Midwifery

Something you might not know about me, even if you know me well, is that I am semi-obsessed with childbirth. This weekend was my first on call experience as a birth center nurse. It was awesome. I got to assist in not only one but TWO births.
I am planning on starting back to school this spring to become a nurse midwife. I have wanted to do this for a long time. Even in older posts I think I have mentioned this. I got off track after nursing school because I was so frustrated with people telling me I had to be a med surg nurse before I could do what I wanted to do. Well I appreciate the advice, but I have really benefited from all my experiences with out "general nursing experience."
I remember about a year ago driving to Texas with Brandon and saying, "I think I still might want to be a midwife." The conversation sort of stopped because we had just arrived at his brother's house, but that was the first time I had said it out loud since college. I had been working at the shelter and was loving that, but I felt like it was time to pursue my dream.
So here I am a year later. I have passed the NCLEX, I have been working at the Health Department for about 6 monthes, and I am going to start school in the spring. Who knew!
This is a hard job that I am signing up for. The hours are unpredictable, women can be mean to you (until they have their babies), you get filthy, but I love it. You get to be a calming presence. You get to be a hero. And you get to be the first person in the whole world to hold a new person. Thats pretty cool. I figured everyone would be fighting for this job, but apparently not. I think I just figured everyone should think it is as cool as I think it is. But what I really think that says about me is that it is my passion. It gives me energy, even at 4:00 in the morning.