I think it's a calling. You have to have it "in your bones" and if you have that, yes I think the rest can be taught.

Even once a midwife has had a baby, her birth is unique to her and she still hasn't experienced every scenario that childbirth can throw her way firsthand. She still has to go to work and support women through labours that are nothing like her own.

I've heard this question asked alot about doulas as well - some clients do ask if you've had children yourself and what sort of births you had - while I respect that they want to ask and there is some relevance there, at the end of the day what happens in a clients birth can very well be something I have never experienced firsthand in my own births anyway. Yet I still have the empathy and the skills to support them through that. And I think it's the same for midwives.