At the end of a rainbow....

[ixchel]

.....some people look for a pot of gold. Me? I look for a message board with both aspiring midwives and curring midwives alike all helping each other find their ways. Holy crap I love this place! :heartbeat

I'm a year in on a BSN, knocking out my gen eds at a CC before transferring to a local university. My expectation is to be Frontier bound in fall 2014 if they'll let me use my LCCE as experience enough. I don't teach classes though, so they may not let me use it. No worries :) A little experience working with patients and doctors as an RN wouldn't hurt either. I feel confident in the knowledge department, but applying that knowledge in a clinical setting makes me nervous (a feeling I understand will fade with time and experience). I may decide to work for a year after my BSN regardless of whether having an LCCE will count as experience or not.

Anyway, I was going to lurk for awhile before posting an into, but I'm just so overwhelmed by how wonderful the information and support is here that I had to pop in and say hello! So...Hello!

[Bree124, BSN, RN]

If you can find a midwifery/woman friendly place to work as an RN after graduation, I would definitely recommend a year of experience. I have been working as an L&D nurse since '09 in a tertiary care facility that also has a high percentage of midwife-attended births. It is the perfect blend for me, because I have everything from super low tech births (no IV, mom in whatever position she wants, intermittent monitoring, etc.) to high risk (severe HELLP).

I do really believe that someone can be a good midwife without L&D experience (especially if that experience is only in a medically-oriented facility), but I think the experience can also be very beneficial.

Good luck with whatever you choose!