Happy Nurses Week!

This is the story of why I never wanted to become a nurse, how I became one anyway, and what I think of nurses now

Nurses week is May 6-12, which means that I am currently being showered with generous offers. A free donut and coffee from Dunkin! An appetizer at Applebee’s! Even 20% off at BW3’s. It’s my lucky week. 😀

I am a CNM (certified nurse-midwife) which means that I am an APRN (advanced practice registered nurse) which is similar to an NP (nurse practitioner) in that we have the same degree, the MSN (master of science in nursing). We’re different in that CNMs specialize in prenatal care, women’s health, and childbirth. But before I was a CNM, an APRN or had an MSN, I was an RN (registered nurse). So now that we’ve gotten all the abbreviations out of the way, let me tell you a secret: I NEVER WANTED TO BE A NURSE!👩‍⚕️

Truth be told, I wanted to be a MIDWIFE, and in the U.S., becoming a CNM seemed like the most viable career path. I mean no disrespect to my CPM (certified professional midwife) sisters who generally attend home or birth center births, nor to my CM (certified midwife) peeps who are credentialed to attend hospital births in a few states, mostly states on the east coast, where I don’t live and didn’t intend to practice!

In the U.S., CNMs are the largest, most well-known, and (fair or not) most respected type of midwife. And in a country with a LOOOONG history of marginalizing midwives, it mattered to me to join a field with at least a foot in the door of the medical establishment. Keep in mind that even in joining the BIGGEST midwife group in the U.S., I am still one of only ~14,000 practicing CNMs in the country, in a country with only 4 midwives per 1000 birthing women.

When I decided to become a midwife, I looked at nursing programs that would catch me up on my BSN and spit me out a CNM. I was an anthropology major at the University of Notre Dame, which does NOT have a nursing school (had to sneak over to St. Mary’s College to get some prerequisites in). I began such a program at Marquette University in 2004. It was like boot camp for nursing students: 16 hours of clinicals and 20 hours of class per week for 2 semesters and 2 summers! Brutal! But after that first 16 months, I was eligible to sit for the NCLEX (nursing board exam), I passed, and became an RN. 🥳

So enough with the boring background and on to the meaty stuff. I would like to confess that I had a little bit of *disrespect* for nurses prior to becoming one. It was pretty clear to me where nurses were in the medical hierarchy. CLOSE TO THE BOTTOM. Some of the things I was taught in nursing school, like how to make a bed with hospital corners and how to hold a barf bucket so vomit doesn’t land on you made that clear (although that second lesson turned out to be very useful)🤮. I’ll never forget when a doctor spilled something and then demanded I clean it up. Or how we weren’t allowed as nursing students to sit in *certain chairs.* Or hearing doctors and medical residents talk about us condescendingly when they thought we weren’t listening (Sigh, it’s ok. We talked about them behind their backs too!)

I knew going into it that I had to jump through the hoop of nursing to become a midwife, but I didn’t know how much respect for nurses I would gain along the way. While I’ve certainly been in situations where demure nurses were simply people the doctors ordered about, I’ve been in many more situations where bad ass nurses took the reins, caught preventable errors, fought for what a patient wanted/needed even when it wasn’t “convenient” for the rest of the staff. I’ve also been in situations where nurses held me accountable and probably helped me keep my license (THANK YOU!) but more importantly, helped keep patients safe.

So here’s what I want to say about nurses. Nurses are amazing people. They work night shifts. They miss holidays. They have the courage to show up in the hardest moments of a person’s life, and the emotional intelligence to know when to speak, when to advocate, and when to be a still, quiet presence. It takes stamina to be a nurse. It takes guts. It takes heart. So this Nurses Week, I’m not just grateful for the free coffee. I’m grateful to count myself among the ranks of this fierce, funny, empathetic, absolutely badass group of humans. Thank you, nurses. You deserve so much more than donuts. But, hey, if they’re free in the nurses’ station, I’ll take one too!🍩🍩🍩