My journey into midwifery...

Hello! I best start with a little introduction. I'm Ruth, a student midwife and a feminist. To me the two are synonymous and you can't be one without the other, which is why I've named my blog Sagefeminist. 'Sagefemme' being the french for midwife or 'wise/with woman' and a play on words with femme/feminist.
I like to think I have a little literary creativity in me. You can decide.

Right now I've just passed my 30th birthday and I'm in my second year training as a student midwife. But my story didn't begin two years ago.
Aged 16 I was asked to decide what I wanted to do as a career. Imagine that, just about working out who I am as a person and I have to start deciding WHAT I will label my 'job self' as well. I chose midwifery - at 16. It influenced my A-level decisions and I started my journey planning to study midwifery at university.
Sixth form college is never what people except and I changed some courses and didn't do well enough in others. One being my Biology A-level (which I eventually passed with a C). My tutor discussed with me that she didn't think midwifery would be a good fit for me and maybe I should look at a more structured university course. I was persuaded and in my second year of sixth form college my application for UCAS went in for a Marketing degree. Polar opposites.

I graduated the University of Stirling with a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Marketing in 2009 and promptly went to into management in service industry. I felt uncomfortable. I didn't enjoy my job. I didn't enjoy the profit focused aim of the business. However, I didn't know any midwives, only the birth stories I'd heard were from my mother and older sisters.
I always believed that I would return to University to study again, originally I was focused on women's studies but eventually my passion for midwifery couldn't be hidden. Inspired my my Father, who changed careers to Para-medicine when he left the Royal Marines, my Mother who did her MSc the year before I began my midwifery course, and my Nanny who did went and studied women's studies in her 60s. I guess changing careers is a familial trait!

Luckily, the universe answered my thoughts and I won some money in a TV prize draw (who knew people actually win those!), so I left my job and applied to study Midwifery at the age of 28.

I haven't looked back.

I've moved cities, found out who my real friends are, moved flat for the first time in 10 years and redirected my skills towards a more caring, supportive and fulfilling career.

So that's where my journey started. I'll be sharing reflective pieces, comments on articles/news pieces/inspirational posts and general feminist and midwifery chit chat as I cover the last placement of my second year into my third and and final year as a future midwife.


I hope you enjoy.

Ruth x

twitter: @ruth_stmw
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((Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and I will be respecting NMC social media policies on confidentiality at all times. If you have specific comments I cannot respond to due to this, please respect that this is why. Thank you))