Care includes prenatal checkups and education, attending and managing labor and delivery in a hospital, birth center, or home depending on setting and credential, and postpartum follow-up for both parent and newborn. Midwives refer patients out to a physician if a pregnancy becomes higher-risk, and much of the job involves being on call since labor doesn't run on a schedule. Training paths differ: a Certified Nurse-Midwife needs a nursing degree plus a graduate midwifery program, while a Certified Professional Midwife follows a separate, non-nursing certification route.
Pros
Pay can reach $130k with strong demand for personalized, low-intervention birth care
Deep, ongoing relationships with patients across pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum recovery
Direct, hands-on responsibility guiding families through one of life's biggest moments
Cons
Long, demanding hours are common, since labor doesn't run on a set schedule
On-call availability overnight and on weekends is a routine part of the job
Carries significant responsibility for two patients at once, requiring calm judgment during emergencies
A typical day
Clinic mornings run on prenatal visits: measuring a belly at 32 weeks, listening to a heartbeat with a Doppler, and spending the unhurried minutes answering questions that a rushed schedule would skip. A midday call changes everything — a client is in early labor — so the afternoon's appointments get shuffled while labor progress is monitored by phone. By evening the midwife is at the birth center, coaching through contractions, checking dilation and the baby's heart rate, ready to call in transport if anything drifts outside the safe range. After the delivery and the first feeding comes charting, and sleep happens when it happens.
Tasks at the job
Provide prenatal checkups, monitoring a pregnant patient's health and the baby's development.
Attend and manage labor and delivery, monitoring progress and intervening if complications arise.
Perform routine newborn assessments immediately after birth.
Educate patients on nutrition, childbirth preparation, breastfeeding, and postpartum recovery.
Provide postpartum care and follow-up visits for both parent and newborn.
Refer patients to an obstetrician or hospital when a pregnancy or delivery becomes high-risk.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens in hospitals, birth centers, or patients' homes depending on the practice, and midwives are often on call for deliveries that can happen at any hour.
Labor doesn't run on a schedule, so the job involves unpredictable hours and being reachable overnight or on weekends. The work carries significant responsibility for two patients at once and requires calm, clear judgment during emergencies, alongside a lot of close, personal contact with patients and families.
Education necessary or common
Varies by credential: a Certified Nurse-Midwife requires a nursing degree plus a graduate midwifery program, while a Certified Professional Midwife follows a separate non-nursing certification path
Common college majors
Nursing (BSN, toward the CNM path)Public HealthBiology
AP Biology — reproduction, development, and physiology are the daily science
Anatomy and Physiology — the deepest possible grounding in the pregnant body
AP Chemistry — pharmacology and lab values later depend on it
AP Psychology — supporting people through pain and fear is half the craft
Spanish — communicating with laboring patients in their own language matters enormously
Clubs, activities & competitions
HOSA-Future Health Professionals — clinical events and hospital exposure
Volunteer as a hospital birth-unit or NICU family-support volunteer where allowed
Babysitting and infant-care experience plus an infant CPR course
Red Cross club — CPR and emergency-response training
First steps you can take now
Decide which path fits you: read the difference between Certified Nurse-Midwife (nursing route) and Certified Professional Midwife (direct-entry route)
Get certified in adult and infant CPR this month
Watch a documentary about midwifery care and interview a practicing midwife or doula afterward
Ask a local doula organization about their youth-friendly volunteer or training options