Parenting
Is there money here
So, I've been really interested midwifery since being pregnant with my daughter. There's a good school in Seattle that I'm looking at right now. I also have the option of working up to a CNM by doing the RN program and working the tiers through the colleges. DH thinks there is no money in it though. He doesn't see how spending the money and the 5-6 years of my life to become a midwife is worth it. Is he right?
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Re: Is there money here
No, I'm not. DH just doesn't want to spend the money on college if I won't make enough back. He just wants me to become an RN. I want to be a midwife.
Midwifery is not something to pick up if you are in it for the money.
It is something that you do when you are extremely passionate about helping women give birth and all the pre and post care that goes with it and are willing to put in the time and resources you need for the schooling.
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BFP#1 "Watermelon" born 3/2011
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I'm not an RN but I work with them daily and am friends with several. If you don't like shift work, needles, and dealing with people in crisis, it might not be for you.
Since the general pathway to being a CNM is to become an RN first, just do what you can to get started and once you've worked as a nurse for a while you can look at where your life is at and see if it's something you still really want to do, and talk him into it in the meantime. I know some grad schools let you go directly from BSN to MSN without any real work experience but it's not recommended. You will be a much better CNM if you've worked a few years in L&D and/or mom/baby before getting your masters degree. You learn so much from being in the hospital and taking care of hundreds of different patients in a short span of time.
Will you make more money as a CNM? Yes, probably like an extra $10/hr. But you'll also work more hours, have mandatory on-call shifts, have more responsibility and be subject to litigation, so you'll have to have malpractice insurance. Sometimes your hospital or supervising physician will cover it, sometimes you have to pay out of pocket so that could really cut into your income.
I've been a mom/baby RN for over 5 years and I love it, but it definitely wasn't my original plan when I started college. I actually was working at my hospital preparing to take the MCATs and apply to med school when I realized I really, really didn't want to work 80+ hours a week, ever. I didn't want to live at the hospital, even if it was just for a residency. I started my masters to become a nurse practitioner but I've put it on hold for now because I really love the flexibility that I get as a staff nurse. Once my kids are in school I may or may not go back, but it definitely won't be for primary care as it was before because I really do enjoy working in the hospital. And I LOVE OB. I've been in the field for 8 years and it's flown by so fast. I went from unit secretary to charge nurse in less than 4 years.
I'm sure you do know this, but not all deliveries will be happy ones. Yes, most of the time they are, but you'll still be there for still births and for babies with defects that are incompatible with life. Some babies will be born extremely preterm and may not make it out of the delivery room. Some of your patients may be incarcerated and won't ever get to take their babies home. Some babies may die from meconium aspiration. A lot of moms will be on methadone and their babies will end up in the NICU for a month or more with NAS. Some moms will hemorrhage and may need an emergency hysterectomy and may end up in the ICU and miss their child's first week of life. A lot of nurses in other departments think that OB is all puppies and rainbows all the time, but it's not.
Yes, I'm well aware of this. I am prepared to deal with that as well. Higher risk things like that would end up not being completely in my domain as a midwife, but I want to do doula courses as well. For the most part though, there is lots of happiness in child birth. I'm fascinated with it.
Actually most of those things could still be within your scope of practice. Obviously you're not going to be doing the hyst in the OR but technically you could be the delivery provider for any of those situations depending upon where you're based and how the organization is structured. I'm only familiar with hospital based CNMs here though, so if you were mainly focusing on home births or in birth centers then yeah, a lot of patients would be risked out. But postpartum hemorrhage and mec aspiration would still be something you would be dealing with.
Actually most of those things could still be within your scope of practice. Obviously you're not going to be doing the hyst in the OR but technically you could be the delivery provider for any of those situations depending upon where you're based and how the organization is structured. I'm only familiar with hospital based CNMs here though, so if you were mainly focusing on home births or in birth centers then yeah, a lot of patients would be risked out. But postpartum hemorrhage and mec aspiration would still be something you would be dealing with.
If your husband can choose to have a career in video games, you should be able to do what you want too. I may be off base and I am not trying to criticize at all... but, if I recall correctly, you guys still have room mates living with you- I assume he isn't exactly pulling down fat stacks of cash either. Sounds like he is being a d!ck, tbh.
I didn't go to college- so I learned marketable skills on my own and make about twice as much as my wife. My wife holds a Master's degree and works as a teacher- hoping to be an administrator. So my wife and I have invested a ton of money in her education that probably isn't going to pay for itself anytime soon- but in the field she is passionate about she has to have the degrees. In my field, formal education isn't a requirement. I do have a ton of industry certifications and years of experience that have built up to my current earning power.
If this is something you want to do and you have to have the formal education to attain that job, then your husband should be supportive of your dream. People go to college for two reasons: seeking a return on their investment by potentially increasing their income, or getting the necessary degree to break the barrier and become employable in their field (medicine, law, education, etc). Sounds like you fall into the second group.