I worked in an aged care hospital for 1 year and whilst I loved helping the patients and I was happy to start with I have to be honest with you and say that is the reason I took 18 months off. Working there for a year was enough to make me not want to be a nurse anymore.
It is such hard work and can be really really demoralising. One of my biggest problems was fellow staff as it is an industry filled with nurses who are older and very set in their ways (eg: not wanting to use correct lifting techniques for patients even though I was 5 months pregnant).
Oh my goodness totally explains me! I so don't want to be a nurse anymore because of the same reason, lets hope DH will let me have a big break after Bub is born also.

ZF: I say go with your heart, what you feel you really want to do. Are you already a nurse already? If not you have two options for mid- either 3yrs just to be a middy or 3yrs to become a nurse then one year to do mid. From what I understand. It's hard to choose what you want to do when it involves study and sacrifices. I'm sure you'll be great at whatever you choose to do.