Hello, everyone! I’m back from vacation and beyond excited to start the week hosting Rave Reviews Book Club‘s March “SPOTLIGHT” Author, Julie Watson!
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Author Bio
Julie grew up in a small, rural town in New Zealand. After leaving school, she worked at the local maternity annexe as a nurse aide, which gave her a love for caring for mothers and babies. Life could not have been happier, until the death of her second baby at birth led to depression, loneliness and despair.
Julie’s first book Born for Life: A Midwife’s Story follows her journey to overcome the challenges she faced to become the midwife that she was born to be.
She always had a dream to travel and work in a developing country. She had the opportunity to work as a midwife in many countries – including Zambia, Africa where she worked at Kalene Mission Hospital.
Julie’s second book Born for Life: Midwife in Africa describes her experiences living and working in Africa. She shares her incredible journey to make a difference in the lives of African women and their babies.
Julie lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand with her husband, Barry. She has recently retired and enjoys writing, traveling, volunteer work and spending time with her friends and family.
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BORN FOR LIFE: A Midwife’s Story
Julie Watson
An inspirational story about overcoming adversity and fulfilling a childhood dream.
The true story of Julie Watson’s journey to become the midwife she was born to be.
Although as a young girl she’d dreamed of being a nurse, she left school early and worked as a nurse aide at Pahiatua Maternity Annexe. At the age of 17 she married, then, at 20, pregnant with her second child, tragedy struck. Her baby died within an hour of birth, and the trauma started a long battle with depression and suicidal thoughts.
She was drawn back to the church she attended as a child and after lot of soul searching and wondering if she might ever see her baby that had died, Julie gave her life to Christ and became a committed Christian.
Julie had two more children, both born with albinism. She continued to work as a nurse aide, the dream of becoming a registered nurse seeming out of reach. But a chance meeting with a mature nursing student reignited her dream.
To her delight, Julie was accepted into Nursing School in 1991, at the age of 37. In her first year of training, she suffered a stroke. With her ability to study compromised, Julie continued on and found the perseverance and determination to not only qualify as a Registered Nurse, but to then go on to train as a Midwife.
Julie worked as an independent midwife in Pahiatua for 7 years, then in Cambridge, England, returning to New Zealand in 2006 where she has worked at Palmerston North Hospital as a core midwife.
The stories in the book illustrate birth as viewed by a wide-eyed young nurse aide in the 1970s through to modern day midwifery as experienced by the independent midwife Julie became.
This true memoir gives hope when life becomes difficult and challenging and illustrates that when a person trusts God all things work for good and dreams do come true.
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Born for Life: A Midwife’s Story
From a young age Julie pondered what she would do with her life. A job as a nurse aide in the local Maternity Annexe at the age of sixteen gave her a love for being with women during labour and birth and caring for mothers and their babies.
Life could not have been happier, married to the man she loved and the birth of a son. The tragic and unexpected death of her second baby in her first hour of life led to depression, loneliness and despair.
Born for Life: A Midwife’s Story tells of Julie’s struggle to overcome tragedy and who triumphs to become the midwife that she was born to be.
The many birth stories are told from an era in the 1970s through the eyes of a young nurse aide to modern day midwifery in New Zealand as an independent midwife with her own caseload.
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Follow Julie online!
Amazon author page
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The Writer Next Door | Vashti Q 
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