Midwifery Today Community

I am just starting my path towards midwifery.  I applied to a Master's Entry CNM program recently and I am waiting to hear back from them!  In just one week I'll know if this is how I will become a midwife. 

Are there any others who are working towards becoming CNM's?  If so, where are you hoping to attend births (hospital, birth center, at home)? Why did you choose CNM over CPM (or are you still trying to make the decision)?

The only drawback of my program is that there aren't any opportunities to have homebirth midwives as preceptors.  I am committed to attending home births and so I will have to find homebirth learning opportunities on my own (likely during the summer or even after I graduate).  Hopefully i'm not getting ahead of myself as i'm not in yet!  But here's to hoping

 Hi There!  I am currently a CNM student as well.  I have a BSN and work part-time as a nurse and go to school full-time.  It's a lot of work, but very rewarding!  I am already a nurse, so that is why I want to be a CNM.  Also, I want to provide care for women through their lifespan, so that is another reason for me to choose CNM.  I am doing a dual program and will graduate as both a CNM and as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. 

I have a small child and we might have another before it's over, so I hope to initially work at a hospital so that I can keep shift work.  Shift work is great with small kids--no scheduling surprises!   Plus, that will give me the opportunity to have a lot of catches!   After that, I hope to go into practice with an OB or a group and provide the more traditional midwifery care that we are trained to offer.

As for homebirth nurse-midwives, it depends where you live.  A lot of the insurance companies restrict CNM's from doing homebirths (and they have to follow the rules if they want to keep their malpractice coverage).  It's unfortunate, really.  As a student, you will have a lot of restrictions put on you (again, for insurance purposes).  I am not able to attend any births with anyone other than a preceptor, unless I first get approval from my advisor.  The CNM must have adequate insurance for me to get approval.  And they are pretty strict about these rules--breaking the rules is grounds for dismissal.  So, ask those hard questions about homebirths berore you enroll so that there are no surprises.  

Good luck and please keep me posted about your application.  When do you expect to hear on your admission status?

Yes - I went to an interview day a few weeks ago and they made it clear that attending homebirths while registered would not be permissible unless I got permission to do it during integration. And even so, if I wanted to do it during integration, I (and my potential preceptors) would have to jump through eleventy-million hoops.  LOL .  So no surprises there... I will probably still try but I will also have to think about my safety as a student.  There is a homebirth/hospital practice here in NJ actually with two CNM's - they are very popular and give excellent care to their clients.  So, I know that there are similar practices out there but they are definitely few and far between.  

If I am unable to do my integration with a practice that completes both homebirths and hospital births then I will have to arrange a summer internship/research project or a post-graduation internship.  I guess ultimately, I think that it's worth it- especially because I'd like to have experience in all the different birth locations- homebirth, birth center and hospital births.

They will be making the final decisions tomorrow (yikes!) and they will mail out the decision letters on Thursday.  It's my understanding that they do email/call those that got accepted.  So...I figure I should know by Monday the 15th at the latest.  So excited but soooo scared too.  Really just praying that this is where I'm supposed to be.

That's so great that you have the option to dual certify as a CNM and WHNP.  My program used to have that option but they got rid of it.  I think that combination of CNM/WHNP or something similar like CNM/FNP would be perfect.  I do think that it increases your employability to be able to say that you are a NP.  

So how long is your program?  How are you liking it so far?

 Hey all -- I am located in Brooklyn currently and starting Frontier in April (going to orientation week after next!!!) to become a CNM.  I work as an RN right now in OB - L&D, postpartum and antepartum.  Can't wait to study what I've always wanted to do (well, for the past 5 years at least!!).

It's been a hard decision though, because I got married recently and realized how strongly I want to be a stay at home mom.  But midwifery is the only other thing that really excites me and I really think I have to just go for it, and adjust my job needs later when we have kids.  And it's never a convenient time to go back to school and shell out tuition...

However I am SO excited to learn the art of birth beyond the hospital!!!

Welcome KShepherd49!  Wow, you must be so excited about your orientation week starting so soon! That's great.  Is that what they call Frontier Bound?

Looks like we've got a small tribe forming here :)

 Congrats!  I'm a Frontier student and love it. You are going to have such a great time at Frontier Bound!  I'm jealous--I wish I could go again!

I understand your dilemma with time and family and all.  It's a tough decision, but hopefully there will be enough jobs that you can find something perfect for you.  I work part-time as a nurse and am also a stay-at-home Mom (plus a Frontier student), so it can be done...

Good luck and welcome to Frontier! 

Paradoxa,

Best of luck on your journey towards becoming a midwife! I'm currently in an accelerated BSN program in Virginia, after deciding that I would love to practice midwifery. I chose the CNM route because of its widespread legality in this country. I hope to one day be a homebirth midwife, but since I don't know where I'll be living, I didn't want to go the CPM route only to find myself in a state where it is not legally recognized. With that being said, I think it's a shame that most CNM programs don't provide the homebirth experience for their students. If you come up with a solution to this, please do share :)

I'd be interested in hearing which CNM programs you're looking into and your experiences with the application process, etc. Are you located in the Philly area?

 For a couple months I was conflicted over If I wanted to become a CPM or CNM. I have no nursing background. Another facet to my delimma was using my GI Bill, no midwifery programs were approved except for Fronteir. Becoming a midwife is a complete career change for me, I have a degree in something else. Ultimately I have decided on becoming a CPM for a few reasons. First I can NOT stomach the though of working in a hospital as a midwife. I worked for 2.5yrs as a breastfeeding peer counselor and it was hard enough then. If I were to become a CNM and do hospital births I wouldnt be able to practice in the way I feel convicted to. No breech, vaginal twins or vbacs. That is crap! I dont do well with following rules or "obeying" authority, I would open my mouth too much and get fired. I know I would. I have found a local CPM willing to take on another apprentice when I'm ready.

Oddly enough I'm in the nursing program at a local community college, NOT because I want to be a nurse but because I need to use my GI Bill before it expires or I loose $20,000. So since I cant get the distance learning CPM programs approved that I wanted to use I will just get my AA in nursing. Since delaware isn't the best place to be a home birth midwife if i truly needed to become a CNM later for whatever reason, I could.

I have made so many posts about my journey to becoming a midwife over at cafemom.com in my group Birth Is Normal. It's all very complicated. No matter what I will be a midwife and I wont work in a hospital. I will do whatever it takes to become a midwife.

Hi kacetace! I only applied to one CNM program.  It was a program at Yale.  In your first year you do nursing classes.  In your second and third years you take your CNM classes.  I am still waiting to hear back about this program - I should know by Monday!  

Application process was pretty simple.  The Yale program has 0 pre-reqs.  It required 3 recommendation letters and an essay.  Then about 1/2 of all applicants are chosen for an interview in late January.  And you find out the final decision by mid-February :)

If you are already a RN you can skip the nursing year and only do the  two specialty years.

I live in NJ right now...about 1.5 hours from Philly.  

 Greetings All.  I am so excited to see this community back up and running.  I am also a Frontier student...and will be attending Clinical Bound this April....whhooowhoo.  It has been a long road to travel.  I currently work as an RN in L&D/PP/NB/AP..we do it all at my hospital.  I am also blessed to be working as an RN at the one and only free standing birth center in my state of Colorado.  And, oh yeah, I am a wife and mother to three little (although not really little anymore) ones.  I will be doing clinicals in the hospital and at the birth center, Mountain Midwifery.  I plan to absolutely not practice in a hospital when I graduate...working there as an RN is bad enough.  The decision to go the CNM route was a difficult one for me, as I am sure it was for many of you.  Our system/s of education for midwifery in the country is pretty screwed up if you ask me...midwifery is not nursing and I get so frustrated that we have to travel that path to be fully legal in all the states.  But I digress and don't want to start ranting and raving about the topic here in this forum.

Paradoxa...good luck to you with Yale, let us know when you here.....and remember Frontier is a great MSN prgram as well

CNM2B....are you the other Frontier student?...what class are you in...

KShepard49...have sooo much fun at FB, it is such an awesome experience

 Hi Aubre!  Congrats on being so close to Clinical Bound!  You'll have to let us know how it goes!  It sounds amazing.

I am just getting started, as I am in Class 64.  I can't believe that my first quarter is half-way through!  Onward and forward!

Good luck to Paradoxa and keep us posted.  KShepard49--have a fabulous time at FB and don't forget your camera (and a box of tissues!)

So is today the big day, paradoxa? Best of luck!

As someone interested in Frontier myself, I hope that the other users here will keep us updated on their journey!

I wish it was.  But I realized that the mail won't be delivered today because of President's Day! So, I have to wait at least another day. 

Great news! I got into the program!  I'll be starting school in the fall.  I am so excited! :)

 Congrats Paradoxa !!!  That is great news.