I've had quite a few people ask me this question and I'm sure there are more out there who are wondering. I sometimes have a hard time putting into words what I really want to say or explain though...
Anyone who knows my mom, knows that she is pretty much obsessed with midwifery. So I've heard about it my whole life and probably know more things then girls my age would ever want to know about having babies.
Growing up I was never interested in being a midwife at all, my personal view on it was, "EWW! That is disgusting. Who would want to watch or help a woman have a baby?!" But then as I started thinking about my future and how I wanted my babies to be born, I wanted to be educated and able to educate other people on the pros and cons of home birth or birth with a midwife and hospital birth.
So I started thinking about being a doula. About a year ago, I talked to a doula who said there was a need for young doulas who could work with teenage single mothers who didn't have any support. I was really excited about that because it seemed like a wonderful ministry opportunity.
And at this point, I don't remember what happened....I don't remember what peaked my interest in pursuing midwifery instead of being a doula, or what made me decide to apply for Mercy in Action's intensive academic course (which would involve a lot of changes, such as moving to Idaho for school). But whatever it was, I applied for school, got accepted and decided to go, within the course of about two weeks.
My goal in going to midwifery school was to determine if I really wanted to pursue midwifery. I didn't feel like I would be wasting any resources if I went through the school and decided I didn't want to be a midwife because I would still be learning a lot. After about the first week of school, I realized that it takes a special calling and desire to be a midwife and that it was a lot of responsibility and commitment, but the more I studied and learned and saw the passion my instructors had for this field of healthcare, the more my respect and excitement and love for midwifery grew.
So "what made me want to be a midwife?" I think it was my mom's excitement and love for midwifery, the knowledge I gained during school, the passion my instructors had for it, and the desire and calling the Lord placed in my heart.
