Becoming a midwife is hard work
Your goal of becoming a midwife can be hindered by your family, transportation, money, your social life, maturity, the on call life, location, health, unexpected emergencies, bullying, a hostile atmosphere and more. If you have not read obstacles to becoming a midwife pt. 1 I encourage you to do so.
Before you even start school you need to sit down and look at your life and what challenges you may face in your journey to becoming a midwife. You decide that becoming a midwife is not something that that you really wanted to do or is not attainable. At that point, you can look into other birth related jobs.
What could stand in your way of becoming a midwife?
Location
Midwives are not everywhere unfortunately. You could be located in a city where there is not a midwife for 200 miles or maybe you are in a state where midwifery is illegal. Maybe you live in a town with 4 or even 30 midwives but they all have students and are not adding another student until a year or two down the line. Or, you simply want to move away from where you currently live or there are better opportunities in a less hostile area (discussed later) but you may no have the money to move.
Location might hinder your ability to become a midwife if you cannot move. There also may not be any midwives close to you or midwives willing to take on a student. I am in an area saturated with midwives and it took me 6 months to find a preceptor. In fact, where I live is well known for our abundance of midwives and typically non-hostile environment. Students come from all over the states to apprentice here.
Many midwives have a waiting list of 5-6 students waiting for a spot to apprentice with them.
This means that even though there are many midwives and potential opportunities, it can still be hard to find a preceptor.
It will be worth it to research apprenticeship availability in your area before you start schooling. This way you know if you can stay where you currently live or plan to uproot and move.
Health
Are you constantly sick, in and out of the hospital, diabetic, have a condition where you cannot bend over, cannot lift anything more than 10 lbs, or any other limiting condition? Think about the mental and physical toll this work can have on your body. You know your own limits. Some conditions can be controlled by medications and diet. Again, this post is not to tell you what you can and cannot do. It is to help you see what limits you may have and what you can overcome.
If you have a health condition but do not know if it would hinder your ability to be a student or midwife you could schedule a time to speak with a midwife or two. See what their opinion is and if they would be willing to take you on as a student.
You may decide that your health limits you from becoming a midwife. If you still want to work in the birth world there are other birth related jobs for you to consider. Your health is what is most important.
Unexpected Emergencies
When the unexpected happens your plan of becoming a midwife can be derailed. Unexpected emergencies include your car breaking down and not being able to fix it or borrow/buy a different one. Or having a medical condition arise that limits your ability to apprentice or a long term illness in the family. Other emergencies could be your house burning down or your spouse or yourself loosing your income. We do not want to think about this but your preceptor could die in your apprenticeship. Many things can cause you to stop midwifery for a time or permanently.
Some unexpected emergencies can be planned for if able. Such as having money set aside for car related emergencies or a savings to hold you over from a job loss. Many emergencies are not something that can be planned for. In these cases you need to find grace for yourself and the season that you are in.
Bullying
It is sad that I have to include this in a piece about why someone might not be able to become a midwife. Bullying is alive and well in the midwifery community. Bullying happens in every industry. It is no surprise that we experience it but I’m sure we all wish it did not.
I personally know several students who have quit midwifery completely. They will not be coming back due to the way that they have been bullied by midwives and other students. Boundaries for preventing abuse are important but not all bullies will stop bullying. The best we can do as students is to stand up for ourselves and stand up for our peers. We can leave abusive situations and stop the cycle.
Hostile Atmosphere
Just because you have a loving midwife community does not mean that the outside world such as hospitals and doctors love midwives. Complications and exhaustion happen at home and birth center births to where you transport the client to the hospital.
In hostile towns/states, a midwife transporting can be spat on, verbally abused, kicked out of the hospital, have complaints filed against them, and worse. In an illegal state you can be charged and possibly go to jail. Some midwives can take that and have no issue with being treated like dirt. In hostile environments they often treat the transporting client like they are scum and down right abuse them.
You as the midwife can develop PTSD and have secondary trauma due to these situations. If you do not think that you can work in these areas due to the hostile environment you might need to consider relocating or finding a different job.
There are many different obstacles to becoming a midwife but there are many more reasons to become a midwife.
Do not be discouraged because of these potential challenges. Give yourself time to ask questions and determine if midwifery is the right fit for you.
Did you find this list helpful? Does it change the preconceived ideas you have about becoming a midwife and apprenticing?
