School?

I've been thinking about going back to school. We're planning that I'll go back to work when the new baby is somewhere around a year old. I'm wondering if I want to be a nurse again. I can't say that I really enjoyed it. I was looking at midwifery schools, but two problems. First, midwifery is post-masters certification, so it would take me 5 years part-time. I don't feel like I can handle being home with two babies and being in grad school full time. There is a time in my life when I might have thought of it as an adventure and tried, but I just plain old don't feel like working that hard anymore. Or maybe I'm more realistic. It could be seen either way. Ha ha.

The other problem with midwifery is that I think that the USA will have socialized medicine within the next 10 years. I am well aware of the many problems with our healthcare system now, but I feel like things are going to get worse before they get better. My friends often complain about the cost of seeing a doctor (or, God forbid, an ER visit). I can sympathize: the bill for Aaron's birth was over $20,000 (and we all know how I felt about the care I received). But the fact is that being a doctor, nurse, medical technician or even a hospital housekeeper is a profession. It's the way people support their families. Yes, doctors make good money. But then they have to pay crazy malpractice insurance rates and massive student loans. For example, a doctor I worked for had been out of school for seven years and was still paying $1200 a month on her student loans. Josh and I have friends who are both doctors and have a combined school debt of about $300,000. I had an argument with a super-academic friend who had appendicitis and no health insurance. The bill for the ER, surgery, and hospital stay was huge. She was furious about the cost. "Healthcare should be free," she said. Ok, well then maybe the teachers should all teach the med students for free, and no one should be allowed to sue for malpractice. But that still leaves the problem of how the doctor (or nurse) is supposed to pay rent. Philanthropy is nice, but frankly, is only possible within reason. No one was asking my friend to work for free.

All that to say, maybe I should go to school for something else. We'll see.