What year are you in?
2 (but only just!)

Whats are your personal circumstances?
i.e. married/kids/single etc
single, DS 8 and DD 5

What did you do before you became a student midwife?
researcher at BBC radio 3

Why did you choose Midwifery?
i needed to retrain as had become disillusioned with the world of media (dahling!)...looked around and realised that only teaching or health care would pay me to retrain! Realised after being a childminder for a year or so that teaching was not for me as really didnt have the patience! Did not have 'the calling' for midwifery as so many seem to have, the training money called for me!

How did you feel on your first day at uni and in practice?
first day in uni was not great. So many people already knew each other from having done access which i hadnt so felt i would have to work hard to infiltrate 'the groups'. Instead I ended up conciously searching out the only other person who didnt seem to have done access and also knew no one else and then stuck like glue to her! - we have been firm friends ever since! Needless to say, the groups didnt last that long, and we have all got to know one another really well.
First day in placement was scary!!

Please share a highlight of being on the course, so far...
too many to mention! but right now i would say it is going into the second year and really being able to reflect on everything that I have learnt so far.

Please share a low point and how you got through that...
my first catch. It was a lovely normal labour with low risk woman but baby came out and never ever took a breath. Heart rate was fine but just never breathed. Baby was in scbu for 3 days before decision made to turn off machines. Was just such an awful experience. Blood cultrues came back positive for cytomeglavirus, which in this one case turned out to be fatal. Dealt with it badly at first, but after a while understood that it wasnt my fault and it wasnt my grief...if that makes sense? In other words you can be upset for them and empathise with them, but it is not your baby that has died.

Do you prefer academic or clinical?
both for different reasons. Academic - to see my mates and to have some normal predicatble hours in my life. Clinical - to put theory into practice and be with woman.

What is your favourite midwifery text book?
johnson and taylor skills for midwifery practice - invaluable in placement

What is your favourite midwifery literature book? i.e. babycatcher.
oh dear can't remember the title, sorry. Think it might be called a midwifes tale. It's the one about the midwife in the amish community

What is your shift preference? earlies/lates/long days and what time to they start and finish
never done earlies or lates so not sure of times. Long days are 7.30 - 8.30 and nights are 8-8. Prefer long days as child care for ngihts is a pain in the arse to organise

Are you a member of a midwifery organisation? i.e RCM/ARM/LLL
RCM, ARM

Do you feel supported in practice? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
yes, most of the time. have had some great mentors. and know who tell if i dont!

Do you feel supported at Uni? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
feel so well supported. Have a great personal tutor, she's always good for a strike when you're feeling down! Also good supportive pathway leader. Student support services also accessible

Do you prefer antenatal/intrapartum/postnatal? and why?
again, all 3 for different reasons. If i really had to choose though, i guess it would be postnatal and seeing the family complete and helping transition to motherhood

What are your future plans as a midwife?
the world is my lobster!!!

Share your wisdom.... what would you like to pass on to other students/wanabes?
when the going gets tough - the tough get going! Hang in there, stay motivated, enjoy,,,,and appreciatte women!

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Student Mentor Scheme Manager
STMW 2nd year - no, really!

Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

Thanks to everyone whose answered the questionnaire, anyone else like to contribute?

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Josie
StudentMidwife.NET Co-founder & Director

What year are you in?
just starting so i suppose first year?
Whats are your personal circumstances?
living with other half and 1 child


What did you do before you became a student midwife?
i do acssess and peer supporting and ann summers repping

Why did you choose Midwifery?
becuase i want to make a difference to other peoples lives and its so incredibley interesting to me, which i suppose is a bennift

How did you feel on your first day at uni and in practice?
not sure yet

Please share a highlight of being on the course, so far...
umm not sure but acsess is realy cool

Please share a low point and how you got through that...
mm for acssess...catching up on work that i was lazy with and all things todo with ucas
Do you prefer academic or clinical?
academic at the moment
What is your favourite midwifery text book?
myers
What is your favourite midwifery literature book? i.e. babycatcher.
call the midwife
What is your shift preference? earlies/lates/long days and what time to they start and finish
nights mainly cos i work them now
Are you a member of a midwifery organisation? i.e RCM/ARM/LLL
no dose this count?
Do you feel supported in practice? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
i think this is not realy relivent to me
Do you feel supported at Uni? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
well fully at college
Do you prefer antenatal/intrapartum/postnatal? and why?
na
What are your future plans as a midwife?
after doing some proper work i want to inflict my knolge and bad spelling on students ether in the actual uni or in placements
Share your wisdom.... what would you like to pass on to other students/wanabes?
keep up with the work cos it will come back to bite you in the ass if you leave it then get a place like i did

.

What year are you in?
YR1 first placement

Whats are your personal circumstances?
i.e. married/kids/single etc
Single at home living with parents

What did you do before you became a student midwife?
A level student at college and Asst. carer.

Why did you choose Midwifery?
I have no idea. I am fasinated by pregnancy and the fact that your body can do that so naturally and I love working one to one with a person. The fact that you could be the first person to see or touch that baby gives me a real buzz.


How did you feel on your first day at uni and in practice?
Lost. Uni was ok but on placement it was a bit of a crazy day. I met my mentor and went straight out in the community.

Please share a highlight of being on the course, so far...
My first waterbirth was amazing. This woman was in control of what she was doing and gave me a perfect example of normal labour. This lady also set my groundings of this is definately what I want to do. My mentor was amazing and spoke to me through the whole process and what was happening to baby and the lady.

Please share a low point and how you got through that...
Proberly the other day when we had to transfer a lady as she had been 10cm for 2 hours. I just felt complelty useless and we had two new midwives come on shift and me and I just felt this lady must be feeling swamped and then the ambulance turned up and it was all a bit too much for me. I couldnt transfer with her and I had been with her all morning with my mentor but my mentor had to go when her shift finished I just felt I had let this lady down but the situation was turning into the abnormal and I felt rubbish

Do you prefer academic or clinical?
Clinical definately you learn more out there. Especially how to communicate with people which you cannot in the class room.

What is your favourite midwifery text book?
Skills in Midwifery Johnson and Taylor. When you see something that you are not sure why it was done or question it being done properly in practice you can go back and look. I also cannot live without Myles.

What is your favourite midwifery literature book? i.e. babycatcher.
A Midwife Crisis, I think its called. And ive just come off shift and sat down so am not going upstairs to look


What is your shift preference? earlies/lates/long days and what time to they start and finish
At the birthing centre i do 8-4,0730-1530, 1-9pm or nights. I prefer to do 8-4s as lots happens and get lots of PN and AN visits done in the morning.

Are you a member of a midwifery organisation? i.e RCM/ARM/LLL
ARM

Do you feel supported in practice? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
Yes, the unit is small and you get to know all the mws there. I feel happy in the company of all the mws there. And love watching different ways of practicing.

Do you feel supported at Uni? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
Yes, I have a fantastic personal tutor and e-mail links between pupil and lecturer are really good.

Do you prefer antenatal/intrapartum/postnatal? and why?
I love doing antenatal. To be able to support a woman through her pregnancy and give her all the advise she needs gives me a buzz. The thought that you have done all you can to ease a mother through this lifechanging event is very very good indeed. Because I can at the birthing centre I can one day be doing a palpation and the next delivering baby which is a odd feeling, thinking I felt this baby the other day!!

What are your future plans as a midwife?
I intend to do my core midwifery and then go out into the community linked with a birthing centre. It is such a holistic care enviroment and really brings out the natural child birth process. I would also look into independent midwifery if womens one to one care hasnt improved in the NHS after I have qualified and gained confidence.

Share your wisdom.... what would you like to pass on to other students/wanabes?
Check how you are going to finance this. I am working and I am shattered and do not intend to be working for much longer and TIME MANAGEMENT and use your reflective diary.


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Brilliant thanks! sm abigail re members of midwifery organisations, its not essential to be a member of any organisation but have a look at the RCM and ARM sites, these are popular organisations among students and midwives

http://www.radmid.demon.co.uk/

http://www.rcm.org.uk/membership/pages/welcome.php?id=1

Our SMNET toolbar with the research feature automatically trawls the RCM & ARM among many others for info so you may have already come across these pages!

__________________
Josie
StudentMidwife.NET Co-founder & Director

What year are you in?
year 1, but i will be a year 2 in 8 short weeks
Whats are your personal circumstances?
i.e. married/kids/single etc
single, living in a good old student house

What did you do before you became a student midwife?
at an all girls grammar school, doing my a levels, hating it, and desperate to get out!!

Why did you choose Midwifery?
I have no idea, it has always been a part of me and i was obsesessed with it as a kid- birth scenes with the barbies!!!

How did you feel on your first day at uni and in practice?
on my first day at uni- absolutely bloody terrified, i had moved away from home literally the day before and i have never wanted my mom as much as i wanted her that day!!
Please share a highlight of being on the course, so far...
It's got to be delivering babies, it's different from how i expected, but so, so much more. And when i moved my placement area to worcester from hereford where i had been before- that's when things reall started going right

Please share a low point and how you got through that...
I started off being put on placement in hereford (as mentioned above) and it was in the middle of nowhere, didn't know anyone, there were only 2 students from my cohort there and they were'nt anywhere near me, and i just felt incredibly lost, vulnerable and isolated- it wasn't how i imagined my midwifery career starting. I lived in a house with 3 oher student nurses who i didnt particularly get on well with, and i got through it with perseverance, never giving up hope, my beautiful student midwife friends who were my rock and who gladly opened their doors when i needed to get away, and my fantastic lecturer, who listened, understood and finally moved me to worcester, where i am now, and loving it. I am forever greatful to you guys xxx

Do you prefer academic or clinical?
I like both actually, academic becausei find it painfully interesting, and clinial because i feel like a 'real' midwife lol! it's when they both come into conflict that the problems start!

What is your favourite midwifery text book?
pobably the Myles textbook by fraser and cooper- saved my ass many a time, but pharmacology for midwives by sue jordan stopped me from failing my drugs exam and you can't get very far without a midwifery dictionary either.

What is your favourite midwifery literature book? i.e. babycatcher.
babycatcher is great actually especially when you have a bad day- it's sickeningly optimistic, but also very beauiful. I also like spiritual midwifery- what a classic- and teaches you to have hope in normal birth! I also like the midwife's tale, which makes you both thankful, and a little sad, that midwifery has progressed so much in the UK!

What is your shift preference? earlies/lates/long days and what time to they start and finish
erm, i dont particularly like earlies because i struggle to get in for them- the buses dont run that early in the morning. they're 7.30 am til 3.30 pm

I don't mind lates- they're 1.20 pm til 9.20 pm

I don't like nights just because of how weird they make you feel, but you get lots of babies, and they can be a laugh they're 9pm til 8 am.

Are you a member of a midwifery organisation? i.e RCM/ARM/LLL
erm, weirdly, the RCN, because they were at a uni and someone told me to! now that i have my own mind i will join the RCM when my subscription runs out....

Do you feel supported in practice? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
not especially, i don't think the support is as good as at uni, but then the lecturer's are always there to help with whatever problem. I just think the midwives themselves are overworked, tired and stressed alot of the time, and just don't have the energy for students. also, some of the midwives have very bad attitudes towards us, they seem to forget they were students once!!!

Do you feel supported at Uni? if yes/no please tell us why that is.
yes it's brilliant, i know i can always go to or email someone and they'll be a sympathetic ear!

Do you prefer antenatal/intrapartum/postnatal? and why?
I suppose my favourite so far has been delivery, just because until i got on there i had never experienced birth before, and once you've seen it it changes you and i love the energy on there too. I love newborns and watching the women transform into parents, so i suppose i like that bit too. I find antenatal a bit boring though, or maybe it was because i was such a newbie and couldn't do much!

What are your future plans as a midwife?
just to be one at the moment! but i would love to work just in a hospital for a couple of years to gain experience, then get some time in a birth centre because i feel it's a bit medicalised in a hospital and i want to experience more normal birth. I would also love to take my skills abroad, i went on holiday to Africa a couple of years ago and it's got into my blood- i'm desperate to go back! I would also love to be a mentor at some point too, i know what a difference they can make- and what an impression they can have and i would always want a student working with me to have the best experience!

Share your wisdom.... what would you like to pass on to other students/wanabes?
Midwifery is beautiful and an incredible job- but it's often more than that and it is definately more than that when you're a student- you have to be absolutely sure you want it because it takes over your life!
and, no matter how bad your day is, it will get better and you will 'find the light' again if you're devoted enough!
My advice would just be to get in there, because the more you do, the more you learn, and holding back and being shy (like i was) makes everything more difficult to learn.
you get to bring life into the world and watch people transform- what could be better than that

__________________
kelly - student midwife and proud!
*you are my joy*
xxxxxxx