I've been a full-time, mature student for the last four years...well we could debate the 'mature' element but we'd be here all day! As I've mentioned before I had a quarter-life crisis. I was 25, living in Liverpool, some close friendships ended, the guy I was seeing called it a day and I was miserable at work. What was initially a summer job at the age of 16 in a department store became a part-time job which supported me through uni, then a full time job after I graduated from my first degree, a bit of ladder climbing and all of a sudden I received an email informing me that I was approaching a significant anniversary, well done for dedicating 10 years of service to the company! And the longer I was there the more I wished I wasn't. I was stressed, lonely, often surviving on a shoe string and it all got a bit much and I had a bit of a breakdown. I was suffering with depression, I've had episodes in the past but this was overwhelming. A month off work, returned to my family, spent a week in bed and then with so much support from family and friends I did some soul searching. I knew I needed to leave that company but I was so fragile I didn't want to just find another job where I'd soon be just as miserable, this was the time where I actually had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Most of us are in the position where we work to live, not live to work. Work is what drags us from our beds, keeps us from our homes and means we have to spend time away from our loved ones...although work is often a welcome break from said loved ones! As work is the most time consuming element of our working life I knew I had to find a career that excited me, challenged me and I could be passionate about. I wanted something where no two days would be the same.
One of my sisters planted the initial seed of Midwifery, it intrigued me. My other sister put me in contact with someone who was then training to be a midwife. The more I learnt about the profession the more I wanted to know, the more I knew the more excited I got and ultimately, the more I was sure this was the path for me! The day I handed my notice in, I literally felt a weight lifted. All the tension in my neck and headaches went, the stress melted, the misery was relieved.Despite what most people think, midwifery isn't actually about babies...well it is, but babies are just a small fraction of what the job is all about. Pregnancy is about growing a baby, and birth is about the arrival of a new baby but midwifery is about women. For women, their lives revolve around the child they are growing. And the midwife is there for the woman, not so much the baby. Supporting women, caring for them, assisting them, empowering them. And when I figured that out, that's when I knew midwifery was for me. It's bloody hard graft and I'm sure most people have seen all the media about recent industrial action over pay because so few seem to appreciate just how hard the work is. And from the midwives I know, they love it so won't stop but just want and deserve more recognition and appreciation, isn't that deserved for everyone in the NHS? Anyway, I digress.
So, midwifery. I went back to college, then I went back to uni for 3 of the most challenging years of my life. But I've made it. I've completed my training and got myself a First Class Degree with Honours and then the job hunt commenced. I trained at a small unit in the north-west and decided a while ago that I wanted to complete my first year as a Newly Qualified Midwife (NQM) in a larger, busier unit. So I applied, and I was invited for three interviews all with very different and very daunting assessment formats. And then I received three job offers. It was a tough decision for a variety of reasons and lots of lists and pros and cons were written and deliberated and then I made a choice, finally. I'm really quite indecisive. I chose a maternity unit in London, that's going to expose me to so many new experiences.
I've been waiting for aaaaaggggggeeeeeessssss for all the paperwork pre-employment stuff to be sorted and today the final thing has been confirmed. So now I'm just waiting to hear when HR can fit me into an induction course then I'll be heading south to the big smoke!I've been so excited but now it's all going ahead I'm terrified. I cannot wait to receive my first pay. I am ridiculously excited to assist the first baby into the world as an official Registered Midwife. But it is terrifying because I've spent the last three years learning by experience under close watch and direction from some marvelous midwives. And although I know I'll have a lot of support as a NQM and I need to take some pressure off myself, I'm still so so nervous.
But for this list, that's the first thing achieved. I have a job, all the checks have been processed, all that's left to do is find out a start date and move.
So a NQM in my 30th year, another reason this year is so significant.
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