relationship with, with you over. And that would include not just your pregnancy care, but pre-pregnancy care and then being able to care for you outside of pregnancy totally. As well as take care of your family, should [00:02:00] you choose to bring your, your kids to me.

[00:02:01] Abby LaBounty: I think quality of life is what’s most important. And so helping my patients achieve the highest quality of life, whatever that looks like for them, is really important to me.