One year on...

One year ago today I started my midwifery journey. The decision to become a midwife was quick for me, I did not have a life long ambition, for me it was being a birthing partner for my sister. Her midwife was inspirational, she had been a midwife for 25 years and clearly loved being with women and being an advocate for them at the most scariest and happiest moments of their lives. This brilliant midwife asked why I had not considered being a midwife? I had never felt intelligent instead always feeling like an underachiever and my grades reflected this. I found school to be some of the worst years of my childhood. Having this one person who I had only just met see something in me completely shifted my attitude towards my abilities. I went home and applied to do an access to nursing course and then, to my complete surprise first time round I was accepted onto a university course to become a student midwife.

One year on I can honestly say it is the best decision I ever made, the last year has been amazing, very hard work, emotional, sad, happy and I LOVE my future career. In the last year I have had the pleasure of delivering 14 beautiful babies and have built up professional relationships with many wonderful couples starting their journey as a family. One year on I feel reflective about my role as a student midwife and how hard myself and everyone in my cohort have to work to achieve this goal, which comes at a price of not seeing our own families as often as we would like and I think we all exhaust the phrase ‘sorry I can’t see you on that date, working another long day’. One year on I have decided to start this blog about different experiences I face as a student midwife, my emotions around this role and my views on guidelines or changes which often happen in midwifery.

Anyone who stumbles across this blog who is considering a future in midwifery don’t just consider it, go for it! You won’t look back...

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Happy monday!

JP

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