How do I handle the responsibility of being a new midwife?

You are new, and the responsibility feels enormous, because it is. You are holding people through one of the biggest moments of their lives. That the weight overwhelms you is not a sign you chose wrong. It is a sign you understand what you have taken on. Right now you feel like you must carry it all alone, but you do not. You are part of a team, backed by protocols, senior hands, and generations who did this before you. The responsibility is shared and structured, even when it feels like it rests only on you. Leaning on that support is not failure. It is how the work is meant to be done. When the weight presses, name one person or resource you can turn to right now, and remember it is there. You are not the whole safety net. You are one strong strand of it, and you are allowed to be new.