My decision making maze I hope one day leads to a JOB

I think birth is fascinating. For the last 6 or 7 years I've been reading and learning all I can about women's experiences both giving birth and attending births. This picture is of me and my second niece the day she was born, the second birth I ever saw and helped with.

I knew even before her older sister was born that I wanted to work in this field somehow...but how? For my nieces, I helped only as a thoughtful and invested sister-in-law (no particular skills to offer besides foot rubs and a hand to hold), but the desire was there to help a lot of women.

So I went to school and earned an associates degree, where I received a lot of general advice. Go to nursing school, become a doula, go to medical school, go through midwifery training...all of which seemed interesting to me, but very out of reach. Midwifery called the loudest and after looking at many program prerequisites, I decided to finish a bachelor's degree in Public Health before looking further.

My university happened to be home to Melissa Cheyney, who is a PhD and midwife, a very effective and thoughtful researcher and advocate for midwifery and home birth at the national level. I was so excited and thought this would really direct my schooling and career choices!

While I did hear her speak a few times and meet with her once, I remained very busy with classes and work and missed many opportunities, as most of her work is directed toward graduate students. This influence too seemed out of reach. By graduation, midwifery (without a nursing background) seemed like somewhat of a gamble when I looked at the big of picture of insurance and job security and income and reaching people who genuinely need better health education.

My final project before graduating was an internship and I hoped for a small birth center or midwifery/nursing friendly organization...again, not to be. I did have an excellent internship, but one that pointed to a Masters in Public Health (in Maternal and Child health) as my next reasonable goal. Unfortunately, there aren't any MCH programs in my area, so that means moving or starting an online degree.

Nursing school is a much more attainable choice in the meantime and would actually pair quite nicely with my bachelors in public health promotion (RN credentials are preferred in most health related job postings, a trend which doesn't take advantage of my very EXPENSIVE degree and I feel feeds people's distrust of alternative medicine and lay-support....thank you medical sociology class for filling my head with skepticism). 

Even though an RN license is fairly attainable for me, it is not as easy as it sounds. Nursing school is expensive and if you didn't plan for it from day one, there are more expensive prerequisites to fulfill before you can even APPLY. I could of course apply to a nearby prestigious research university for a nursing degree, but my local community college has a good reputation of graduating quality RN's, so that seems the most likely route.

I have 3 general classes to take and a CNA license to obtain (which takes about 4 weeks, but costs $1100). Because I promised on pain of death to be present for my best friends first birth 👶 in late January, my timing for these classes will be delayed a while, meaning that IF I can complete them and apply to nursing school in September this year (and be one of the 35 students accepted per term), my program wouldn't start until 6 months afterward. 

Because nursing schools give extra attention to applicants who have some healthcare experience (and because of a long waiting time here) it seems like a good time to apply for a DONA Certified Postpartum Doula program (which also costs about $1000 in total). The experience will fit right in with my goals and interests, though it is not a cheap way to spend my time or even a universally recognized job as of yet although the British are doing a good job of researching its effects.

Assuming all this falls into place, practically and financially, I will then have a Public Health degree, postpartum doula training, and CNA →RN license.
Leaving me with hopefully very employable skills and the option of enrolling in a Masters of Nursing Midwifery program (OR that MCH degree mentioned above) sometime in the future.

The fact that I can even seriously mull all this over in my head means that I have a great deal of opportunity (not to mention a very supportive husband). I am grateful.

But I also think often on that reliable phrase, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."


Hoping and praying for the best and lifting my glass to 2017! 🍸