WOMEN can have it all -- and Elaine Uppal has proved it.

Not content with gaining a diploma in midwifery while working, and caring for a family, Elaine has gone on to achieve a First Class Honours degree in health visiting from the University of Manchester.

Now, after six years of continuous study this 34-year-old "super woman" is taking a well-earned rest.

She is looking forward to spending time with her two children, Thomas, aged 11 and three-year-old Eloise, husband Sam, and is preparing to start her new job as a health visitor.

Sam, aged 43, is extremely proud of his wife who has qualifications as a nurse, midwife and now a health visitor.

He said: "In the early days much of her study was carried out while working shifts as a midwife. And last year she worked very hard to maintain her roles as a good wife and mother and trainee health visitor, as well as carrying out her studies.

"She is a very special person who always has time to care for and help friends and family in need."

Elaine said that although studying for her degree had been "hard work", and she had relied on friends and family for support, "it has been worth it".

Elaine has been studying "on and off" since 1986, when she started training to become a nurse. She qualified as a nurse in 1989 and as a midwife in 1993. While she was a midwife she started to study for her diploma in midwifery, part-time.

She was studying for the final part of her midwifery diploma while also working for her health visiting degree, which has taken a year to complete.

She said: "The last year hasn't been easy. Although I didn't have to finish my diploma while I was studying for my degree, I felt I wanted to.

"I have just had to be very organised. Any spare time I had, I studied.

"Sam would take the children out on a Saturday so I could study and I spent most of my spare time at the computer."

When the family moved house in March, to their new home in Egerton, the computer was the last thing to be loaded on to the removal van and the first thing to be unloaded.

Elaine has relied heavily on family and friends. Her parents, Wynne and Michael Bentham have been a tower of strength, helping with the children whenever they could.

Elaine is an inspiration to any woman who has always wanted to gain qualifications but felt it was impossible to combine it with a home life and work.

She said: "It can be done, but it isn't easy. Something has to go and the thing that goes is your own personal time.

"I've put on some weight because I haven't been able to go to the gym. At least now I will have time to exercise.

"I'll be able to watch the television, although I find it difficult now to sit down in front of the television for any length of time, and I'm looking forward to cleaning the house properly.

"We'll also be able to go out and buy some new furniture for the house now. I just haven't had the time to go shopping."

Elaine said she would recommend what she had done to other women who have the drive to succeed in their careers.

"But you have to be determined and you need a good support system, " she added.