To become a midwife

[ladybird69]

At the mo I'm recently divorced and suffering with ME. I pray that it won't hold me back for ever. DO You THink that I could ever complete a midwife training! Or maybe a foster carer. I'm a fully trained NNEB Who has raised my own children single handily and quite a number of other waifs and strays that they would bring home.
My dream would be midwife but I'm 47 and it would be years of training although I practically know everything due to nneb and personal experience!!! 😁 Or foster mum but do you get lots of support?please any advice would be great.

[refred]

I think if you're ok with shift work, including nights and don't have DC's to work around midwifery would be fine. I would give it a go if you fancy it. Shifts are long and can be tiring though.

Foster caring would also be an option. I work with foster carers and it can be fully on but very rewarding. Depends how debilitating the ME is I guess.

[ladybird69]

Thanks refred at the moment it's quite debilitating but I think that I'm trying to make plans as I'm praying that this won't last forever my life can't be over at 47! Thanks for your reply

[refred]

I have several friends over the years recover from ME so it's definitely possible! Always good to have a plan I think.

[Secretsout]

Hi there, I'm a midwife and trained in my early thirties with two very young children, I had the full support of my now STBXH and it was a tough three years.

Trust me, the training is extremely hard work, you will be studying for a degree whilst undertaking full time clinical shifts. The course is very academic, it is not all about cuddling babies!

Even the young and fresh midwives these days are suffering from burn out after just a handfull of years practicing. The pay is pretty average/poor for the level of accountability that you will have. The shift patterns are generally awful, think, chopping and changing between nights and days in the same week.

Also, dont forget that training is no longer paid for by the NHS so you will have to pay Uni tuition fees of the usual £9k per year and you will not be classed as a 'student' or 'employed' for the purposes of any benefit entitlement or student loans (this is what i've been told by our current students).

Unless you absolutely think it is the ultimate dream and you dont care about all of the above then I would look for something different.

Sorry to put a dampener on it but it really is a challenging career choice!

[ladybird69]

Thanks refred I just don't want to believe that this is it! If you know what I mean.
secrets thanks for some cold hard truth. I have a qualification already that qualifies me to work witn babies and young children so will look into anything that I could do based on that. Thanks for your replies

[refred]

Have you thought about working on the postnatal wards as a maternity support worker or may be within a health visiting team as a Child Development Worker?

The latter would be better working g hours and more varied I think.

[ladybird69]

I haven't heard of those roles so it's something that I will definitely look into. Thanks

[IrritatedUser1960]

47 with ME, sorry no.

I'm 55, perfectly healthy and had to give up nursing long before 47 due to the utter draining exhaustion of it, midwifery is much harder.

I'm doing podiatry now, it's still challenging but at least you can sit most of the day, it's 9-5 with weekends off.

[IrritatedUser1960]

Also don't forget when you go through the menopause in your 50's the exhaustion gets a lot worse. people forget this, menopause is a time when you need to be taking things easier not harder.

[ladybird69]

Thanks irritated maybe I need to rethink things. It's just so frustrating I wanted my life to be more than this.