Midwives- am I mad?!

[BlackholesAndRevelations]

Hi, was just wondering if I'd be insane to consider retraining as a midwife (am currently primary teacher).

Is there such thing as a part time midwife? I'd like to try and be part time when my children are older (currently 10 months and 2.5) I don't think I'd be looking to retrain for a while yet, but I'll be teaching full time from september so to be honest I don't think the workload would be much more doing a vocational degree/whatever I need to do to qualify... Am I way off?!

Tia!

Well it's shiftwork
So they'd probably let you do a couple of shifts a week
But some would be overnight

It's full time for 3 years to train and you would be working shifts during training. Plenty of people work part time after completing the training though.

Would you have childcare to cover late finishes, early starts, weekends, bank holidays, nights? You would need some relevant experience to get a training place too, and while you would get a bursary, it's not very much.

Of course you can work part time. But you have to train for three years first and that is full on, full time, your degree plus a 37.5 hour working week in 6-8 week blocks. My. Training was the hardest 3 years of my life and if someone said to me I had to do it again in order to continue practicing then there's no way I could do it.

Wow thanks for the prompt replies! So, Benedict, was it worth it? What's your work life balance like now? Job satisfaction?

Childcare for lates/nights might be tricky as dp sometimes works away, and at short notice too. Hmmm...

By the way training to teach is similar to what you describe, except it's only for one year. However you could argue that I'm used to work on top of work as a teacher! I think I might try and arrange some voluntary work in local hospital one school hol. Thanks again!

I work part time - 20 hours a week, which is split into 2 days. I also do 3 on calls per month which are overnights. I start at 8 and finish at 6.30 (if I'm lucky). I am very lucky in that I have some choice over which days I work. Many midwives don't.

The training is more than full time, and I did it before I had children, I'm not sure I could do it now. It's hard to get a place without relevant experience I think.

Childcare with our hours is tricky, my DC are 2 and 4 and I have been lucky enough to use family. Finding formal childcare for these sorts of hours can be hard.

I do love my job most of the time but TBH workload is growing as is defensive practice which is making it less and less fun. My caseload is 160 women at the moment, which is about 4 times the recommended amount for a midwife working my hours. I don't think this is unusual.

I would echo that, the 3 years training is very difficult and I have no idea how I managed it with two children but my partner is very supportive so that made it easier. You will need someone to step in for you when your partner is away as there is no leeway given (obviously we all have commitments but if you sign up to it the shift work is part and parcel). Don't forget that this is in holidays as well, and as a primary teacher you will never have to worry about doing a nightshift and then staying up all day to look after the kids! I do have a great work life balance now as a community midwife on 24 hrs per week. But financially I'm not sure we will recover for a long time as I was only receiving a bursary for 3 years, racked up the overdraft and student loans and your starting salary is approx £21k which is way below what I was earning before or my friends in the private sector earn.
Midwifery is in a very bad place at the moment. The NHS is going to shit, no money for anything, hospitals driven by risk managers. All the small units are closing and you will be working in an environment more suited to making car parts than delivering babies! Add to that the hostility towards midwives on sites such as this and it can really get you down. I do love my job but I am very lucky to work where I do and I'm not sure I could wholeheartedly recommend it. You have to be very tough mentally and physically to be a midwife these days.

My friend just qualified and the shortage of jobs in the field has meant she has had to take a job in London with a keyworker flat and commute from the west country while partner has the kids.

I work a 30 hour week so this means 2 long days/nights one week followed by 3 long days/nights the next. Usually. I've got two kids that I do get to spend a lot of time with although I'm working all weekends for the nest few weeks so my poor DH doesn't get a look in. I echo that midwifery is not in a good place at present, but I suppose you'd probably argue the same about teaching. I love my job or at least the part of it that is actually midwifery, the paperwork, the arse covering, the flitting between jobs, never being able to give a 100% to one individual, the crap pay, the lack of breaks, the poor public perception of us, the never-ending risk management meetings, the finger pointing and the bitchiness are some aspects of the job that I could definitely do without.

I don't think I'll be a midwife forever. And when I started my training I'd have laughed at you in the face if you'd suggested such a thing.

Whilst you ate training the flexibility of the shifts really depends in the department you are working in and your allocated mentor. I only had one child when I trained and it was incredibly difficult.
Due to my h's (now xh) work patterns ds spent a lot of time at his grandparents.
When I qualified I was told that part time was not an option. I did go part time after the birth if ds2 3 days a week but still had to accomodate shifts and work weekends cover Xmas new year etc. I had to go full time as wages weren't covering bills from working. I finally quit when dd1 was almost 3. I just felt I'd seen nothing of my family and was missing out on do much.
I still miss the job terribly but for me it just doesn't work with a family I find the children now they are older (15,10, 6 & 2) need more of me and not less of me.

It is a great job if you can get the balance right for you and your family. I now work in a totally different area but I do think when the children are all grown up that I may consider going back if I can afford the drop in salary.

apart from the slight discrepancy in hours, I could have written benedicts post. I used to listen to 'old' midwives grumbling and inwardly roll my eyes, thinking I would never feel like that. But there are long periods when I hate my job now. shame, as the bit where I actually care for women is still amazing. It;s just only about 60% of my job now, if that.

You would be mad, sorry but you really would be.

Nursing and midwifery has got to be the most un family friendly jobs going. Shifts, nights, split nights, less than 2 weeks notice of shifts. Unable to commit to nights out, weekends away, etc.

Occasionally the job satisfaction is unbelievable, the shifts where you feel you've made such a big difference to someone, saved a life, sorted out breastfeeding problems, helped someone to have the birth they wanted is the best feeling in the world. But it happens rarely.

Most shifts you're so stretched its unbelievably stressful. Defensive practice, trying to give safe practice......good practice at times seems so far away.

I'm thinking about swapping the other way and moving to teaching!

And yes the bitchiness is unbelievable. Not from the majority of colleagues, but the lack of support and the finger pointing from some managers and other co-ordinations is untrue. I sometimes feel sick with fear at work even when nothing's gone wrong. Just because it's so busy I feel it's a hair breadth away from going wrong and I know if it does if something can be blamed on an individual member of staff then it will be. Easier to have an employee failure rather than a system failure.

I tried a few other careers before finally admitting that it definitely was midwifery where my heart lay. If you feel like you are really meant to do the job then go for it. But you will need an unbelievable determination to get through the training and then not to get disheartened at post-qualification.
I worked in midwifery before I had children and they are remarkably inflexible when it comes to being family friendly etc (in my trust anyway).
I would also wholeheartedly agree with the other posters that describe defensive practice and little time to provide anything akin to quality care. Most of the time it's damage limitation and endless paperwork.

oh, and I am greater london so there have always been plenty of jobs. we often get midwives who live miles away (stoke, nottingham, northampton at the moment) but who can't get jobs near home. If you live away from town then it's not even guaranteed that you'll get a job at the end of it.

Honestly if I hadn't time again I'm not surf I'd do my training.
As others have said there are times when my job is beyond amazing, and there are many women/babies/families who I have shared special times with.

But I am seriously considering not going back after maternity leave. Being a midwife is wonderful, everything else isn't.

I especially struggle with the negativity surrounding healthcare workers and especially all the negativity directed at maternity services/midwives.

Also finding the time for PREP and study days whilst trying to raise a young family.

And then there's paying for the privilege of being on the NMC register

I echo what the others have said.

I was reasonably lucky in that my training trust was local, and they were quite good in shift allocation, as in you could try and plan your shifts where as some units tell you what you're doing and that's it. I also trained in a smaller place which meant lots of continuity with mentors and I got to know the women well. Downside was uni was a 4-5 hr round trip. No fun when you've small kids, then sat up all night essay writing, on top of placement. It was gruelling, really took it out of me and my family and my relationship suffered as a result although we're ok now I think I survived on adrenalin and red bull for 3 years.

I dont think I could do it again, now I'm here I am proud of myself for doing it as I was once told id only end up in dead end jobs. I have recently been downbeat about midwifery due to the problems potentially being faced by NHS workers in the south west, but apart from that I love my job, love where I work. I have bad days but then who doesnt whatever job you're doing? But sometimes a bad day at the office for a midwife can mean something very very sad has a happened, and I sometimes think some folk think all we do is cuddle a baby . I rarely do that!

If you're passionate about it then look into it, gather some info and go for it.

Sorry for dreadful typing am juggling iPhone and sleeping baby

I have to say though what beaver has said about the bitchiness and sort notice of shifts, I don't get this at all where I am, but I do hear of it a lot unfortunately.

I've had my September off duty for 10 days now, so know I'm lucky in that respect, and I've been lucky enough to also not work somewhere where there is a bullying / bitchiness culture.

I have to agree though that sometimes reading negativity on sites like this leaves me feeling very sad and frustrated.

I may toy with the idea of HV training when I get fed up of shifts. Yet a year ago id have said jog on

I start my uni degree in 6 weeks. I have 4 dc under 11. Now officially scared :(

Sorry. It might be better where you train. You might be so passionate about midwifery that the positives outweigh the negatives. I still see students who look like they're enjoying themselves!

Wow, thanks for the answers and the honesty. Teaching is the same in that less and less of it is about actually enjoying the children, as you're so stressed about everything else. I don't think midwives cuddle babies all day, lol! No more than I start at 9, finish at 3 and do colouring in all day! I work 7.30-5.00 or 5.30, then s few hours each evening and sundays too.

However the shift thing is a bit off putting. You've def given me food for thought, thanks!

Ps shifts are fine, it's childcare I'd be worried about!

oh, and off duty, my god! 4 days notice for august off duty, no september so far, natch.

Childminders are very hard to find. So unless you have a dp working office hours who can drop the kids off, pick them up then you will struggle.

I managed it with two very flexible childminders, first one stopped so I found another. Then she stopped and I haven't been able to find another. So dd has had to be left to sort herself out in the mornings and come home from school with a key a lot earlier than I'd have liked. I start work at 7am for an early shift.