[MacT]

Hello midwives!

Firstly can I say how much respect I have for your profession! The midwives were fantastic when I had DD (at the Women's).

I am considering studying midwifery and would love some feedback before I go ahead and apply.

- Does it matter which uni you study through? Eg are some uni's more highly regarded in Melbourne than others for studying midwifery?

- Does the uni choice have an impact on which hospitals you do prac with? Eg if I study at Victoria Uni would I be more likely to do prac at Sunshine Hospital or is it based on where you live? I'd love to do prac across public, private and get a lot of experience with diverse groups of mums to be.

- I am 33 so would graduate about 36/37. Is this too old do you think? Are you worn out by this age if you have been doing it for years?

- I have a disc injury in my back which only flares up every so often. I am assuming I need to be in fairly good physical shape to be a midwife.

- What are the bad parts of the job (apart from the obvious challenges of poorly babies).

Any info is much appreciated!

[RHJ]

Not a midwife yet... but am a student middy. Have sent you a PM.

[Chazonator]

I am also interested as well especially with the placement side of things and whne do you start doing them? e.g. 2nd year or 1 st year? how many women do you follow through? and if someone has done the bach nusing/ mid does it cover much midwifery at all?

[RHJ]

I am also interested as well especially with the placement side of things and whne do you start doing them? e.g. 2nd year or 1 st year? how many women do you follow through? and if someone has done the bach nusing/ mid does it cover much midwifery at all?

I can only speak of my experience at monash- We do a 2 week Aged care/rehab block of prac in first year, 2nd semester. Then we do 2 days of prac and 2-3 days at uni a week every week of the uni semester for the rest of our course. We also have a mental health placement block in Semester 2 2nd year, and a special care block in 3rd year (i believe).
Follow throughs- we do 8, but i have heard that this is going to go u.

[lucky 2]

- I am 33 so would graduate about 36/37. Is this too old do you think? Are you worn out by this age if you have been doing it for years?

- I have a disc injury in my back which only flares up every so often. I am assuming I need to be in fairly good physical shape to be a midwife.

- What are the bad parts of the job (apart from the obvious challenges of poorly babies).

Hi, I've pulled out a few things that rang bells with me.
I also started Mid at 33 yo, I'm still in the game, sort of and I'm not worn out but certain parts of the job would be harder for me than others.
- I've developed a disc injury in my back during my course (unrelated) and have had back problems ever since, requiring time off periodically.
It has stopped me from being a MW in full (ie free movement to help women to adopt different positions for labour and birth) but I have worked in all areas since the injuries.
I have now focused on one area (breastfeeding) for numerous reasons, I enjoy it and less movement required.
The part I found the hardest was working on a busy post natal ward full time, I will never do that again.
I did it until I had further injuries.
It can be very hard work but in Vic the ratios help, so when I was working full time I'd have 6 women in the am and 8 in the pm shift but now its 4 women am and pm. Perhaps I could do it and one day I might give it a go.
Difficult parts of the job, the politics of the organisation, any bs with co-workers, rude partners, bossy and arrogant Drs, not being able to do your job properly if busy (ie too many competing needs), having care interfered with (ie if medical intervention occurs when I would consider it not needed or counter-productive).
I don't know much about the Unis (long time ago) but I have students to work with about 50% of my shifts and they come from different Unis with some doing Direct Entry, some Post Grad Dip Mid and some Double degree, and also nursing students and the occasional medical student. I know that are welcomed and cared for well in my Dept and there is always a clinical support person available if needed and they are visited by this person at least once a shift (it seems).
The above difficulties are removed if you have good Admin support, a positive attitude towards the value and profession of Mid, a harmonious working environment (including medical staff), not being too busy (ie access to good staffing levels and adherence to ratios) and good policies and low intervention policies and procedures.
I wish you well, try not to let your age be of issue, it isn't, the back injury could be an issue but may not be and would you want to not go ahead with based on "what ifs". Life is for living.

[soontobegran]

Just to add my bit----I was only 23 when I started mid and 30+ years later have no injuries caused by Midwifery.
I have had periods of 'sore back', multiple episodes of plantar fasciitis (nurses curse) and several episodes of RSI of my right hand and wrist caused after extended periods of hand expressing an engorged breast.
There have also been 'rope burn', crushed fingers and hands, scratched face and bruised thighs and hips---all courtesy of the labouring mums.

Don't give up on your dream just because of your age OP---It is an amazing career. I have most certainly got much more out of it than I have put in and I have had the opportunity to meet beautiful, beautiful people who have kindly allowed me to share one of the most important events in their lives and for that I am very grateful.

[purplekishi]

I am nearly halfway through my B. Mid course and I will be 43 when I graduate. I'm the same age as many of the midwives I work with in placement, younger than some, and older than others. If midwifery is your passion, go for it. It can be tricky balancing the demands of the course, placement and family and there will be times when you are very stressed out, but to me at least, it will be worth it in the end.

And yes, the hospital or hospitals where you do your placement will be determined by which uni you do your course at and which hospitals they have places at. At Monash we are tied to a single hospital or hospital system for our entire two years of mid placement but at ACU they tend to do block placements so spend time at various different hospitals. I don't know how VU operates.

Check out the open days and ask the current students lots of questions.

Good luck.

[ccb218]

hi all,

I have just decided to leave my grad dip in psych as I realised I need to persue my real passion of midwifery...even if the pay is not as good!

However i am finding it hard to know whether to do a combined nursing and midwifery or just a Bachelor of midwifery. I have looked at ACU and in the fine print it states that on graduation from the Bachelor of midiwfery you have resctricted midwife registration and full division 1 nursing....what does this mean, is there a better course or do you have to do this first and then further study?

thanks in advance for any comments or advice!

This post has been edited by ccb218: 23/01/2012, 08:22 PM