Will I EVER be a CNM?

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

i'm feeling totally defeated.

i have just been rejected from uic, and i'm just feeling lost. i've been working towards and wanting to be a cnm for six years. due to some financial problems, i was unable to complete my college education until 2006- a ba in women's studies i had started ten years previously.

i still knew i wanted to be a cnm, but at the time i had to work full time and could only attend weekend college. at that point there were no options for weekend school to do a nursing degree- and i was stuck in the city i live in because my husband was in grad school- he just graduated this week.

fast forward two years- i'm in an adn program and am projected to graduate in december 2009. i applied to the uic gep program for january 2009, made it to the interview stage and was rejected. most other schools i have looked at want you to have worked at least a year in your area if possible, but i heard that positions for new nursing grads in labor and delivery are almost impossible to find. i'm also interested in frontier, but i've heard that's hard to get into also.

i have a kick ass gpa, awesome recommendations from proffs, and i have an excellent work ethic so once i can finally start working as an rn, i feel confident that i will be able to get good professional recommendations too. i plan on becoming doula certified with dona in the next two years to beef up my experience and applications, but when i think about the hurdles between now and then, the odds of getting a spot in labor and delivery, frontier being hard to get into, i just feel like i'm never gonna get there!!!! im 30 years old, and husband and i would like to have kids of our own with the next two years or so, so the time where we can just pick up and move to any city for grad programs for each other is pretty much gone. *sigh* i know i'm coming off as whiny, and thanks to anyone who read all of this....any words of advice/encouragement friom those of you lucky enough to be cnms?

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Can you get UIC to tell you why your application was rejected?

Don't give up. I suggest finishing your ADN and finding a job in L&D -- ANY job, night shift, do some fast talking with managers, tell them you'll do weekends, Fridays, nights ... Apply for a BSN completion program as soon as you can. Take the DONA certification. There is a yahoo group chicagodoulas. Start being a doula. Check out Chicago Health Connection and see if they have a place for you to work/volunteer. Check out Chicago Women's Health Center. Look into Homefirst homebirth services: they may take doulas/RNs to work or volunteer. Check into Rush -- I hear they promote labor support; maybe other hospitals do now, I don't know. (I went to nursing school in Chicago and worked L&D at several hospitals for several years and at that time NOBODY did labor support, I had no idea what it was until moving to Berkeley CA, but I heard from another RN that Rush now promotes labor support.) LEARN SPANISH. (Polish won't hurt, either.)

I betcha you'll get in UIC. Or Frontier, after all that. (I got into both places, easily, and the Ivy League, but wound up at Frontier -- I could afford the tuition but am getting the best clinicals at the places of my choosing!)

DON"T GIVE UP. If you heard my story you would cringe and take heart. I am the biggest loser in the world but am finally finishing up my MSN ....

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Are you kidding me? Of course you're going to make it. I've been at since 2001 - September 11 to be exact.

I applied to a CNM school once, and got accepted, didn't like it and reapplied allll over again to Upenn. Neither school required L&D. All that talk about L&D - most of it are from L&D RN's who assume to know this information. I do have L&D, but it's been a waste of time and effort, better spent in ER, or going STRAIGHT into the Upenn. I would have been graduated by now if I known a year's experience is NOT required by lots of schools. Lots of my cohort don't have experience and I'm not much better off than them. Sure, I've witnessed lot of deliveries, but I have no hand experience at catching babies either.

If you must work in L&D, just apply and apply. That's what I did. Throw a big net, and don't get discourage by one rejection. Get used to it - it's part of life and it doesn't reflect on who you are. Don't dwell on it. It's a lot of little steps, but I'm finally in my final semester! I'm catching babies in a few weeks. If I can do it, anyone can. All YOU need is heart and a tunnel vision. Come join us, we need you.

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

Thank you for replying- I really did just ned to hear exactly what you said- someone else, with the same career goals who has alos had a long time of trying to get there. Also good to know that the L&D necessity is not necessarily so.

Truth be told, I don't have my heart set on working in L&D prior to beginning a CNM program, I just kept hearing from other RN's that it's somthing I should do...in fact I just rechecked Frontier's page, and it does in fact say a year of experience for those with nursing degrees, but nothing about it having to be in L&D...

thanks again, and hey , congrats on being so close to being done! :)

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

Thank you so much for your advice/words of encouragment.

I do intend to find out why UIC rejected me, as they said they would be willing to discuss it.....just been spending the last week focusing on maintaining my current program ( signing up for summer school , etc).

I think one of my biggest problems is that I 'm surrounded by people in my life who have had pretty smooth sailing in their lives reaching their respective career goals....it just gets tough being the one person in the circle who is constatnly struggling to get where she wants to be, ya know? Thanks though. I do appreciate it. :)

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Thank you for replying- I really did just ned to hear exactly what you said- someone else, with the same career goals who has alos had a long time of trying to get there. Also good to know that the L&D necessity is not necessarily so.

Truth be told, I don't have my heart set on working in L&D prior to beginning a CNM program, I just kept hearing from other RN's that it's somthing I should do...in fact I just rechecked Frontier's page, and it does in fact say a year of experience for those with nursing degrees, but nothing about it having to be in L&D...

thanks again, and hey , congrats on being so close to being done! :)

Have you thought about doing postpartum/mother baby nursing? For one, having 6 months or so of postpartum experience can make it easier to get into a labor and delivery unit than applying as a brand new graduate. The managers know you, you have demonstrated some basic nursing skills.... Plus, I find I use my postpartum/newborn/breastfeeding experience as a CNM just as you would use L&D experience as a CNM. I get most of the breastfeeding questions in clinic, I get calls at night from postpartum women, and my experience working mom/baby and nursery really help. You are right, Frontier doesn't have a L&D requirement.

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

No, I hadn't really thought about that route....thanks for the tip :) The other thing that makes long term planning complex for me , is that after I graduate from my ADN program, we are definitely planning on moving to another part of the country....but don't yet know where.

There are NO job opportunities for my husband here ( Minister in the UCC church) but other parts of the country are flooded with UCC churches in need of pastors ( Parts of New England, Chicago, Hawaii)

Whereas I am fairly flexible, particularly with distance learning schools like Frontier being around.

So I know the other piece depends largely on where we end up too. For instance, I know in lots of cities certain jobs on particular wards are impossible for new grads to land- but when my in laws were in town this past weekend, My mom-in-law told me that the hospital she works for, L&D always has spots open and that in the past they have hired new grads fairly often. She has worked on a burn/shock/trauma ward in the D.C area for the past twenty-five years.

Blech....sometimes the next steps are just topo much to think about.

I JUST WANNA CATCH BABIES!!!!

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I can so relate to your post.

I am a planner and a bit of a control freak. My DH is always looking at me cross eyed, asking "WHY are you worrying about this NOW? you said you had to do X,Y,Z before it was even an option?" Plus, we also are talking about moving because DH is a Pastor (Vineyard). Funny.

Anyway, I had two thoughts. please forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn. I was 30 yrs old when I had my first of 3 babies. I am now 37, and while quite a bit more sleep deprived, I am consider myself in a much better place to begin this career path. I am more confident about my choice to work with women in reproductive health. I think I have learned that while I am definitely NOT a birth junkie, I do enjoy participating in birth but not to the edxclusion of helping women with breastfeeding, infertility, hormonal cycles, et cet.

In addition, I have met mutliple (including two of my own) MW's who have left practice because of burn out associated with trying to raise young children and be on call and long MW hours. I'm not saying it can't be done well, but it was enough to convince me that I finish the BSN and then we move for my DH, and I just work a regular RN schedule for a few years while my own are little.

So..what am I saying in my ramblings? I'm sure it can be done and don't give up the fire...but, well, Where do you want to move? What is the birth climate like there? Can you land a job in a free standing birth center? Focus on how you are going to make inroads into the Midwifery community and after a couple years you will have built in preceptors for Frontier.

Best wishes to you in your process!

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Specializes in Rural Health.

I took an VERY long and scenic route in my career path. When I was 18 (now 34) I wanted to be a Midwife. Had no clue what it entailed, it was a dream, a desire and something I thought would be just an awe inspiring dream for me.

So, because I wanted to be a midwife, I decided to get my degree in Criminal Justice. That just makes such perfect sense doesn't it :wink2:

Fast forward 10 years - still really want to be that Midwife but man, I just figured out I need that nursing degree first.

So off to nursing school, did the ADN route because I couldn't afford to drive 2 hours one way to get my BSN and they wanted SOOOOOO many more hours and the wait list was huge....blah blah blah.

So fast forward again to Dec. 2006. I've graduated now with my ADN. What shall I do??? Well, I owe this STUPID money from the state in which I reside that gave it me to go to NS, so I guess I have to work here now for at least 2 years. Really want that L&D job....WHAT????? They don't hire new grads (or anyone for that matter???) Crap now what???? Oh I have to drive 2.5 hours to get an L&D job.....no freaking way??????

So I go to my ol' standby. I was an ER tech all thru NS so it was pretty easy to land that first of 3 gigs in the ER. Worked the last year and half in ERs.

Woke up about 3 months ago and realized....I don't want to be an ER nurse I wanna be a midwife but I wanna be a GOOD midwife with some experience and background and I really think L&D will at least tell me if I'm interested. Man I'm about 99.9% sure I wanna do this but it's an awful lot of time and effort for something I've not really done before.......yup should probably get that L&D job first to make sure.

So off to the chopping block again. Applied, applied, applied. Rejected, rejected and then wait.....THEY WANT ME????? REALLY.

So June 23rd I start. Now let me tell you something. I was offered an L&D job on the spot earlier this week in fact. The orientation was scary - the job was scary but man it was L&D from the start. No working my way up the ranks to that job......

I didn't take it.

I want the slow paced route. Lucky for me, I also got that job offer that very same day. SOOOOOOO happy with my decision too!!!!

So June 23rd starts my journey to the great world of OB nursing. I will start in PP and WB and orient there, eventually (in about 6 months or so) I will transition to L&D. I will get there, eventually.

And yes, Frontier requires 1 year of experience as a nurse. Does it have to be L&D? No, however I've been warned that way off in the future distance when I go to get that 1st CNM job, I will struggle if I don't have at least "some" L&D experience. Sure my ER experience is great - but employers will still see that I don't have that L&D.

Don't give up!!!! I sure haven't. My goals have changed, my desires have changed but I'm still going to pluck thru this and I WILL be a CNM one of these days.

Sorry for the ramble.......

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

LOL because of your post.

Our poor DH's. What are they ever gonna do with us control freaks? :p

Your story makes me feel loads better. And yes, I'm trying to take a more calm approach --I mean really, who knows what the future holds? Maybe I'll fall in love with some other aspect of women's health ...trying to take it day by day by endless day....

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Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

Don't apologize for your ramble....along with all the other stories on here, it makes me feel loads better...

Reminds me of something I heard someone say the other day on NPR...(paraphrasing)

"The most stable, intersting people in life are the ones who when you ask 'How did you get here?' reply 'It's a long story'."

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LOL because of your post.

Our poor DH's. What are they ever gonna do with us control freaks? :p

Your story makes me feel loads better. And yes, I'm trying to take a more calm approach --I mean really, who knows what the future holds? Maybe I'll fall in love with some other aspect of women's health ...trying to take it day by day by endless day....

One way that works for me is try to take it a day at a time. Think about the process, and not about the goal. It's like the prize after all the sweat, blood and tears. I'm not there yet, so it's really terribly nerve wracking now that I'm actually going to catch babies. I have to pinch myself, and I think - no, this must be a dream. I'm going to wake up, never even to experience that in my sleep. I am so scared sometimes and I have this irrational fear that something is going to happen just short of my graduation, and I have to go back to start again.

I guess everybody has anxiety...

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