To ask if I sound the right type of person to be a Midwife?

[BreakingTheNews]

I'm extremely keen although becoming one would be a long way off. I'd need an Access Course, then uni if I'm lucky enough to get in because midwifery courses are extremely competitive.

What inspired me to become a Midwife is the utter admiration I had for how my midwives handled my later term loss. How compassionate and professional they were. It's something that really stuck with me, and inspires me.

In addition to this, the belief in providing the best care possible for any pregnant woman. Whether she's carrying to term or deciding to terminate. Her body, her choice. 100%, no ifs or buts.

I've always been a Medical Secretary/PA.
So no clinical background or experience.

I also have a 1 year old DC.

Do I sound like the right type of Midwife you'd want delivering your care?

You sound like a perfect candidate but I would think twice. My lovely neighbour who was already a specialist nurse studied to be a midwife, qualified and then couldn't get a job due to lack of recruitment. She ended up working back on the renal ward with a massive student loan debt.

I would also give 'This is Going To Hurt' by Adam Kay a read. He was a senior registrar in obstretics before he left the profession and it starkly - and also humerously - describes the horror of trying to deliver great patient care in an environment where resources were cut to the bone. He left medicine a good few years back so it's only got worse since.

Just realised I didn't answer your initial question as well.
I think lots of people are perfect for midwifery on paper. But everything is so much harder in person. Lots of people said I was when I started the course. But there's so much extra to think about than the actual pregnant women, and that's where I had to stop. It's a lot and with a young child I don't know how possible it is. I say go for it but don't feel awful if it doesn't work out, because it doesn't for a lot of people

Breaking, I did access to healthcare. I needed English and maths gcse for access but lots of my friends did maths gcse at college when they were doing their access. Access is a good place to start, see if you think you can cope with the studying and it covers lots if he human biology you need in midwifery

I applied for uni while I was doing my access and got a conditional offer from them. Luckily I got enough but not everyone did.

Last one 😂 Just English language.

OP I think that you sound like an amazing candidate. I trained as a nurse then later in life retrained as a social worker. This was many years ago and there was a requirement that applicants for social work be over a certain age (21 or 23 depending on the course) and could demonstrate a minimum number of hours working or volunteering in a role which gave then some level of experience.

Whilst I work with some amazing young social workers straight from university many are just far too inexperienced in life to manage the complexity of working with people in very challenging situations. As a cynic I sometimes question their motivation in choosing the career, it is certainly not based in an understanding of social policy and the lack of any political awareness and the barriers our families face is frightening at times.

You will work with people, often vulnerable, so do not underestimate how important life experience is in managing this effectively. I say this not only in relation to your experience of loss, but also that you will have developed skills in dealing with people from all walks of life, being assertive and you will also have a greater understanding of how the 'real world' works than someone who has gone straight from home to university. I look back at myself as a student at 18 and then again as a more mature student. Honestly the confidence of youth may have got me the first degree but maturity and the ability to reflect/ be pragmatic made my later course far more enjoyable and the quality of my work 10 times better! Good luck.

I’m a second year student midwife and I think you sound like a perfect candidate! Go for it! This job needs passion and you sound like you have bags of it x