Student Blog

Produced by Guest blogger

As far back as I can remember I’ve been intrigued by the remarkable ability of a woman’s body to grow a new life. So at 17 when it came to applying to university, I submitted my application to study Midwifery. I had just met my now-husband Mikey and after a crazy few months together, we discovered we were pregnant. Dreams of becoming a midwife felt like they were slowly slipping away. However, despite being scared, I was also excited for my fork in the road of life that was motherhood. As university rejections started to arrive in my inbox, the reality of everything kicked in. Reflecting on this now actually having this time in my life to ground myself and come back to midwifery a little bit later was the best thing to happen to me. But more on that later.

So this is us! 18 years old with our beautiful first-born son Daniel! Absolutely besotted but also embarking on the scariest journey of our lives! When Daniel was just 8 months old, I went back to work hoping to find a new dream career as a banking clerk. It’s safe to say this was a million miles away from midwifery and something I quickly realised was not what I wanted from life. Thankfully I found a course I could apply for that would finally allow me to get back on track to be a midwife! So I applied and got on to the course. I applied and got on to the course 4 times before I finally stopping putting excuses in the way and actually enrolled! By this time, we had welcomed our second beautiful son Lucas and married just 7 months later.

The access course was tough, but I was determined to finish and finally get my place at university. When it came to writing personal statements, it was clear how wrong I had gone when I previously applied, but it was also a really important moment for me, reflecting on the amount of personal growth I had done in the last 5 years and how prepared I felt to finally start university. This is where I realised that this time out gave me insight into why I wanted to be a midwife, it helped me understand more as to what a midwife did, and I realised that I wanted to become a midwife more than anything. And here I am 3rd-year student midwife trying to juggle the reality of studying alongside being a mum!

It’s no secret that this degree is tough, and having children the mum guilt at times, can be unbearable. I am so lucky to have such an amazing, supportive husband and family around me to help me through it all and for this, I am truly grateful. I wasn’t ready at 17/18 to become a midwife, I probably wasn’t ready to become a mother either but I’m a true believer that life gives you what you need when the time is right. Although at the time these rejections felt like the worst thing to happen, now I know that it’s because I wasn’t ready and that time gave me what I needed to appreciate my degree and enjoy it.

So if you are applying to midwifery, good luck to you! But if you have received a rejection… Immerse yourself in midwifery, gain new experience and take time to explore what draws you to midwifery and apply again. If you are already on this crazy journey and life has thrown a fork in the road just keep going choose the path that’s right for you, if midwifery is where you want to be you’ll find your way back or a way to keep going.

This is me, on my my 1st day at university 👩‍🎓💜