Homebirth Midwife
(Female, Age 30) from Worcester, MA
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 30 who works as a Homebirth Midwife in Worcester, MA. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Homebirth Midwife |
|---|---|
| Salary | $70,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Worcester, MA |
| Years Experience | 5 months |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
I am a self-employed midwife running a business out of my home.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Providing prenatal care, labor and birth, and postpartum care and support to women and their families during the childbearing year.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
Seeing the miracle of birth over and over again
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
under
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I enjoy working with pregnant women and their families and seeing new life grow each visit.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
I work at home most of the time and I love it. At 36 weeks, we do a home prenatal visit to the client’s home and it is always fun to see where they think they will give birth and all the baby clothes they have accumulated. I wouldn’t change anything.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 5
Benefits: 4
Hours: 7
Co-Workers: 3
Supervisors: 6
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 2
The Actual Work: 1
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | Sleeping |
| 8am to 9am | Workout, shower, breakfast |
| 9am to 10am | Saw one client. Talked about the fact that she was feeling some swelling. Gave her suggestions to remedy this situation. She will let me know in 3 days how she is doing. Chatted about her parents visiting and they would watch her daughter when she went into labor. Checked her vitals, baby’s vitals, everything going well. |
| 10am to 11am | Saw another client. Talked about her summer vacation plans. Her husband is in Jamaica for work and will be coming back next week. She is finished with her thesis and will be graduating soon. Nothing else is new. Checked vitals, everything fine. |
| 11am to 12pm | 11:15am-12:45pm: Saw a new client. Took her medical history and filled out new client form. Took baseline vitals. |
| 12pm to 1pm | See above. |
| 1pm to 2pm | Personal errands |
| 2pm to 3pm | Personal errands |
| 3pm to 4pm | Returned several client phone calls regarding questions they had. One client was exposed to measles and had questions. One client had some swelling and gave her regimen to reverse it. One new client needed directions to my home. |
| 4pm to 5pm | More returning of phone calls: One client had some insurance questions, referred her to my billing agency. One client believed she was getting the flu and wanted advice. |
| 5pm to 6pm | Personal errands |
| 6pm to 7pm | Dinner, tv |
| 7pm to 8pm | Clean office, straighten house |
| 8pm to 9pm | Friends visiting |
| 9pm to 10pm | Friends visiting |
| 10pm to 11pm | 10:15pm: Client called and informed me her water just released, but she wasn’t yet having contractions. Talked with her a while, gave things she should do. Put equipment in car to be ready to go. Try to sleep in case she calls back to come to birth. |
| 11pm to 12am | Sleep. |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
It was a calling to me and I pursued academic education and apprenticeship, which I found through a classmate.
What was the application process?
None.
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
I had a three month trial period of apprenticeship, where all new apprentices are evaluated at the end of the trial to see howe it is going, improvements to be made, etc.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
No formal interview.
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Self-employed.
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Yes. Two years of academic training and 2 to 2 1/2 years of apprenticeship training.
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. It was very thorough and covered everything I needed to know and then some. All aspects of anatomy and physiology, the birthing process, well-woman physical exams, history taking, labwork (blood tests, urine tests, etc.), etc. I could go on and on.
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
It gave me my hands on training that helped me deal with certain situations and partcular types of clients. How to respond in various situations and emergencies.
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
You have to be crazy and not mind being called at all hours of the day or night. Academic education is extremely helpful, but not 100% required. Most midwives adhere to the apprenticeship model, meaning they find a midwife to mentor them and train with them for any number of years pre-determined by that particular midwife. It all depends how busy she is.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
You have to be able to stay awake and alert for any number of hours, 24, 36, etc. Laboring women don’t have timeclocks. You have to want to work with people and have good social skills. Organizational skills are helpful to organize your business, but not required. You must be open-minded to families needs and customs.
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes.
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
N/A
What are your current career goals?
To help babies be born in the most gentle way and allow women to give birth in the manner in which they feel comfortable in the presence of family, friends, pets, etc.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
It is a very rewarding calling. You can’t really call it a career or a job. You have to be called to this line of work.
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