Aspiring midwives or doulas

[JenniferH]

I couldn't find a thread, so isn't it time for a new one?

I am an aspiring midwife and I'm looking for someone to take me under their wing as an apprentice. The only human birth I've ever attended is my daughter's, but I've midwived an awful lot of farm animals. I would really love to assist/attend a few homebirths in this area and start learning the ropes.

I live in Mississippi and I've been asking around, but so far I haven't found anyone who is taking an apprentice. There aren't many midwives around here, but midwifery is legal. YAY! Even if you live in Memphis or within an hour or two of me I'd be willing to give it a go.

My education consists of some formal college and lots of the School of Life, but I start this spring in pre-nursing with the hopes of being in nursing school by the fall.

At this point I'm information gathering and reading, reading, reading. I can't afford nursing school AND formal midwife school, so I'm looking for alternate routes.

Anyone else an aspiring midwife or doula?

[MelanieMC]

Hey Jennifer! I am in Alabama and I am also an aspiring midwife. I'm in nursing school right now (LPN). I plan to work as a nurse for a few years (2-3) to save up money to be able to move to go to midwifery school or apprentice. In bama it is illegal to have a midwife assisted birth except for CNM's in the hospital, but I want to be a homebirth midwife (CPM), so I'm gonna have to move anyway. Just wanted to say hey. I hope you have good luck in finding someone to apprentice under.

[nadine]

Hi there! I'm a mom to 2 children (a 5 year old and an almost 14 month old). I went to nursing school and am now and RN, I thought I would go on and become a CNM, that had been my plan. But my plans changed after the homebirth of my youngest, and I am now in school to become LM/CPM.

[MelanieMC]

nadine, I noticed your location. Are you attending Seattle midwifery school? Just wondering.

[lucybean]

Hello all! I'm an aspiring midwife, college student in New York, planning on doing nursing school and becoming a CNM.

What have you all been doing to get started? Have you taken any great workshops, trainings, done doula or CBE certification...? I'd love to hear your experiences.

Also I'm always looking for something new to read, if you have suggestions! Most recently I finished Heart and Hands-- highly reccomended if you haven't read it yet. I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm always on the look out for something new.

Best of luck to you all in your journeys.
Lucy

[durafemina]

Hi everyone
I'm in Canada, but moving to New Zealand in 5 weeks for the Direct Entry Bachelor of Midwifery program there. I'm 22 and just finished a Bsc in Psychology here this summer.

More to say later, but I have a suitcase is sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor - (empty so far!) and I have to work the rest of the week, so I'd best get some packing done!

Peace,
dura

[Birth Junky]

: SO EXCITED that someone started this tribe! :

I hang out in the Midwives/Doulas/CBEs room all the time, but I am thrilled to have a tribe to chat with--subscribing now!

I decided I wanted to become a midwife around age 9 and started reading and reading and reading (by 12 I had read everything that the public library system had to offer me about pregnancy and childbirth--even the nursing texts that went way over my head--and watched all the videos!). I have been sloooooooowly working towards that goal ever since.

When I was 17 I attended the Seattle Midwifery School doula training, helped out at a childbirth education series, and attended one labor . . . but then got sidetracked by college and found myself unable to be "on-call" for birth work.
After college I attended massage school with the goal of becoming a pregnancy massage therapist; I even picked my school based on their pre-natal massage elective! I certified after graduation, but didn't find much of a pregnancy clientele for a few years (I did mostly seated work in the beginning). I kept reading and reading and reading.

I moved to Canada with my husband right after we got married and found myself unable to practice massage, so I stuck it out in a data-entry job for a year. I took a childbirth educator training while I was up there, but then we moved back to the U.S. and now I would have to start all over again to get certified.

After we moved home at the beginning of last year I finally found myself in a massage practice that was GREAT for pregnancy, and started really enjoying my work! I took an infant massage instructor training, and even started attending births again this year. I felt like I was finally back on track, making progress again towards my life-long goal.

Then I attained another life-long goal, unexpectedly and quite ahead of schedule--I discovered I was going to become a mother. I am now 5 months pregnant, planning on quitting my job once I get too big to reach the table, and giving up my pursuits temporarily for impending motherhood. I won't be able to be on-call and away for many hours at a time to attend births, but I still hope to teach infant massage to parents, and am looking into training as a lactation consulant (hoping it will be something that is doable with a small child, if only very part-time). And of course, I am still reading, reading, reading!

Eventually I hope to train as a midwife through an apprenticeship-based program, and center my practice around homebirths . . . eventually, in the distant future, I have a misty goal of running a full-service maternity center: childbirth education, lactation help, midwifery and well-woman services, pregnancy massage, etc., etc. It MAY never happen, but it's something to daydream about . . .

I look forward to getting to know all of you, and learning as we go.

[JenniferH]

Originally Posted by lucybean

What have you all been doing to get started? Have you taken any great workshops, trainings, done doula or CBE certification...? I'd love to hear your experiences.

I start pre-reqs in the spring and hope I get accepted to nursing school in the fall.

I am also looking into getting some sort of CBE or Doula cert in the meantime. Not sure I'll be able to going to school full time though.

I guess I feel weird trying to teach childbirth classes, but I have had a child. I know what it's like and I can share my story with the class participants. I guess when I get through nursing school I'll probably be more successful with that. Right now I'm trying to drum up some doula business and buy books on a limited budget.

It's so frustrating, really. I'm almost 30 and I'm TTC, starting school and also trying to become a doula/midwife. Why couldn't I have gotten this ambition earlier in life?

A local lady works as a doula and CBE (she has 12 kids!) and I've asked to shadow her if her clients don't mind a tagalong. That will be the best part!

I picked up Baby Catcher and The Doula Book at the closeout book store at the mall. I didn't see anything else I could use, but I'm going to keep my eyes open.

[amydidit]

Hi all! I'm heading to bed so no time for a long intro, but wanted to say I'm glad to see this here. I want so badly to be a midwife, but I don't know when that's going to happen. I was supposed to go to training to be a doula in October, but we moved in September... I was upset because that was going to be my start, get me meeting more midwives, etc. Instead now I'm trying to do it on my own. I can't afford midwifery school (not even payments), so I've been trying to find a midwife that would let me apprentice with her, but so far no luck ~sighs~ In the meantime, I read everything I can get my hands on. I've been wanting this since I had DD#1 with a midwife and felt the calling. I'm certainly not going to give up.

[Birth Junky]

Book recommendations

Special Women: The Role of the Professional Labor Assistant by Paulina Perez is a good read for aspiring doulas

Homebirth by Sheila Kitzinger has gorgeous photography

Choosing Waterbirth: Reclaiming the Sacred Nature of Birth by Lakshmi Bertram is inspiring

That's just a few; I'll try to add more of my favorites later.

[Robin926]

Hi ladies! *waves at Jennifer* Thanks for starting this tribe!

I just found the link to this in the midwives/doulas forum, which I'd never ventured into before today. I kept forgetting about it

I am currently doing pre-nursing at a local community college, with plans to get a BSN from a university and do the CNM thing. I thought about becoming a doula or a CBE for a long time, and I may still do that in between my BSN and Masters. I was going to school for bio-engineering pre-baby, but I have become a FANATIC since then so midwifery is the perfect fit.

Nice to have a tribe full of other women on the same path (or similar anyway, lol).

[Jilian]

Hi mamas! I'm an aspiring midwife too, what a great thread I've completed CAPPA's doula training and have my first doula client who is due this Sunday. I'm really excited! Ever since I got preg I've been a birth junky, it's like pregnancy brought something out in me that was hidden all that time.

I've helped teach a few breastfeeding classes and have also considered becoming an LC and childbirth educator while I study to become a midwife. I enrolled in the AGAPE school of midwifery (in FL) and was accepted, I was supposed to start in Sept but they lost their MEAC accreditation Now the closest midwifery school is 3+ hours away. In my state you have to attend an accredited school and pass the NARM to become an LM or CPM. I'd like to become an LM, but am also looking into CPM.

I'm sure I'll find a way. I also plan on calling some local LMs and seeing if they need an apprentice or a labor assistant. I'll take training any way I can get it!

[Lynsahm]

Hi everyone!
I plan to start my midwifery studies via distance learning in about 2 years when my youngest child is 4. I'm going to do our local DONA approved doula training next year and attend a few births so that I'll have experience to make myself an appealing apprentice. My dream and calling is to be a midwife though, not a doula.
For now I'm checking into all the distance learning options and reading all the books my library has. If I can squeeze in a Farm workshop somewhere along the way I'd like to do that as well.

[AngelBee]

I have been thinking alot about becoming a doula. So I will be : and :

[mamato2boys]

Aspiring midwife here too Currently I'm training to be a childbirth educator through Birthworks and I plan on doing that work for a few years before I start midwifery training---gotta wait until my little ones aren't so little! Glad to see so many here; I'm not sure yet what path I'll be taking so it will be good to hear what you're all doing

[Peace~*]

Me Too~*

Hi There

Yes, i too am an Aspiring Midwife. Yay, Mamas!
i wanted to add another book to the list of reccommend reading: "Polly's Birth Book;Obstetrics for the Home". Very detailed in anatomy and processes as well as problem solving. So helpful with My Personal Pregs Labor and deliveries! So, check this one out!

Peace~*

[bionicsquirrel]

I wanted to chime in and say that I belong here also. I am a new doula, on my way to one day being a midwife. I will say more later, but now I have to go attend to ds's bathroom needs.

[Defenestrator]

Hi -- I have been a doula for four years and an apprentice midwife for 3. I will be attending my last birth as an apprentice sometime around Christmas. I wanted to join this thread because I still feel like a student in many ways and because I thought I could offer the perspective of someone nearing the end of her training.

I will be hiring midwives to do chart review for me and help me out with births for the first 7 months of next year as I start my own practice. It has been a strange process, taking my own clients (I have 11 of them up through July, yay!) but still seeking the advice of other midwives frequently. I am thinking about forming a partnership with another midwife for births starting after September of next year. I have been thinking a lot about the advantages of working alone vs. working in a team.

Child care has been a constant challenge. Paying for my apprenticeship was a huge challenge. Balancing apprentice work and doula work wasn't always easy, and work-life balance has been something I have had to work on as well. It has all totally been worth it, though. I love my work.

Take care,

Stacia in MI

[Birth Junky]

Good to have you here, Stacia! (And I think I already PMed you a few months ago to tell you how much I love your User Name . . . )

How old are your kids? I am wondering about the timing of starting my training, with a little one on the way; I figured it would have to wait at least a couple of years, and possibly quite a bit longer since DH and I are planning on having more than one. Fortunately my folks and ILs all live nearby, and MIL could probaby be called upon for childcare at the last minute since she works from home . . . however, it would be quite awhile before I would be comfortable leaving la bebe alone for a long enough span of time to attend a birth. (I had already decided that even doula work would have to fall by the wayside in deference to mamahood, even though DH suggested that if we have a mellow baby, I could do a back-carry and do occasional labor support. )

Welcome to the tribe, and I'm sure we will all learn a lot from you!

[WendyC]

:

Hey guys! I just found this tribe and though I should subscribe! My long term goal is to be a midwife, short term goal is to get my RN. Since there are soooooo many options, even that short term goal is daunting! I am going to start my prerequisits (sp??) this spring, but since I already have a bachelors degree (BFA) there is a thousand options in my area - all with major pros and cons and I can't figure out which is best.

Before Ella came, I was a birth & postpartum doula - I REALLY loved the postpartum work - it was fantastic getting in there and caring for these moms in this forgotten phase - all the births I went to turned out awful. (interventions & whatnot) I am not giving up though - I only did 3 births, so for my first three I did alright, it just gets so discouraging.

I am thinking that I will go the CNM route - but if I have my RN, I might go ahead and do the CPM - I don't know. I do know I want a good mix of medical and wholistic training.

Anyways! Hello and I look forward to getting to know you guys!!!