Certified Nurse Midwives who do home births???

Specialties CNM

Published

I am just wrapping up my first semester in college, so i have a longggg way to go. But my goal is to become a midwife. Home births is where my heart is at, but I love the idea of steady salary and health insurance for being a nurse midwife. I have no responsiblites that would tie me down to a certain state, I would feel more than honered to study somewhere else. I'm going to school in Missouri, which is too conservative for my liking anyway :)

So my ultamite question is, what is the outlook for CNM's who do home births?? From my research, I found that CNM's most are in aid of the doctor which i am in no way shape or form interested in. Any advice or tips would be most appreciated!!!

Seriously thanks so much guys this makes me way more open mined and feel way better about nursing school :) and yes, I planning on getting my doula certification during the time period because I want to get some birth experience. Thanks for the helpful insight!!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Becoming a direct-entry midwife (DEM) is a waste of time for a nurse. Five minutes after earning whatever education and credentialing available as a DEM, you're maxed out in the field. It is far better to continue toward grad school and earn the CNM, giving you the broadest scope of practice in all venues. Too much opportunity for blurring the lines of what a nurse and a midwife can do independently and overlapping. Not so with a CNM.

*Said with experience because I am a DEM and RN but not CNM.

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I know this is an older post but I just found it and completely relay to this!!! I wanted to be a midwife at 16, but decided on nursing. Then at 19 I got married and we had our 6 kids ;) Now I'm 33 and ready to get back to school. I wan to be a CPM but nursing school is calling me in part for financial reasons. It scares me! Not just because it will.be hard with a family but also because I don't want to be the one with the "Scarlet letter" because have a holistic approach. I've had some homebirths and do delayed vaccination with my younger kids. Anyway, just nice to hear that there are others out there that feel similarly and yet it was worth it. I do think of going th CNM route for the benefits of pay, time, insurance, etc. But not sure how I'd navigate the system.

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I have wondered about this exactly! I wan to be a CPM but wonder about going th CNM route and praying to can be happy working within the system or creating my own OOH practice.

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Specializes in L&D, Trauma, Ortho, Med/Surg.
I know this is an older post but I just found it and completely relay to this!!! I wanted to be a midwife at 16, but decided on nursing. Then at 19 I got married and we had our 6 kids ;) Now I'm 33 and ready to get back to school. I wan to be a CPM but nursing school is calling me in part for financial reasons. It scares me! Not just because it will.be hard with a family but also because I don't want to be the one with the "Scarlet letter" because have a holistic approach. I've had some homebirths and do delayed vaccination with my younger kids. Anyway, just nice to hear that there are others out there that feel similarly and yet it was worth it. I do think of going th CNM route for the benefits of pay, time, insurance, etc. But not sure how I'd navigate the system.

Hi. I love your history - mine is similar, sort of. I wanted to be a midwife, pretty much KNEW it was for me from the time I was about 18. I did not have a lot of support around me, and was not really confident in my choices at that time in my life. It is so funny how life takes you on trips you really felt at the time you didn't want to be on - but in hindsight, it was truly the most perfect path for you. I met my husband, got sidetracked from my goals, we got married and started a family. After our first child (a homebirth), I decided I wanted to apprentice. Went that route for a year - it was too difficult for me. My mommy heart wanted to be with my daughter more than with pregnant/birthing women. After a year of that I decided I needed to wait. I taught childbirth classes, did some side doula work - still, my focus was my children (I had 4 more). I apprenticed here and there - or at least assisted anyway....LOVED every single minute of it. But I just kept getting pulled away from birthing women (and CPM path, and homebirth path). I had all 5 of my children at home - my heart is for homebirth. However, my husband is military and it has been tough to get experience with 5 children and random military installations (our last duty station's closest midwife was 1.5 hours away). I was so not at peace with all of these for most of these years. I felt torn. Finally, when I became at peace with it - nursing school fell in my lap. I had continued my education over the years, and my husband got stationed somewhere where we knew we'd be long enough for me to finish school. Had all my pre-req's. It was like divine intervention. I don't really want to be a nurse. Although, my sister calls me "doctor sister" or "nurse sister" whenever she has a question or bump or fever.....so the role seems to fit me really. Anyway, going into nursing school (just finishing my first semester) I have had this fear at the back of my head that "I am going to get STUCK in NURSING, but I want to be a nurse-midwife, keep your eye on the prize!"

One of my first classes was taught by two DNP's. The director and dean of the program, actually. And guess what they both happened to say? "I didn't want to be a nurse. I went into nursing and didn't think I wanted to be a nurse." It was like a breath of fresh air. One explained how she graduated and tried so many different kinds of nursing before she found teaching, and loved it. It took her a while, but she knew that patient care wasn't her forte.

I am very holistic minded. I have had all homebirths and an unassissted birth. I am not even going to talk about vaccines here. (I just had a tdap this week and you should ask me what my vitamin regimen is right now! lol).

I don't talk about this all that openly because I know that I'm not the run of the mill person. And that is fine with me. I know "we're" out there. I have so many friends from all over this country that think just like you and I - I know they are out there - and they want nurses and nurse midwives like us. There is a job for you out there, whether in nursing or nurse midwifery where you will shine. Don't give up!

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Oh my gosh! We are seriously kindred spirits. I was thinking about what I'd do before I had to have shots. I haven't had any since high school. I love orthomolecular medicine! I'll be doing the same thing. I'm a childbirth educator, working on my doula training as we speak and I'm also a midwifery assistant. That class was heaven on earth! I was with me people! Between working part time and having our last baby I have only assisted once at a homebirth and it was amazing. I've been to other births as a doula/friend too. I feel a little silly getting my doula certification when I don't know that I can ever be on call with school starting :-P BUT the training is super valuable and will honestly add so much to my childbirth classes. Can we be FB friends or touch base via e-mail? I'd love to see where your path leads you and know that I'm NOT ALONE! I'm starting school in January. I was hoping this fall, but I applied like a minute ago and the program is full. I will be doing pre-reqs part-time for a while. Shoot me an e-mail if you want to stay in touch otherwise :-D This is an email I don't use often but feel comfortable posting here ;-) [email protected]

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Specializes in L&D, Trauma, Ortho, Med/Surg.

I'll email you. =)

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Oh my gosh! We are seriously kindred spirits. I was thinking about what I'd do before I had to have shots. I haven't had any since high school. I love orthomolecular medicine! I'll be doing the same thing. I'm a childbirth educator, working on my doula training as we speak and I'm also a midwifery assistant. That class was heaven on earth! I was with me people! Between working part time and having our last baby I have only assisted once at a homebirth and it was amazing. I've been to other births as a doula/friend too. I feel a little silly getting my doula certification when I don't know that I can ever be on call with school starting :-P BUT the training is super valuable and will honestly add so much to my childbirth classes. Can we be FB friends or touch base via e-mail? I'd love to see where your path leads you and know that I'm NOT ALONE! I'm starting school in January. I was hoping this fall, but I applied like a minute ago and the program is full. I will be doing pre-reqs part-time for a while. Shoot me an e-mail if you want to stay in touch otherwise :-D This is an email I don't use often but feel comfortable posting here ;-) [email protected]

I just wrote a huge response and accidentally deleted it. Ugh!!! Long story short. I'm a mama of 3 boys, soon to be a 4th kiddo this summer (arriving by home birth of course). I will be starting RN school this fall. Hubby is finishing up RN school this spring and wants to do ED. I'm planning to do maternity or possibly a completely different specialty for awhile so that I don't get frustrated with hospital birthing. I will stay at the RN level for awhile as we're going to travel RN together with our kiddos in an RV (they are homeschooled). I'm so looking forward to this. This is going to be a great time of family togetherness, experiences, travel, and fun! So I will probably be much older by the time I'm ready to do the CNM portion. I will end up being the granny midwife by the time I get there...lol! But my heart is in home birth and that's where I eventually want to end up. We sound very likeminded as well. I'd love to be in touch with likeminded people during this journey as I am anticipating feeling like the odd one out during my RN training. I love the idea of pursuing doula training as well. But I worry if this will feel like too much with the RN workload? And I won't have time to work as a doula as I obviously won't be able to be on call during the RN program. But I may look into it if you feel it's helpful and feasible to complete during this time. But I will also have homeschooling kids (1 homeschooling 1st year RN school and 2 homeschooling during 2nd year) during this time as well as a toddler and new infant! Yikes!!! It sounds crazy when I type it out, but I feel like this is my window. I have an AWESOME funding source that will cover everything. And the longer I wait to do the RN program, the more homeschooling kids I'll be juggling at the same time. So it seems good to do this now.

Anyways, if you're open to being in touch with anyone else, please let me know!

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I'll email you. =)

Please see my response to Mamaofmany. It actually goes out to you as well. I'd love to be in touch as I'm also of a very similar mindset around this. I'd love to be in touch with likeminded women while pursuing all of this!

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Specializes in hopefully midwifery! Homebirth focused.

I hope there are still replies here! I actually made an account here just so I could respond. I relate one hundred percent to not wanting to go into nursing. I have nothing against nurses and admire them a lot. I just do not like the medical system part of it. I googled my question out of last-minute desperation (currently completing my last few nursing pre-reqs!) and really wanted to know if there was anyone else out there..... While my heart is set on CPM, I also wanted a realistic scope of practice, so CNM it is. I am hopefully going to do ASN, then BSN, then CNM. But I am so excited to continue on this pathway. It means the world to me to have like-minded ladies out there! Thank you all for responding, I am motivated to continue! 

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This was SO FUN to reread through this thread. Still working through comments! I just graduated this May with my ADN. I'm working in long term care at the moment. There was a hiring freeze when I was applying due to Covid-19. I'd love to chat more with all of the gals who relate to this tug between CPM, CNM, nursing, etc. Shoot me an e-mail... [email protected]

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Specializes in hopefully midwifery! Homebirth focused.

@Mamaofmany I emailed you but it didn't go through. I will make an email just for this so other ladies can email me to! 

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