From Giant Scrubs to Placement Shoes: Student Midwife Prep

Starting a midwifery degree is such an exciting time, but as a September start approaches, the practical prep can feel a little overwhelming! From hunting down comfortable placement shoes to figuring out what actually belongs in your shift bag, there is so much to organise before getting started.

I’ve been talking with student midwife Bianca, who shared her placement haul and uni prep on TikTok. I’ve asked her to share about getting shift ready, including finding shoes that survive long shifts, tackling giant scrub sizing, and the essential study tools that helped her feel prepared.

Q. Hi Bianca! You’ve been so open on TikTok about balancing big life moments, from your cancer journey to deciding to go back to uni in your thirties after 15 years! What was it that made you decide that now was the right time to pursue your dream of midwifery?

I’ve never really known what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be. I always felt like I was waiting for that moment where I suddenly thought, “This is what I’m meant to do with my life.” My mum encouraged me to go to university at 18 and get a degree, which I did. After that I worked in a bank, owned my own business and then became Head of Business Operations for a fashion business.

Don’t get me wrong, money is a nice motivation, but we spend such a huge part of our lives working that surely there has to be more to it than that. I’m motivated by feeling fulfilled, having a purpose and helping people, and I wanted a career where I genuinely felt like I was making a difference. Being diagnosed with melanoma really made me look at life differently. It was a bit of a reality check that you never know what’s around the corner, so you really do need to make the most of every day.

"What could be more empowering than supporting women through some of the most vulnerable and transformational moments of their lives."

Initially, I thought I might go down a more holistic route with things like yoga and wellbeing, but then I started thinking about what could be more empowering than supporting women through some of the most vulnerable and transformational moments of their lives. That’s when midwifery really shouted out to me.

Although I’m a mature student, I’ve still got over 30 years of working life ahead of me. I thought, why just plod on when I could make a change? And becoming a mum has also changed the way I look at what I want from life.

"I want Biba to grow up seeing that you can change direction, take a risk and go after something that matters to you, even if it feels scary or you don’t have it all figured out."

I want to be a role model for her and show her that it’s never too late to start again and create a life that makes you happy.

I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason and that you should trust the timing of your life. All of my experiences, the good, the bad and everything in between, have moulded me into the person I am today, and I think that life experience is something I can bring into midwifery.

Getting ready for starting uni

Q. When you were gathering your study and shift essentials, what drew you to picking up items like your lanyard planner, and stickers?

Oh, I was SO excited to start university! And being a Capricorn, I love being organised, disciplined and setting goals, so all the stationery and planning bits were right up my street. I also wanted to treat myself a little bit for going back into education.

My lanyard was obviously an essential for my university ID badge, but I absolutely adore the hand drawn designs. The stickers were mainly to decorate my iPad and laptop, although my daughter went full ham and decided she needed to use every single sticker! 😂

The planner has actually become a bit of a lifesaver. I’ve found university and placement can be quite unpredictable, with schedules changing and so many dates, assignments and deadlines to remember. As well as scheduling in Biba’s life!

Although I have everything on my phone, I still find that pen to paper helps me remember things better. It’s also much easier to just flick through a notebook and have everything in one place.

There are also a few things I wish someone had told me to buy at the start, pocket scissors and, for placement, a badge reel for your student ID because you can’t wear a neck lanyard due to infection control. I also still wish I’d bought the milestone cards because I would have loved to take photos from day one and document the little milestones along the way. And even though we’re not allowed Crocs with holes, I’m still eyeing up the croc charms! 😂

Q. What else did you gather for your first day at uni and which were your favourite bits that made you feel most excited and prepared?

Before I started university, I actually bought a coffee machine off Vinted! 😂 I had a serious coffee addiction and knew that becoming a student meant I couldn’t continue being a regular at the local coffee shop.

I also bought the classic Bic pens in all the colours. I’m a Bic girl, there’s just something about writing with a nice pen that makes a difference, and the pastel colours make everything a little more aesthetic too! My student planner and lanyard were probably my other favourites. There’s something about buying all those little things that makes it feel real, like, oh my gosh, I’m actually going back to university!

Q. Tell us about how there’s a lot more to preparing for full-time uni and placement as a mum apart from just buying things you need? How did you prepare your family, routine, and home life before your first term started?

Can you ever fully prepare for this? 😂 Anyone with children knows that changes to routines and structure can be difficult. I spoke to Biba a lot about the changes and explained that I was going back to study and wouldn’t always be able to do the school runs like I had before.

That has probably been the hardest and most heart-breaking part for me. It’s also difficult to plan too far ahead because you don’t always find out your university or placement schedule until around four weeks beforehand.

My biggest piece of advice would be to build your support network before you need it. Try to have set days where family or friends can help, so that if you suddenly need someone to do a school run or pick-up, you already have people there who can help. You might not need the support every week, but knowing it’s there takes away a lot of the stress.

Q. Going back to uni as a mature student and mum must have been a huge leap. How did you feel on your very first morning before heading to campus?

I was really, really nervous! When I went to university the first time around, I remember turning up to lectures late and hungover after a heavy night during Freshers’ Week, without a care in the world! 😂

Fast forward 15 years and I had my bag packed, lunch prepared, drinks, coffee, everything ready. I was even thinking, what the hell do people wear to lectures?! Obviously, just normal clothes. I don’t know why I overthought that so much! 😂

It was a huge move starting again, especially meeting lots of completely new people, so the nerves were definitely there. But I was also incredibly excited and, more than anything, really proud of myself.

Q. What have been your highlights since you started in April? And the hardest parts?

There have been so many highlights. Passing my Safe Medicate exam was a huge one, woohoo! & getting a first in my first assignment was another moment where I thought, okay, maybe I really can do this! But witnessing my first birth was obviously incredible. Being allowed to be part of someone’s birth journey is such a privilege, and it’s something I’ll never forget.

One of the biggest highlights, though, was receiving a card and a gift from a woman I had supported. I honestly cried reading her words. I never expected that, as a student midwife, I could have made that much of a difference to someone. The hardest part has probably been accepting that I can’t do everything perfectly.

University, placement, parenting, work and life in general is a lot to juggle, and I’ve had to learn to give myself a bit of grace.

Prepping for placement

Q. What were the absolute must-have items in your initial placement haul, and is there anything you completely forgot to buy at first? Or things you bought but haven’t actually ended up using?

Comfy shoes, the biggest unanswered question! 😂 I went with a pair of trusty Clarks and they absolutely did not disappoint. I’ve worn them for 12 hour shifts and had no aching feet, and thankfully they haven’t started smelling either! I did buy a pair of black Crocs with no holes and completely forgot to return them, so I’ll probably use those on community placement where the shifts are shorter.

A badge reel was something I wish I’d bought from the beginning. I initially had a neck lanyard, but obviously that isn’t suitable for placement because of infection control, so a badge reel is definitely essential. A name badge is also essential. I bought a magnetic one, but I’m far too clumsy for it! I kept accidentally pulling it off and then losing it, so I think I need to switch to a pin badge. 😂

I also splashed out on a personalised Annie Apple fob watch and, honestly, it was worth every penny. It’s such a beautiful watch.

Other essentials are a pocket sized notebook and a black clicky pen, definitely clicky, because you do not want ink leaking all over your scrub pockets!

Things I wish I’d had from the start include pocket scissors and a birth counter. I also think the milestone cards would have been lovely for celebrating the smaller milestones too even things like the first time you make tea and toast for someone!

Q. Did you love packing your bag ready for placement? And how did you choose your placement bag? Tell us your essential placement bag items.

I did! I actually really enjoy being organised and feeling prepared. My bag itself is the RCM bag I got free from the union, but I’ve been eyeing up a big waterproof bag I’ve seen on TikTok that apparently fits absolutely everything in including my Stanley and laptop!

My absolute essentials are:

• A good deodorant, especially because my first placement was on the ward during a heatwave! 😂 I use Natural Deodorant Co. and it never disappoints.
• Lip balm, I love the Rituals repair one.
• Hand moisturiser, I didn’t actually end up using it much, but it’s nice to have if your hands start getting dry from all the hand washing.
• Snacks. Lots of snacks.
• Lunch.
• My Stanley with ice and my TikTok Shop lid so it doesn’t spill everywhere, a game changer.
• Fob watch.
• Name badge.
• Pocket notebook and pen.
• And then, as I discovered, scissors, a badge reel and a pin name badge!

Q. Finding comfortable placement shoes is practically a rite of passage and something that a lot of student midwives ask each other advice on ! How did your search go, and what did you end up choosing to survive long shifts on your feet?

Oh my gosh, you are SO right! 😂 This was genuinely the hardest part of preparing for placement. I don’t know if it’s my age or the fact I’ve had surgery on my leg, but I’m very conscious of my legs and feet.

I once went to a festival and did about 35,000 steps in Crocs and came home looking like the Elephant Man because my legs had swollen so badly! 😂

I even religiously wear my compression socks on planes. So the thought of doing 12 hour shifts on my feet had me worried. Coming from a fashion background, I also couldn’t completely ignore what the shoes looked like, and being on a student budget made the decision even harder!

I trawled Google and TikTok looking for recommendations for the best placement shoes, nurses’ shoes and midwives’ shoes, and honestly, everything was so contradictory.

I became completely overwhelmed with decision fatigue and then, despite planning this for months, I forgot to actually order any shoes! I live near a designer outlet, so on the Friday before my first placement on the Monday, I rushed there and tried on everything I could find, Skechers, Clarks and Crocs.

I ended up buying both Crocs and a pair of Clarks. I only bought the Crocs because I fell in love with a cute glittery IV drip charm that I could put on the back strap… which nobody would actually see! 😂 

The Clarks Certina Ease were £75 reduced to £25, were leather and had insoles that felt like clouds, so they were a complete bargain. I ended up wearing the Clarks for all of my 12 hour shifts and, honestly, my feet didn’t hurt or ache once.

I was also worried about the smell because I’d heard people say their feet can get sweaty in some of the popular placement shoes, but thankfully these have been absolutely fine so far!

Q. You shared a video trying on your huge scrub trousers, how did you go about altering and taking them up yourself, and how did you turn the extra offcut fabric into matching scrunchies? Purple suits you! :)

Thank you! I actually dyed my hair lilac and purple in the past, so I do love the fact we get to wear purple scrubs. Although I do think we should get pink ones when we qualify! 😂 The length of the trousers is honestly wild. I’m pretty sure they’d fit someone who’s seven foot tall! I bought some fabric scissors from The Range and some hemming web from Tesco.

I tried the trousers on, folded them up to the right length and pinned them. Then I took them off, cut away the excess and used the hemming web to create a new hem. Considering the scissors and hemming web cost me less than £10, I think it’s a really good option if you’re on a student budget. It also seemed like such a waste to throw away all that fabric, and I love matching and having a little accessory, so I thought, why not make a scrunchie?

It was actually really easy. If I had a sewing machine it would have been such a quick project, but I spent a couple of hours doing it while Biba was at gymnastics and ended up with my own matching scrunchies!

Q. What is your top advice for new student midwives sitting at home right now with a pile of gear, feeling equal parts excited and overwhelmed about starting next month?

"Remember that you are good enough and you deserve to be there."

It’s such an exciting new chapter, and I love the phrase “enjoy being while becoming.” You don’t have to have everything figured out on day one.

When I started university, everyone seemed to separate into little groups and friendships while I just floated around getting to know people. But everyone is there for different reasons and brings something completely different to the table. There is a different midwife for different people, so don’t compare your weaknesses to somebody else’s strengths.

Academically, stay on top of things as much as you can. Try to tick things off as they come rather than waiting until the deadline because you’ll be amazed at how quickly more work gets added to your plate.

Find what works for you when it comes to taking notes during lectures, but start revising earlier than you think you need to. For example, we all chipped in for a Kahoot membership so I could create quizzes for our A&P exam, which was suggested by a lovely second year student called Nia.

Initially, creating the quizzes took me about six to eight hours because I was going back through all my old lectures. Looking back, if we’d set that up from the beginning and started creating and using the quizzes straight away, it would have been so helpful.

And most importantly, don’t panic if everyone else looks like they know what they’re doing.

"Everyone will find different things easier, harder, more natural and more alien, we’re all here to learn and what’s better than learning off each other!!"

Balancing family life

Q. How do you decompress with your family after a heavy week of learning or a long shift? What are your favourite ways to reset and protect your family time?

I actually find the car journey a really good time to decompress. I absolutely love music and find it’s a great transition between student or placement mode and home mode. I’m obsessed with Malte Marten, who plays the handpan. I find the sound incredibly calming and it completely helps me switch off.

When I’m at home, I try to properly switch off when I can. If I don’t need to, I won’t get my iPad or computer out. I just try to be present in the moment. I love getting outside for some fresh air, going for a walk or heading down to the beach. I’ve definitely been slacking with exercise and me time since starting university, but life with a little one keeps you busy!

I also try to work around Biba’s routine, studying while she’s at school or clubs, or if a family member picks her up, using that extra hour to get some work done before I collect her. Otherwise, it’s when she’s asleep, although that tends to be very late! 😂

Q. You’ve posted about doing side hustles like Evri delivery driving to make things work. How do you manage the mental load of keeping a household running and keeping up with kids' routines alongside lectures and shift work?

It is a juggle. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m the whole circus act! 😂 I’ve always strived for perfection, and I find cleaning quite therapeutic and a good way to release stress. Since starting university, my standards have definitely slipped, and I’ve had to learn that I can’t do everything and I’m not an octopus.

Ironically, my practice supervisor once told me that as a midwife, you are an octopus because everyone wants you everywhere, so maybe all this multitasking is just good preparation! 😂 In my previous job as Head of Business Operations, I was used to managing lots of different tasks at once, so multitasking comes quite naturally to me. But I’ve definitely had to change my expectations of what a perfect home looks like.

Biba’s routine is pretty much set in stone, so that takes priority. Other than that, I’ve had to relax a little and stop being so hard on myself. The reality is that I’m so busy parenting, studying, cooking, sleeping and just getting through the days that I don’t even have the time to walk around the house thinking about what chore I should do next!

"I also have a daily calendar by Vex King, which I get every Christmas, and I love having a positive affirmation to focus on each day. I think there’s something really valuable in constantly recognising the little moments and things you’re grateful for, especially when life feels hectic."

Q. What does a realistic prep morning look like in your house before heading out to uni or placement? How do you create moments for yourself before the day starts?

When I first started university, I made a conscious effort to wake up just that little bit earlier so I could have a cup of tea or coffee in peace before Biba woke up. I also try to prepare as much as possible the night before because mornings with children can be so unpredictable. We can wake up with loads of time and somehow still end up running around at the last minute! 😂

I actually set loads of alarms in the morning, not to wake me up, but as reminders: 20 minutes to go, 15 minutes to go, 10 minutes to go… I have quite bad time blindness, so those little reminders help keep me on track and stop me suddenly looking at the clock and thinking, OMG, WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT TEN MINUTES AGO! 😂

Q. What has been the biggest boundary or routine change that helped you shift from mum mode to student mode?

Setting myself deadlines before the actual deadlines.

I’ve always been the type of person who works well under pressure. In the past, I could leave an essay until the last minute and pull an all-nighter if I had to. But being a mum means I can’t do that anymore. So I’ve had to create my own deadlines. We had supervision sessions at university, so I used those as my personal submission dates. If my assignment was officially due in two weeks, my deadline was to have a full first draft ready for supervision.

Giving myself that earlier deadline created the pressure I needed without leaving everything until the last minute. And if you have a sibling, friend or family member a similar age to your child, take advantage of it. One of my favourite things is going somewhere like soft play, an outdoor park or splash pad with Biba and studying while she’s playing.

I hate feeling like I’m not giving her my time, but if she’s having fun, I feel much less guilty about it. It’s important that I study and invest in myself, I’m doing this to better myself and hopefully create a better future for both of us. But I also remind myself that time is something you can’t get back. So I’m trying to find that balance between working hard for our future and making sure I’m still present for the childhood happening right in front of me. I’m still trying to figure it all out and welcome any advice! ☺️

Thank you so much to Bianca for contributing her student midwife story - it was so interesting to get more of an insight into the preparation that goes into starting - and how she juggles everything in life. If you have a story to tell, please let me know - I'd love to share it.