A revealing guide to a career as a midwife written by award-winning health reporter Sandi Doughton and based on the real-life experiences of the chief of the midwifery practice group at the University of Washington—required reading for anyone pursuing a path to this life-changing profession. Becoming a Midwife takes you behind the scenes to find out what it’s really like, and what it really takes, to become a midwife. Midwives are medical professionals who provide care for childbearing women on their birthing journey. It is a growing career that combines compassion and emotional intelligence with nursing and healthcare. Expert midwife Mary Lou Kopas, MN, CNM, specializes in healthy pregnancy and birth. As a veteran of the field, she has helped countless women on the path to labor by delivering their babies and following up with breastfeeding support, newborn care, and insight into the many psycho-social challenges women face in the transition to motherhood. Gain professional wisdom as acclaimed health reporter Sandi Doughton shadows Kopas at work, telling the story of her professional path. Learn the ins and outs of this dynamic job, helping soon-to-be mothers bring new life into the world.

What is the reality of being a midwife in the twenty-first century? What is it like to help and support women throughout pregnancy and childbirth and into motherhood? What roles can midwives play in society? This new edition of the popular text, Becoming a Midwife, explores what it is to be a midwife, looking at the factors that make midwifery such a special profession, as well as some of the challenges. The fully updated chapters cover a variety of settings and several different stages in a woman’s pregnancy, including stories from midwives working in hospitals and in the community, as managers, supervisors and educators, and as men, women, mothers and birth activists. All chapters are narrated by contributors who introduce their own theme, recount a vignette that throws light on their understandings of midwifery and reasons for becoming (or not becoming) a midwife and any subsequent career moves. Backed up by commentaries and drawing together these insights, the editors show what it means to be a midwife today. Suitable for those contemplating a career in midwifery and providing an opportunity for reflection for more experienced midwives, this thought-provoking book is an invaluable contribution to midwifery.

The Student’s Guide to Becoming a Midwife is essential reading for all student midwives. Now updated to include the latest 2012 NMC Midwifery Rules and Standards and a brand new chapter on the midwife and public health, this comprehensive resource provides a wide range of need-to-know information for student midwives, including: Effective communication and documentation Confidentiality Interdisciplinary working The fundamentals of antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care Assessment and examination of the new-born baby Medicines Public health Clinical decision-making Evidence-based practice With case studies, words of wisdom from current midwives and a range of activities and self-test questions throughout – making it easy to learn and understand key concepts – The Student’s Guide to Becoming a Midwife is the ideal companion for students throughout their course.

The NMC have produced standards of proficiency for pre registration midwifery education and those standards have been written in an “academic” language, for higher education institutions. Each student prior to being admitted to the profession must have achieved the proficiencies stated in the NMC publication. The purpose of this book is to provide students with material related to the standards of midwifery education. The students will be able to use the contents of this text and relate it to their own approved programme of midwifery study, as their programme of study would have had to comply with NMC’s requirements. It will help student midwives appreciate how their own programmes have been designed, and why they are required to study and understand some of the subjects they are, or will be studying.

Midwifery: The Basics provides an engaging and authentic insight into the midwife’s world. It explores the role of the midwife as a clinician and professional, showing how midwives can support women both to achieve a healthy full-term pregnancy and a smooth transition to motherhood. This book begins with a discussion of the context of birth and parenthood, placing midwifery in its broader social context. Topics covered include: the midwife as an autonomous professional; becoming a midwife; pre-conceptual and antenatal care; intrapartum care; postnatal care; and the specialist midwife. Midwifery: The Basics uses the voices of mothers, fathers and midwives to illustrate the complex world of becoming, being and supporting parents. This is an essential introduction for students at undergraduate and A-Level who are approaching midwifery for the first time.

'Becoming a Student Midwife' is essential reading for anyone wanting to become a midwife in the UK. It's designed to get you thinking like a midwife and navigate the hurdles of your application into midwifery! It also crucially features personal statement examples and detailed line by line analysis (good and bad) and over 50 Interview questions, analysis and answers.Topics include: Making sure Midwifery is right for you Getting the kind of experience that will get you noticed (in a good way!) Choosing your UK Midwifery Course and handling UCAS Writing an kick-ass Personal Statement The Essential Facts you need to know for your interview Use Nervousness to your Advantage with my acronym 'DOPE' (not that kind of dope) to Combat Anxiety in Interview Situations Maths and Literacy revision, 2x practice literacy and 2x practice maths tests and markschemes 50 Interview Questions, Analysis and Answers Whether you are starting out with a dream and don't know where to begin, or just need to bring your experience together, this book can help. It was written for you by a qualified midwife in conjunction with a careers advisor and midwifery interviewers. Feedback and Reviews: "Amazing book, I only wish I had read this before I applied last year! I made so many of the mistakes mentioned in the book! This year I have so much more confidence, thanks to the advice and information from this book. Thanks Ellie!" -Gemma, Gloucestershire "Q+As, inside tips and knowledge, it gets you thinking like a midwife. It's so competitive to get onto a course, this book is exactly what I was looking for!" -Meena, London "Found your book and it has reignited my excitement for midwifery! I am working towards being a student midwife and this has been really reassuring! I can actually do this!" -Kim, Leicester "She seems to really remember and understand what it's like to be at the beginning of your journey. Ellie breaks down every little step for you." - Mirriam, Reading "I ...wanted to say a HUGE thank you! I recently like a bolt from the blue realised I want to be a midwife - and then found out how hard it is to get on a course! Your book makes it so simple to see exactly what you need to do!" -Josie, Leicester