Nursing/midwifery-what sort of pre application work experience would guarentee me a place?

[Fillyjonk]

ok I know nothing will do that but

What should I be looking at doing? Bearing in mind that ALL work experience will probably involve great hassles with childcare so would ideally like to minimise it

have care work expereince but thats from 8 years ago

also lots of advocacy type stuff but assuming thats pretty irrelevant

am trying to get st johns ambulance training-will this help?

am not adverse to making phone calls but would like to bark up correct tree if possible

am in cardiff and stuck with local unis (might manage bristol/swansea) if anyone has advice on local situation

I start my midwofery degree on Monday, and I think being a La Leche peer counsellor played a part in me getting my place.

I got onto midwifery training with no care experience - it s hard to get a place though.

I like doing the shifts and find that I see more of dd than when I worked 9-5. I can usually either take her to school or pick her up.

I do my assignments in the evening when she's in bed. It means a few late nights but it means weekends when I'm not on the wards, I get to spend with her.

oh have done some peer bfing stuff, nowt fancy though, also edited NCT newletter and organised coffee mornings and crap.

Surely they don't care about stuff like this though?

The bfing stuff is definitely relevant, filly.

Re: my last post - yes you could probably pick up or drop off most days. Sorry, I didn't really see what you were getting at first time

thanks snaf

can I ask how old your kids are? Or indeed anyone's doing miwdifery?

How do they cope, do they see much of you?

am very worried about this

I just wrote a whole load of waffle in reply to that and deleted it

The honest truth is that no, I don't see enough of ds and yes, I feel guilty about it a lot of the time. But - do I think he's been badly affected? No, I don't. I think he 'copes' absolutely fine. I do get the odd 'Oh, mummy, I miss you sooo much, please don't go to work' etc and it's heartbreaking but I know that the second I'm out of the door he's back playing with his friends or his father or his grandparents. He is a bright, happy, secure, well-behaved child and we are very close, very strongly bonded.

I think the coping issues are 'my' problems, iyswim? I think I sometimes project angst onto a situation that actually has very little. It helps that I am absolutely secure and happy with my childcare arrangements, though. You will worry, though - that's inevitable. But if I really thought he was being adversely affected I wouldn't do it.

Oh, he's 3.5, btw! He was just over 2 when I started.

Haven't read the whole thread and sorry I can't do links (too lazy to read the instructions):
www.studentmidwives.co.uk/
it's an excellent website with lots of info.

Franca, I was just going to add that website.
Filly, I'm in y3 now of my course and I'll be qualifying in June. In 2 weeks time I'll have handed in my final assigment and I'll finally be free again. The midwifery training is notorious for being something that completely takes over your life. I don't feel that I've spent enough time with my 2 on many of my days off, because I was behind my computer doing assigments or if I'm not than my mind wasn't with them 100% as I always had this little voice in the back of my mind going: 'should be working, should be writing'. But it will all be worth it, it's temporary thing. From this summer I'll be able to go part time and spend all my spare time with my dc's playing and doing fun things. I think my dc's will be able to look up to me in the future as well as a role model for achieving something like this while looking after them as well.
Because my dp works away at sea as well, I wouldn't have been able to do this without an au pair. Although they are a great help, if you don't get the right person au pairs can also be a great extra headache, so be warned.
My uni has a 50-50 approach to uni and placements, so 50% of the time you are out there in the clinical area doing shift work.
My 2 were 2.6y and 5.6m when I started training and now they're 5&3. I managed to exclusively bf my dd for a bit during this time (she refused bottles) and bf her for 2y. So I'd say the last 2.8y have been an amazing acheivement so far.

thanks both of you

I need to start a thread about au pairs I think.

I am increasingly thinking they are the way forward but am not sure I can cope with having someone in my home 24/7. My home is tiny and I don't have any spare rooms.

Also-can they do extra hours? I thought they did about 3 hours a week or summat

I actually just want someone fun who will play with my kids, dont care if house looks like a bombsite.

I've been ok with having them around me 24/7. Actually, most ap's have managed to make friends and so they often spend their days off out and about.
They do need their own room though, no matter how tiny it is.
Mine have been doing full time and more even, but they chose to do that. They generally say that they're here to work with children and if they'd not play with them they'd be bored, so they could just as well help out. Which is of course very nice of them My ap's also don't do any housework as imo au pairs are there to help with the children, not the house.
I've had Dutch au pairs as my 2 are bilingual and so I wanted that extra Dutch influence. You do find au pairs from Germany or France who want to stay longer term. Mine have usually stayed 4-6m. And we've only had 1 or 2 dissapointments.
The problem with Dutch au pairs though it that they're short in supply and so I have to do it myself via au pair world as the agencies around here only have eastern european girls on their books.

Rereading my message, I think I should explain that 'they' and 'mine' are the au pairs that I'm talking about

oh god was relying on getting a german or pos scandinavian au pair

what I really want is a Steiner educated au pair

is there no call for students who wish to take a year out and live with a friendly, if shouty family?

bloody hell, i will pay, I don't want to give them a pittance either really. I just want them to be wonderful with my kids

hmm

have garden shed? would this be ok? has wormery in it though

(mif-You have a loom? you have a loom? say more!)

(or home educated au pair)

Trouble is, my mum will go utterly, absolutely nuts and she is well known in steiner circles...she will probably tell the poor steiner girl that we have lice and a tv or something.

(only one of these is try )

only one of these is true

To be honest, The universities dont give a blind bit of notice weather your experience is nursing related or not, they want experience that shows you have good people skills.
Nothing will guarentee you a place whatsoever, they will give you a place on a) How good your personal statement is b)your academic qualifications c)your life experiences and finally and most importantly d) your performance at interview

I dont mean to put a dampner on things, but I had good midwifery experience, good references, ok academic qualifications, very varied life experience, but still failed to achieve a place at 4 unis I applied to I really thought that my second interview went really well, but it turned out not to be.

Good luck, be prepared to do whatever it takes- and more