[Charmie981]

There are some legal issues with apprenticeship in FL right now. I want to say they made it illegal? Hmmm...my friend who would know that isn't available right now, but I know she mentioned something about it to me...Okay..just got ahold of her and she says that it's not illegal, but you have to carry fully liability insurance on yourself if you are an apprentice in FL. Maybe that's do-able? I dunno...

As far as getting an apprenticeship, I just called midwives and asked what their policies were as far as apprenticeship. If they charged their apprentices or were too far away, or whatever, I eliminated them. I ended up meeting with two midwives, and I just clicked with one more than the other. She invited me to a clinical day right away and I observed and it just felt right. The other midwife was much more guarded and didn't really say one way or the other whether she was looking for an apprentice, but kept saying "we can get together and talk about it." It's been an interesting ride, but I'm almost done now and would probably still make the same choice if I had it to do again.

As far as distance, I drive 97 miles (1.5 hours) to do my clinicals, and have driven as far as 2 hours for births. My preceptor is pretty reasonable and for the births that were 1.5 hours in the opposite direction from me and 8th time babies, she just didn't call me. Frustrating, but it saved me lots of driving. Even when she did call me, I still missed the births about 1/2 the time. I've been apprenticing for 18 months and have 36 births, though there have been 2x that many births in the practice during the time I've been apprenticing. I'm going to Davao City (www.midwifeschool.org) in 10 days to work there for a month and get the rest of my numbers in. I feel like I'm pretty confident in my prenatal and postpartum care, but I really want some more births under my belt before I take NARM. I'll let you know how this arrangement worked out when I get back. Right now I'm cautiously hopeful that I'll be a licensed midwife by October or November.

 

[Charmie981]

MWHerbs makes a good point. I've already decided that I have an 18 month "waiting list" for apprentices. Even if there's no one on the list, someone who contacts me is going to have to wait 18 months. If she really wants it badly enough, she will work toward having her family ready for her apprenticeship and get some education in during that time. My preceptor gives homework when she first talks to someone she is considering taking (and she talks to many that she would never consider taking). You have to write a paper on the history of midwifery in the USA, apply for the Associaton of Texas Midwives Training program, and take some time to think about it. The way she puts it is that she is giving you everything she knows about midwifery and entrusting her clients to you, so she has to know that you are not going to flake out halfway through and not show up at a birth or whatever.

This is not to say that you would do this, but that many so-called apprentices have done this. So expect that midwives you talk to will be wary, and don't be frustrated if you find that you have to prove yourself worthy of the time and effort involved in passing down their knowledge. IMO, a good midwife is very careful about who she chooses to train, because for the rest of that person's career as a midwife, she will be reflecting her teaching, and you want to make sure that you are training someone who will reflect well on you most of the time.