Midwifery: How Did You Get Here?

Whelp! June came and went and I didn’t get two newsletters to you…but I did get one. I hope you had a chance to check it out. If not scroll down and you can take a peek. 

Moving along to July (and leaving the trash that was the first half of the year alone). I’m going to pick up as if I didn’t miss a beat.

So, in my illustrious plans for the newsletter, June was supposed to be the month that I talk more about my midwifery journey. 

I get many questions via social media about pathways to midwifery, the time it takes, what the best options are, and how to become a midwife. And I truly want to take the time to provide you with some info and portions of my journey. I don’t have all the answers but can offer what I do know. I’ll admit sometimes I’m hesitant to share precise details because, as I have written before and will most likely do so again, each and every route to midwifery is going to be different and individualized. So, please remember that as I recall and share the info I do have.  

My midwifery journey started well before I knew it was an option. I thought I was going to go to medical school—planned for it and everything (including being pre-med and taking the MCAT). As it was becoming ever more apparent that this was not the road for me, I just knew that the world of birth was for me—I could not see myself being a part of anything else. I began to do research about birth work and the world of registered nursing hit me and midwifery came tumbling towards me next. So from a B.S. in Biology, I hopped into an accelerated nursing program (yes, I’ll talk about that transition too). 

At that point in my life, time did not matter—just working on achieving the goals that I set for myself. Despite realizing which path I desired to take, there was still a sting and a sense of hurt pride about not going to medical school. It was something I had talked about with family, friends, church members, and classmates for a very long time. Hell, my whole high school senior year curriculum was designed to prep me for my first year in undergraduate school as a pre-med major. I had some moments of feeling like I was letting other people down. But it hit me within this time that I had a life to live for me and had to be happy and content with it. No one else could live it and make the choices needed to achieve the things that were most important. I think this was the point where I felt like an ‘adult’. Not that I was to boss anyone around but that I was finally recognizing that the decisions I made would determine how my life goes. Yes, those decisions can impact others, but ultimately they need to reflect the chasing of my dreams.  I had to get as close to it as possible. Honestly, I didn’t think about failure often but that if it were to have happened (and yes I have had many moments of failure and detours of life which I will share as well) I would have at least been content in trying to achieve what it was I believed I was called to do. 

Lesson 1: your plans may not go exactly as you thought. Be willing to take the detour, redirect, and wait until it’s time to move again. It may hurt while it’s happening but you will see the benefit as you look back on your journey. 

I hope you enjoyed a bit of background info from my road to midwifery. There is much more to share, so I hope you follow along and share with anyone who may need this.