paths to midwifery, need general info

[Rockies5]

I don't know which to take, which takes longer and what my practice would be limited to by each path. We're in CO right now, and very well may be for many years; but I wasn't planning on spending my whole life here.

I thought I'd eventually go to an accredited school (that accepts grants) for training, but have had NO COLLEGE at all up to this point. I may have earned a few credits in high school, but can no longer remember.

Does anyone have any links for me, sort of generalized on paths to becoming a midwife?

I'm not the best self paced learner. Some days I lean toward the CNM route, thinking I'd reach more women that way and exert more change; some days I relish the idea of a home birth practice, but that would limit where I worked and what I could make (I have myself and 5 children to put through college; a nursing degree would be a blessing as far as flexibility of work!!)

I'd like to be able to do all three: home, birth center and hospital births; but not all at the same time.

my youngest is barely 2 so I know this is a long way off. Still, anything I can do to be on the right page when the opportunity presents itself (to go back to school) would be awesome.

[ananas]

Subbing because I have the same questions.

[Rockies5]

cool. we need a wannabe tribe

[Rockies5]

scope of practice of CNMS (general) from medline.

short, archived discussion from Midwifery Today "the Midwifery Path"

I'll add more stuff as I find it.

[rajahkat]

Cool Carrie, that you're looking into midwifery! One thing that keeps coming up is how long it takes to get through all the schooling when you go the CNM route. You have to get your nursing degree first before even delving into the midwifery aspect of it, which would be offputting for some. I've heard 6-8 years thrown around?!

I don't have any true advice, except if it's meant to be, it'll happen. We just packed up and left FL (I'm in Oregon now, and it SNOWED today!!) Because I wanted to go the apprenticeship route and it doesn't really work that way in Florida. I finally got frustrated enough that I decided I was leaving and basically dragged my very loving understanding family with me.

It took me ummm, like a day to find a midwife who was open to having me apprentice here.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure which way I wanted to go, formal schooling or straight into an apprenticeship.

Some things to maybe consider, can CNMs legally attend homebirths in your state or the state you plan to move to? How important is being able to practice in/out of hospital to you? How much non-midwifery related studying do you want to have to do (and pay to have to do). How much time have you already spent reading and learning about midwifery on your own? It might drive you crazy to have to go over stuff that you feel is remedial for you if you go with a formal schooling program. How much is flexibility important to you?

Don't know if any of that helps Really just wanted to give you a big GOOD LUCK! With whatever you decide to do!

Kat

[Rockies5]

Thanks a lot Raj, I appreciate the support

depending on what sort of nurse you are it can be as little as 3 years. (I have one sister completing a program now, another has been working for 10+ years as a nurse and a close freind here who's been a nurse and is now getting ready to instruct nurses)

I don't know if I want to be a nurse yet. it looks like there are programs out there where you can get a CNM without physically working as a nurse, maybe?

[Rowankc]

Carrie you can get your Associate degree in nursing in about three years, usually including some summer school, but then you would have to complete your BSN, or do a bridge program, like Frontier have, then go on to do your two years for the CNM program. The bridge program is about a year.
I am an ADN RN, and am apprenticing currently, partly due to the fact that I can get to the business of midwifery more quickly this way, but I am hoping to start with the bridge program at Frontier in March of 08, but will still be faced with three years of schooling, at least in the interim, I can be midwifing, or assisting as well.

[onlyboys]

I know exactly how you feel. In 2002, I decided that I wanted to be a midwife. I thought for a time that I wanted to be a CNM. My reasons were that they make more, usually for sure, money, my job would be scheduled and not as disruptive as a CPM and it would be less time for me (I've already gotten my bachelor's completed).

Then I attended a couple births (not mine) with a CNM. While my births with a CNM seemed idyllic, while I was doulaing for moms who were using the CNMs I noticed some issues that I really couldn't reconcile with the midwife I want to become. I saw mom's perineums manipulated in violent ways (to "help"), I saw RNs force IVs on mothers, and enforce the NPO orders. I watched a CNM get bitched out by her OB because of what her client wanted for her birth. I saw lots of really good things--like a VBAC that wouldn't have happened without this CNM--too.

But, in my heart (and this took a lot of thinking, deciding, recanting, refiguring, deciding again, etc.) I knew that I wanted to work autonomously for the most part. I knew that I wanted to attend primarily unmedicated women. I knew that I wanted to attend low-risk, healthy women. I knew that I wanted to be a midwife outside of the protocol that exists for CNMs right now.

Eventually, the items about nurse midwifery that seemed to outshine those of direct entry midwifery waned. The important issues, like how I want to run my business, stayed. It made more sense to me to pursue direct entry midwifery.

Good luck as you figure out your path. I really appreciate the time and energy I put into the figuring phase of all this--it really made me appreciate school now that I'm there.

[ananas]

Originally Posted by Rockies5

cool. we need a wannabe tribe

We definitely do! I was looking today to see if there was one already.

[Mina]

There is a student midwives tribes, and there are posters all along the path in there.

[Midwife Kris]

Originally Posted by Rowankc

Carrie you can get your Associate degree in nursing in about three years...

Before I left Colorado earlier this summer I had taken a year of prereqs for nursing school. Some of my classmates were on the *waiting list* for nursing school with all their classes finished-- the waiting list for Denver area ASN programs was 3-5 YEARS! Holy schnikes. That's AFTER finishing a couple of years of prereqs.

[BeckiCNM]

Originally Posted by Rockies5

I don't know if I want to be a nurse yet. it looks like there are programs out there where you can get a CNM without physically working as a nurse, maybe?

Yes, there are. CU has one.

Kris - I guess metromidwife wasn't so accurate anymore, huh? Took me a minute to figure out who you were.

[Rockies5]

I actually have 3-5 years without a problem! This is for the next phase in my life..right now soaking up expereince attending births and teaching couples keeps me too busy. We homeschool most of our LO's too.

I've got a long road ahead of me, but It's the time to start making inquiries and plans, definitley.

thanks for all your input.

[Midwife Kris]

Originally Posted by BeckiCNM

Kris - I guess metromidwife wasn't so accurate anymore, huh? Took me a minute to figure out who you were.

Yep, now I'm a beach midwife not a rocky mountain metro midwife Sorry to confuse

Anyway I should also have said the classmates I had who had enough prereqs to make it to the 3-5 year waiting list were also going to apply at CU, Regis, and other BSN progams because they wouldn't have to wait (but then their grades were even more important for admission). Personally I couldn't wait 6 years for an associate degree (prereq + waiting list time).

Not sure yet what my path is here. Had I stayed in CO I would definitely have moved toward CNM because the DEM law is restrictive (although not every DEM there agrees with that statement).

[BeckiCNM]

Originally Posted by Midwife Kris

Not sure yet what my path is here. Had I stayed in CO I would definitely have moved toward CNM because the DEM law is restrictive (although not every DEM there agrees with that statement).

Yeah, I thought that too, until I moved to an illegal state... : is still how I feel about the politics here....the CNMs in CO don't have it too bad, except for the restrictions on prescriptive authority.

[Rockies5]

can CNM's here (CO) do homebirths? I know there was one awhile back....believe she's one of the birthcenter midwives now.

[Midwife Kris]

Yes CNMs can work in hospitals, birth centers, and homes in Colorado. My preceptor was Tracy Ryan and she started the Mountain Midwifery Center at about the time I was finishing up my internship. Until then she attended home births only. As the director/owner of the ONLY free standing birth center in the state she attracts a much different clientele and has a wider appeal to women who want something different and in between home and hospital.

I don't think there are any CNMs currently providing home birth service, though there were two in Durango about the same time Tracy did her home birth practice. Not sure if they stuck it out.