Birthing of a Midwife

Today in the midst of the first week of class we were asked to share when the moment we decided to become a nurse was. For many this was a journey of sorts, for me I can remember everything about that moment. It was a middle of the night conversation with my hubby about where life was headed and what I wanted to do in life. Our son was turn 3 and our daughter 1, and I was beginning to be ready take on the real world again. Then he asked the typical “what if there were no barriers” question (I’ve been life coaching for five years you would think I would have thought of that one on my own). And the first thing that popped in my head was I would be a midwife. It was there in our first salt-box home in Rhode Island that I embarked on this journey into midwifery.

Of course, I took it relatively slow researching and deciding to take the Nurse Midwifery track instead of the Direct Entry point, mostly from the standpoint of wanting to provide more opportunities to educate others on the ideas of healthy, natural birthing to be exposed to some of those principle and to be able to educate from partially within the system rather than from across the street. So I began by taking a introduction to nursing class at a local community college in RI. From there I applied to two graduate entry programs, and due to prerequisites had to wait a year. During that time I figured out that I was not as bad a science student as I had once lead myself to believe and I became more confident in my abilities to handle it academically.

I then applied and was accepted to UIC a second time and was very excited. Throughout this time I became trained as a DONA certified doula and had several birthing experiences, and it continued to affirm my decision.

I know that in many ways the next fifteen months of become an RN is merely the on-ramp to my areas of passion. But am totally on board for being right where I am and learning and growing through this process. And I am looking forward to the actual Midwifery aspect of it going forward, but I am also excited to learn all sorts of tricks of the trade and prepare myself for the future.

I am also doing this with the load of a young family and that has posed many a stressor. But each new open door has also provided just the right people, care and loving for my kids and I will have to trust that to be provided throughout this journey, because they really are the most important investment of my life.

I want this to be a clarifying time and I want to see more of myself unlocked and revealed. I believe that there are so many skills, talents and gifts that are going to only be sharpen and honed by my new learning and I am waiting to see the merging of who I have been and who I am becoming. It will be challenging and exhausting, but I will forage ahead.