Reasons for becoming a Midwife Nurse can impact your career, your pay, and your personal satisfaction in your job in this growing field. There are many reasons to be a midwife nurse and focus on caring for women before and during childbirth. The Midwife Nurse is a modern interpretation of an age-old practice. Midwifery is a holistic approach to women’s health and childbirth. Midwives are attendants and caretakers through the birth of a child, with an emphasis on natural births and care for the mother. There is something so special about the birth of a baby, and these highly trained professionals are there to be a part of that special event.
Unlike a traditional hospital setting, midwives are able to bring care to the mother before the birth, postpartum, as well as follow-up care for mother and baby. Like any nursing profession, Midwifery takes talent, skill, and dedication. The professionals who undertake this career are in for a challenging and rewarding work. There are so many reasons you should choose to become a Midwife Nurse, and we have condensed them down to the top 10.
1. Care
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The main reason nurses get into their profession is that they want to care for patients, and the same is certainly true for midwives. Midwives have a passion for women’s healthcare and want to extend their knowledge to their patients. A caring and compassionate person present at the time of such a scary time is most certainly welcome. You will be able to interact with patients in a way that most people don’t.
You get to be there when your child is born. Your care and advice will be the reason their baby is born healthy. You will also be able to advocate for them for issues that are important to them after their birth, for example, breastfeeding. For some reason, Americans can be quite uptight when it comes to breastfeeding. It’s almost a taboo topic. As a trusted midwife, you can educate new mothers on how to feel comfortable nursing, as well as give tips and tricks on the topic.
2. Continued Participation
Midwifery is an art, and the best way for any artist to get better is through practice. It is extremely important to keep yourself current on new practices of your craft, as well as brush up on old techniques you may not have used in a while. You have to feel confident in yourself when bringing a new baby into this world, and the parents have to feel that confidence. It makes everyone feel safe.
There are conferences you can attend that have lectures, debates, and skills training to refresh your mind about the knowledge you have learned. It is a place where other midwife nurses can come together to share their experiences and wisdom. If you are interested in such an event, check out the Midwifery Today Conference. The conference holds seminars on important topics such as breech skills, breastfeeding, managing labor pains, dealing with multiple births, and much more. However, if you wish to stay current, be sure to always strive for maximum effort. Other people’s lives will depend on you.
3. Varied Location
Variety is the spice of life, right? Life can get boring when you have to be in the same place day in and day out. With midwifery, your location changes constantly. You are able to bounce around from house to house, catching a glimpse of the lives of the people you work with. You get a better understanding of the people with which you share these intimate moments. You also get to work in several different hospitals, maintaining friendships, without getting caught up in workplace politics.
There is also the possibility of a few days without working, or a 3 AM wake-up call to deliver twins. There is such a thrill in not knowing the particular details of the everyday schedule. The unpredictability of not knowing what is going to happen at any given moment prevents the monotonous feeling most people get in their careers, and you can be sure that will never happen as a midwife.
4. Advanced Training
All nurses must be well trained through school and practical hours in hospitals, but midwife nurses must take that training a go a step further. A midwife must specialize. They are experts on women’s health and obstetrics. Many Midwife nurses go for a Master’s of Science in Nursing, or an MSN. Just be sure to go through an institution that is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education or ACME. Another path you can take is to get your bachelor’s degree in nursing, and then continue on to graduate-level midwife training.
Examples of courses you will take are: Anatomy and Physiology, Community theory and family theory, Holistic nursing and Complementary Alternative Therapies, and Introduction to online and accelerated learning in nursing. Whichever educational path you choose, you will have advanced training that will help you in some sticky situations. It might be a lot of education to think about upfront, but remember, you can also work as a nurse while going to school, to gain more experience and make money while reaching your goal.
5. Trust
There are many people who trust you as a midwife. Moms giving birth put their lives in your capable hands. They trust that you will help them through this important journey in their life. They believe that you will do everything you can to keep them safe and protected. They also want to believe that you will help manage their pain and keep them more comfortable than a doctor can. Dads put their trust in you to keep their partner and child safe from harm. They also trust your guidance to help them to become a father. Your colleagues trust you to remain professional, and not give midwifery a bad name. They trust you to use best practices when bringing a new life into this world so that their names also remain clear.
However, the most important person’s trust you must have as a midwife is yourself. When you have faith in yourself, you can accomplish the goals you set forth in life. If you trust yourself, everyone else’s trust will fall into place.
6. Passion
Nobody gets into the midwifery business without a passion for helping women, and ushering babies into the world. It is something so beautiful and natural that it is easy to feel a calling for it. There are, however, a few tips to make sure your passion and energy for the craft always remain. Make sure you do affirmations in the mirror. This may sound silly, but they really help out when you have an early morning shift the next day.
Try to remember what made you enthralled with midwifery, to begin with. Be sure to always get enough sleep. You must make sleep a priority. It will not only keep your passion alive for your job, it will also keep you alert, as well as keep your charges safe.
Exercise is also something that will keep you ready for work for many years to come. On non-emergency visits, you might want to consider biking to meet with your patients. Just like in the show Call the Midwife. I’m sure many people reading this are already obsessed with the show and the book, and perhaps might have even started the spark of the passion for midwifery. If you haven’t seen it, you must start watching immediately!
7. Babies
Who doesn’t love cute little babies? There may be someone out there, but we think they’re crazy! If you want to be a midwife, you have to absolutely love babies. Your life will basically center around them.
Midwives get to see babies before they are the cooing cuties that are photoshoot ready. You will see the babies when their heads are a little smooshed from their long journey when they are still covered in a bodysuit of fine hair, called lanugo, and when they are just covered in goo.
While some people would rather wait to see babies after they have been washed a few times, and are able to flash you a happy smile, midwives are happy to be on the scene when babies are in their most natural state. You will be happy to cut the umbilical cord or coach mommy’s partner on how to perform the task. Babies are the name of the game, and midwives are just happy to go along for the ride.
8. Women’s Health
Bringing babies into the world isn’t the only reason people want to become midwives. You have to have a deep understanding and enthusiasm for women’s health. You will need to show as much care if not more care for the mother than you will for the baby. Most babies are delivered healthy, and without incident, so they are easy to care for.
Mom, on the other hand, had just gone through a very painful ordeal. She will need reassurance, follow-up care, and careful guidance. Emotions are high after every birth. Hormones are out of whack. Naturally, new mothers have mood swings, anxiety, and the dreaded baby blues. The baby blues are a sad feeling that tends to happen a few days after giving birth and can last up to a few weeks. More severe cases are classified as postpartum depression, and should not be ignored. For these reasons, mothers must be closely monitored and cared for from before the baby is born, and for several weeks after.
9. Alternative Medicine
It’s odd to think that midwifery is considered alternative medicine since the methods used are the natural way women have given birth since the beginning of time. The normal procedures now are to be in a sterile and unfeeling room with practical strangers handing out harsh chemicals. While that is a perfectly acceptable and safe birth, there seems to be a disconnect to what is actually an alternative.
In any event, embrace the newfound uniqueness of midwifery. Let your freak flag fly (just make sure it has cute babies on it). Being classified as alternative medicine puts you in a class of great practices such as chiropractic medicine, acupuncture, and massage therapy. These alternatives, as they are called, are proven study after study to be extremely effective. There is something great about old knowledge having a rebirth in society.
10. Autonomy
There is certainly something to say about being your own boss. When you don’t have to answer to anyone, it gives you a greater sense of pride in your work. Midwives get to call their own shots. In most countries, midwives are considered highly trained medical professionals with the autonomy to govern themselves. This does not mean that midwives isolate themselves from other nurses or medical professionals.
Autonomous midwifery means allows midwives to keep their unspoken contract with society by keeping current on medical best practices, high-quality care for mother and child, and following a strict code of ethics. While midwives often have conferences with others from the medical community, their autonomy allows them to hold their practice to their own standards. Midwifery is an ancient practice, with old wisdom, and current scientific research. If you decide to become a midwife, you will not be disappointed.
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