A midwife’s round-about pathway into a career in health
My Health Career would like to thank Kylie Hosking and the team at Peninsula Health for allowing us to publish Kylie’s blog post about how she ended up in a career in midwifery. Peninsula Health has expanded the Mornington Centre, and are taking applications for 60 new jobs in health care.
“Hi, my name is Kylie Hosking and I am currently doing my grad year of midwifery. I was a mature aged student, who came to midwifery the long way around. I had always intended on a nursing profession, but life has a way of throwing curve balls that sometimes see us take a different path…
I started out as an apprentice fitter and turner, and worked at a large steel manufacturing plant for 6 years. My husband and I then took a year to travel around Australia, with different casual jobs such as apple picking, vine training, assistant managers at a resort and my personal favourite – ride attendant at Dreamworld!
When we returned home I found myself expecting my first child, so I worked at a local cafe to see me through until my baby was due. I then had a seven year stint as a stay home Mum, adding another 3 children to our family. During this period I was busier than ever, working on committees for Playgroup, Toy Library, and Kinder, and taking differing levels of responsibility (president, secretary, IT officer) in each organisation.
Following the birth of each of my children, my conviction became stronger to study for a midwifery degree. I was fortunate to have a “follow-through” student with me on 2 of my pregnancy journeys, and learnt a lot about the BMid course from them. Although I had planned to wait until my children were all at school, an opportunity was presented in 2008 for me to apply to study the following year (my husband was made redundant).
I never once had any question of what my path was, and embraced the whole process, starting with sitting for the STAT, and after being accepted, completing essays (which I didn’t love) and exams (which I much preferred), and attending placements (which I loved). At times it was difficult, and I definitely had a ‘one day at a time’ mantra, but at the end of each semester, I was amazed to realise how much I had learnt, and how much I had grown in my knowledge and understanding of my chosen profession.
When it finally came time to apply for a grad position, I was very nonchalant about it all. I was aware that many students hadn’t received positions the prior year, but hoped my grades, and my dedication would hold me in reasonable stead. Unlike most of my fellow students, I only applied to two different hospitals. If I didn’t receive an offer, I was prepared to move my family interstate for the grad year (and yes, my husband is very understanding and supportive!!). Luckily, I was one of the few who received an offer, and even luckier, it was for my first choice – Frankston hospital.
As a student the midwives here are always so supportive and generous with their knowledge, and I felt such an environment would be ideal to consolidate my learning and experiences as a grad.
In reality, as a grad I found myself quite thrown into the deep end! We were in the middle of a baby boom when we began (I don’t think it’s stopped yet…), and no-one had the time to follow me around and hold my hand! I still remember coming home after my first shift and thinking how will I ever get the hang of this? Now I don’t even think twice about it.
Some of the most difficult things when first starting was knowing where to find what drugs to give out, and remembering to sign in the S8 & S11 books. Signing the postnatal pathways was another tricky one to remember, and I can’t tell you how often I’d wake up in the middle of the night and think “On no, I forgot to handover that…”!
Time keeping was also difficult initially, as you go from being a student who is supernumerary to having four (and sometimes 5) women of your own to look after. I don’t think I had a lunch break for my first couple of months! Now, it is a very rare day that I don’t have an opportunity to take a break, and on those days that I can’t, I have a few tricks up my sleeve (banana on the run etc) to help keep me going.
I still feel that the midwives I work alongside are very supportive, and know I can talk to any of them about my day, or ask them any questions I might have. It is a lovely unit to work on, with great team-work, and I feel as though I belong to our ‘midwifery family’.”