It started when school started and I needed to "balance" my "I'm so sick of being home with my kids and not feeling productive" with the workaholic that emerged learning about something I love so much as midwifery. Then it intensified when I started clinical placement and had to risk my kids forgetting what my face looked like because I was gone so much.
Work life balance is a challenging concept for many people, in many kinds of careers. But in a caring profession like midwifery, it can be more like a daily challenge. How do I balance the needs of my clinical duties, with the needs of my school, with the needs of my children, with the needs of my partner....and, do I deserve needs at the end of this as well? Having kids and being in this program is REALLY HARD. There. I said it! Sometimes, when I've been out for hours and hours (or days) and all I want (need) is a shower and a sleep, but instead I find myself again cooking dinner and reading bedtime stories, I find myself wondering if I have a right to have needs when so many other people need from me.
You know what the answer is? You are damn right that I deserve to have my needs met. In fact, I'm not going to make it through the program (or as a midwife) if I do not. The lesson is how to convey this to family and preceptors without sacrificing the family or a passing grade. This, I have yet to master in practice - but I'm working on it.
I deserve to dance!
(and do yoga! And shower! And sleep! and eat (*every time I'm hungry*!)
And you do, too!
SO - I'm reciting such a mantra, and I haven't even started senior year yet. I've been blessed with a month off between placements - which is a bit of a joke, since we moved right in the middle of that month, and searching for daycare in a brand new city in which I have no established connections is a nightmare and a half (we have interviewed 10 daycare providers so far - I guess I'm really picky...but it is my *kids*, after all). I will be lucky if I'm able to *start* my pre-readings for next week's intensive on the train down to Toronto, which is completely unlike me. In all honesty, folks, I've become cynical recently. I've learned that part of what I love the most about midwifery was missing this entire last year (of non-midwifery related placements) and I've missed it terribly. That being said, this new city that our family has dropped everything to move to is turning out to be very cool and I'm already dreaming about a future here. But who knows about that, since I haven't even set foot in the clinic yet!
Anyway - the reason for my blog post is an essay that I wrote for third year. Its' long, so I'm actually going to include it as a link here. But there has been an immense amount of talk in the midwifery student community about work life balance and I actually wrote my third year paper on it. SO - it hasn't been graded yet (so bear with me), but I thought it to be an appropriate time to post my own contribution to the discussion. Happy reading!
Life in Midwifery: Managing Work-Life Balance Through Alternative Call Models
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