[crazylilkelly]

Hi,
I'm about to graduate w/ my bsn this may & will start off on a pp floor before I can get into L&D. For the past yr my big long-term dream has been to become a midwife. I'm in L&D all semester for my leadership clinical & love it. But, I'm scared that i could never become a mw b/c I literally cannot function w/ little sleep! If I'm not well rested there seems to be no hope for me to even think straight & I feel that being a mw would present too big of a liabilty for me b/c of this issue.
So, I was just wondering how you midwives out there function when being called after only a few hrs of sleep & did you ever feel the way I currently do about funcitoning on lil sleep?
I do consider the fact that I dont' eat very well & exercise the way I should. I'm sure that would help out my sleep a bit but who knows! THanks!

[crazylilkelly]

Anybody out there???? This dream of being a midwife but concern about sleep is bothering me! Then again, I do have a few yrs til midwifery school!

[HeritageRN]

I am not a CNM yet but hope to be some day soon. I do know that I used to be really afraid of working nights because I thought I wouldn't do well with the lack of sleep, but I have found that I do much better than I thought I would. I have learned how to sleep day/night when I need to. If you have trouble sleeping in the day try ear plugs and room darkening window coverings. You may be surprised at how well you do. You might get an idea after you graduate and are working, will you be working days or nights? I worked PP for 4 years and I think you get great experience there. I never have worked on an L&D floor and kind of glad about that, I am currently working in a free standing birth center and love it. I know this may not be what you have been dreaming of but maybe if the sleep thing is an issue you could still become a midwife and do GYN/prenatals/PP home visits (I know Kaiser in my area has CNMs go do PP home visits after patients leave the hospital). I think there are a lot of choices out there, you just need to find what will work best for you. Wish you the best!

[almost a cnm]

It will be tough for you if you don't function well without sleep. I was in the office all day and now I'm on call until 0800. Maybe I'll get a full nites sleep or maybe I'll get called in at midnight. There have been times when I've been up for 24 hours. It's tough but I worked night shift for years and got used to functioning without much sleep.

[crazylilkelly]

thanks for your replies!
I will start working pp this june on nights. So, I have no choice but to get used to night I believe I will be fine w/ all nights. It's just the prospect of essentially doing night & days as midwife b/c you never know when a babe decides to come into this world!
I spoke to my L&D clinical manager about this & she brought up a good point. She said if you really love it you will make it work & be motivated to get up to deliver that baby. I started thinking about what she said & agreed. Plus, being able to do prenatal visits will undoubtedly help me establish a therapeutic relationship w/ my pts before they deliver. Gosh, I fall in love w/ pts in only one clinical! So, I'm sure that after a few months I'll be excited to get up & help my pts deliver their babies! Also, I can't deny how much I love the fact of becoming a midwife! I'm going to aim on going to grad school for it & see how the sleep thing works. And if it's really that bad for me then I'll just do prenatal, women's health, pp like the first relier suggested.
I still have a few yrs til I even start grad school but I wish it were sooner!