olive&pimiento

Hi Everyone~ I am on the long, winding path of CPM to CNM as well. It is so nice to read all of your stories here. I have wanted to post here for months, but was finishing a one year accelerated BSN program and literally had no extra time/energy. Congratulations Chayenne! I can't image how happy and relieved you feel to finally be finished. You are an inspiration. Right now I am just trying to find a job. I graduated in the beginning of April and have been applying to any mother/baby or L&D jobs posted, but most require experience. I may just need to take a med/surg job to begin with for experience. Luckily, I do like nursing. I was shocked by this at first, but my school really emphasized the holistic nature of nursing. And I sort of feel like everyone wants to care for a mama in labor, but not everyone is willing to care for the homeless crack head with self-inflicted health issues. I enjoyed being that person. At least for now, lol. I start midwifery school part time in the fall and CANNOT WAIT!! I am so excited. I feel like my CPM gave me a firm foundation in out of hospital birth and what is normal, but I did not feel prepared enough to start a practice. My preceptors were CNMs and I loved the way they practiced, with some home birth and some hospital clients. And they could continue caring for their clients if they needed to transfer. I think that is the type of practice I ultimately want to have.

Hi Britmw, I just wanted to give a perspective from NJ. I am a CPM and I am going back to school for nurse midwifery. I REALLY wanted to do a CM program because it would have shaved 18 months off of my education, but after researching I decided against it. It seems that while the CM is recognized in NJ, hospitals are very slow to grant privileges to non-nurse midwives here. I think there is just one practicing CM in northern NJ. There could be more now, since I was researching over a year ago, but it did not look promising for finding a job and I did not want to end up with another unusable degree. I was also advised against it from CNMs I know who believe it with be a long time before anything changes in this regard. It seems that NY is a good option for this degree. Good luck!

I'm a parent. I have three children, a girl who is 7 and two boys ages 3 and 4. Busy! My husband is a college professor, so he has a lot of time to cover child care. We plan on putting the boys in preschool in January to get them used to it and get through the initial sicknesses before I start the program. I am debating whether or not I should apply to Rutgers accelerated program (old UMDNJ stratford campus). The only reason I am considering it is because it is about $11,000 less than Drexel. I really want to just stick with Drexel though. It seems like such a good program.

Hello everyone, I just found I got accepted for Spring 2014 and I am so relieved and happy. I just payed my enrollment deposit, so it is all starting to seem real. I do wish we were starting in the fall, but I am very glad to know I am accepted somewhere and I can just relax. I plan on going straight on to CNM as well, techmommie. Nice to meet you all!