Midwifery student looking for pregnant women!

**vumidstudent** · 21-06-2012 21:29

Hi ladies!

My name is Jess and I'm a first year student of midwifery at Victoria University in Melbourne. As part of my course, I'm required to 'recruit' pregnant women who are under 32 weeks gestation to follow and support them throughout their pregnancy

"The central educational focus of this program is based on a 'with woman' philosophy that is a belief that the woman's experience of pregnancy and childbirth are unique to each woman and that birth is a normal life experience. The role of the midwife is to facilitate a professional relationship whereby both the woman and the midwife are committed to a partnership of mutual empowerment and learning. The relationship between a woman and her midwife is central to the students' teaching and learning process."

The expectations and commitment from women participating in this experience

Should you agree to participate in this experience, you will be required to engage in:

- a professional relationship with a midwifery student, who is under the guidance of an academic midwifery mentor, from early pregnancy to the first few weeks following your baby's birth; this will require the student to negotiate suitable meeting or telephone conversations times with you

- basic health assessment of yourself and baby by the student, which includes interviewing, history taking, assessing wellness, discussion of your experiences of pregnancy, family dynamics and health promotion

- offering the student the opportunity to accompany you to pregnancy/prenatal visits, childbirth education sessions, exercise classes, visits to the agency where the birth of your baby will take place, and the after birth visits during the first weeks; where time and circumstances permit, and with your consent, the student will be able to be with you during your labour and the birth of your baby.

I'm a happy and bubbly person who finds it easy to communicate with everyone, loves babies, pregnancy and am very conscientious regarding appointment times, maintaining communication, supplying links etc for resources and just being a general sound board for worries or support!

It's a great opportunity for women to participate in because you can just think of it as having your own personal midwife! Attending your baby's birth is not necessary (but if you felt comfortable, I would LOVE to be present!) as a minimum of 10 hours is enough to meet the requirements. This is usually gained through following you to appointments or education classes, but if we have conflicting schedules then casual meetings are also acceptable. We would exchange phone numbers in order to communicate. I also do NOT need to examine you at your appointments etc if you are uncomfortable with this, or your care giver does not wish to allow this, as we gain our practical midwifery skills through our hospital placements.

I'm located in Pascoe Vale (northern suburbs) of Melbourne but looking for women all around Melbourne. Email me regardless where you live and we can try to work something out.

My email address is jessicadean@live.com.au so send me an email because I'd love to hear from all you lovely ladies (and partners) out there! Thanks for reading and hope you (or someone you know!) might be interested in helping out a student midwife!

**CountryLovin** · 22-06-2012 23:11

Jessica, I wish you the best in finding some lucky women to 'recruit'! Personally I would love to assist you in your learning.... but unfortunately I am not pregnant yet and I'm also MILES away from you.

I think that having someone such as yourself to 'share' the journey from a medical point of view would be just wonderful. I hope that others feel the same way.

How long do you have to find people? When is your cut off date?

**vumidstudent** · 23-06-2012 08:45

Thankyou so much! I completely agree. I think it's an excellent idea as women can attend their appointments with someone & ask any questions they might have at any time of the day.

We're required to have a minimum of 5 women this year. There's no cut off date, just as long as they're under 32 weeks.

I hope women do take up this opportunity or refer me to a friend who is pregnant even!

**sare89** · 23-06-2012 14:55

Hey love,
Would be happy to help you out! Being a nursing student not that long ago I had numerous midwifery student friends who struggled to find women. I'm 22yo and 12 weeks prego on Monday, live in North Melbourne and birthing at the Royal WOmens Hospital. Although I will be moving, my appointments will all still be in the city =)
Send me an e-mail if you'd like - sarahchisholm89@hotmail.com.
x