Midwifery degree? Any midwives on here? :)

[bambooplant]

Hi, I'd love if someone could help me on here please.

I'm seriously considering going back to uni and studying midwifery. I work in healthcare at the moment as a nursing assistant but my first degree is a law degree. I love my job in adult healthcare but I'm feeling really pulled towards midwifery.

Are there any midwives on here that could share their experiences of working within the NHS? Or just to give me an idea of what the shifts are like, what you average working day is like and whether you enjoy your job to give me a better perspective of the reality of this career.

I'd be really grateful :) Thanks

[Catchingbabies]

Probably not the best person to ask but I’m a midwife desperately trying to leave the career and retrain as something else. It’s not a family friendly career at all sadly.

[bambooplant]

@catchingbabies I'm so sorry to hear that :( thank you for your reply an honest opinion is still an important one to hear

[LaLaFlottes]

I would also love to do this - but sadly doubt I’d be able to afford it really.

A friend did it and also found it not to be family friendly - however she did some additional studying and became a health visitor which she loves

[chocolatesweets]

I'm thinking the same. I have 3 year old twins. I was wondering about life/family balance also.

[PintOfBovril]

I left midwifery and returned to adult nursing as it wasn't a family friendly career in my Trust unfortunately.

[MooChops89]

I've been a midwife for almost 7 years, currently on mat leave with my 2nd. I think a lot will depend on the trust you work in as to how family friendly it is - my managers were really good at letting me reduce my hours and work certain shifts after my 1st baby, but I was also lucky with childcare from family so wasn't the end of the world if I was scheduled something else. The trust I trained in was huge and busy and it felt like the managers had no idea who most of the staff were let alone their personal circumstances so it wasn't unusual to be scheduled 8 14h night shifts in a row!

I currently work on labour ward in a hospital that does around 3,000 births a year (my old trust was more like 10,000!)
We can be on our knees busy, or absolutely dead (but that's not very often)
On any given shift I could be caring for a woman in the pool, or having a caesarean, or working on the triage area. We rotate between labour ward, postnatal ward and antenatal clinic every few months, and we have separate community staff.
We do 12h shifts (days or nights) on the wards but clinic is M-F 8-5 but considerably less take home pay due to not working nights or weekends.
I love my job, but it's bloody hard work physically and mentally. After my first mat leave I had a major wobble and considered leaving but came to my senses and I'm glad I did, I work mainly in a low risk team so unless I'm needed in any of the other areas I tend to care for women in the midwifery led rooms, either in the pool or encouraging them to be up and about.
The job satisfaction when you help a family have a healthy baby is second to none, but it's always worth remembering that it isn't always a positive outcome (although thankfully those moments are few and far between in our particular area).

Sorry that's long, and I could go on forever! I'm happy to answer any questions though (if my fuzzy baby brain can remember the answers )

[HostessTrolley]

I’m another ex midwife.

I loved working with the women, there was nothing more satisfying than supporting a woman who came in scared and thinking she couldn’t cope, through to her leaving as an exhausted but empowered new mum. Or being able to often single handedly manage the ward as when it was busy and understaffed all the staff would be pulled to labour ward, but I could cope and make sure all the women in had the best that I could possibly give.

Sadly for me working in a pretty much all female environment was a killer - so much bitching and politics. I said to my husband ‘I love being a midwife, but I can’t cope with working with fucking midwives’ - pardon the language but that’s exactly how I felt x

[chocolatesweets]

Hmm I wonder if work life balance is better for midwives or teachers? Thanks for your replies. I have a young family and want to be a professional but want a life. Is that possible? 🙈
I've been a sahm - hard work. Through lockdown also. I wonder if I can handle it 🤔