NQM – Setting the scene for my future self
(January 2016) It take three years of fulltime study, combining theory with practice, (and a whole heap of blood, sweat and tears) to become a qualified and registered midwife. The question I have repeatedly asked myself, since donning my navy blue ‘Midwife’ polo shirt for the first time, is whether those three years adequately prepare you for the emotional and physical onslaught that being a newly qualified midwife is. Two months in and my answer to this is yes and no. My “yes” has me visiting some basic truths – I qualified as a midwife and as such I feel able to competently support a woman through her pregnancy, birth and postnatal period. I know what is normal and I know who to speak to when it becomes… not normal. I know I am not alone and that senior midwives come out of the woodwork when I ask for help. I know these things in my head… and occasionally in my heart. In my heart I love midwifery and this is what keeps me pressing through my “no”. My “no” is...