Midwifery

8.

If your heart is telling you do it then do it. I truly believe that being a midwife is a vocation, something you are called to do, rather than just something you do to get paid for.

8. ugh. Is there something in that vein that you could do for a year to see if you will still want to do it after a while?

Another thought... how would mw-ery go with a preschooler? You probably wouldn't be able to work as one until she was 14 and could be left at home on short notice, like in the middle of the night etc?

meow wrote: Would you have to pay for uni now you have a partner? Or would you just not declare him.. hehe The fees are why I haven't gone back to study yet.. with a big student loan already I don't want to get in even more debt.

Yeah, I have to look into that too. I think that's why I am deciding sooner rather than later as when he becomes my 'de facto' partner then I am not eligible for DPB anymore. I think it is 2 years living together, but have to figure that one out.

At the moment, while he is living with me we still have entirely seperate finances so I'd be peeved if I wasn't eligible anymore as I am still a single mum.

Edited by nikkiwhyte

I lived for 2 years with DP as his flatmate, I moved in with him and my name wasn't on any of the bills, lease etc. I was able to claim student allowance.
My SIL is a midwife and now a single mum, she works for an OB - she works school hours I think it does include some weekends, but no nights.
She trained as a nurse initially and then did another year to qualify as a mid wife.

ooo Im with you Nikki and want to be a MW. I did initially apply to Massey Wgtn to do their 3yr degree but was advised that it is quite a fully on job once out in the field and to leave it till my kids were older (quite alot of pressure for young family etc..) Hence why I ended up becoming a nurse. I still want to be a MW but will wait until the kids are older and hopefully they will cut the course down to 2yrs for a registered nurse..I doubt it tho

Goodluck with making your decision!!

BTW you can always ring a midwife and see if you can go along with her to a birth (with the ladies permission) I did this with my MW and was only suppose to go to one birth but she ended up taking me to 3 lol 

Hey there Nikki, this is something that i want to do as well, but decided to wait till my girls are around the 10-ish mark so that they are a little more managable with an unpredicatable schedule.. and so it's alittle less heat on mike (although two pre-teens sound just as much of a handful as toddlers i think but hey!)
For now i am content to stick with the other side, nursing the bubbas, and think it would hold me in good place for going into midwifery as i know how to deal with "when things go wrong" situations.

If ya really wanna give it a go, i must say i have found a huuuuge difference in the skills and knowledge level between midwives who were previously nurses.. who have a far better understanding of all things biology etc, than the direct entry midwives... maybe do nursing first, lolol (i hear you laughing very loud). he he

The one thing about midwifery is that you don't necissarily HAVE to be an independant one. there are plenty of hospital midwives which would provide you with the routine of (ick shift work) It's just getting through the course first i guess. Only thing about that is it varies greatly how many births you attend as most women really do have their own independant ones these days.

Good luck. Who knows maybe we'll finally both decide to tick that off our to-do lists around the same time.

My midwife did it while her kids were young and then had twins when she had nearly finished. Her hubby became a SAHD.