The idea to become one came after the assistance of a Cree Traditional midwife to the birth of my first child. It was the late Sarah Ratt that had helped me and my labour to progress and no longer have the need to be medevac’d out of my community of Chisasibi to Rouyn, to have my first child. That was almost eighteen years ago and I eventually chose a different career path out of a need to support my family financially.
I even left a well-established job almost ten years later in order to try to finally pursue my ambition to become a midwife. I took another college program that would help me have the proper prerequisites to enter a midwife program. Unfortunately, supporting a family and paying the bills on a student income became a burden which required me to put my dreams on hold once again.
So I returned to my community in order to get my affairs in order and work off some of the bills again before considering continuing my studies. I came home holding two D.E.C.’s and a plan to go back in two years. It has been four years and the family is older. This means I can focus on my ambitions to become a midwife.
My ambitions do not just stop there. I want to be first in line when it comes time to find recruits/suitable students and be the first applicant to the program. I want to be part of the first class of Cree women to be certified midwives. I want to graduate at the end of the program with Honors. I plan exactly to do that.
I am confident I can succeed as a student to this program and reach the goals I set out for myself. My grades in my past educational stints prove that I am a dedicated student. The subject of Midwifery has fascinated me. I have not waited idly by when having to putting my plans on hold but instead, I have read up on the subject and purchased several different books on midwife practices.
My experiences with a midwife did not stop at Ms. Ratt; I chose to have my son at the birthing center in Pointe Claire with a certified midwife. So the experiences of working with different midwives assisting in my first and last child birth are both good indicators that I will be a great candidate to the program. They have introduced me to a career that I know I will be passionate about and they have enforced this passion with the wonderful experiences of having them help me give birth to my eldest and to my youngest. It has come full circle for me as a mother and now I want it to come full circle for me career wise.
I truly hope that the plans to help Cree candidates to attend a midwife program will happen sooner rather than later because I really would like to be part of the Cree Nation’s effort to implement a birthing center to cater to Cree women and women having children in the Cree territory. Either way, I will become a midwife, because I have been striving most of my life to do this.