Geez...quit having babies already!!

Specialties NICU

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We are over capacity in our unit...we have been needing 21-25 nurses per shift and that is not easy to cover!!!! We closed to all transports including maternal! We may be sending some of the older bigger kids to board on the peds floors and in PICU! Ack!

How are things in your neck of the woods?

Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

Just not the same in Central Scotland right now!

AND, its so weird..where have all the wee preemies gone????

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Specializes in NICU.
Just not the same in Central Scotland right now!

AND, its so weird..where have all the wee preemies gone????

If you're like we are ..... it's either feast or famine!!

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

Rain, I can't agree more! we are all moaning now about the lack of babies in our unit, but when we are way busy, with too many babies and too little staff, no breaks etc, we moan then too! Oh, for a happy medium, just give us each day, a babe needing maximum care, teamed with a feeder grower! Dream Shift!!

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We have babies in every nook and cranny! And it's not just preemies. Every day we get some TTN or R/O sepsis term kid.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

I about had a cow last night. I got slapped in the face with Elizabells' "Assignment Karma." I came in and had a completely different assignment, and my podmate from the night before had my 2 babies. So I marched into the nursing office and asked politely to have my assignment back. So they gave it back no problem. So I go out, and what do I get? my ex-CDH with genetic and arrythmia issues is in full 2-3:1 atrial flutter ALL NIGHT. Adenosine and cardiovert is on the agenda if she craps out. (non intubated, no peripheral lines to give the adenocard) My other kid, a 23 2/7 weeked i admitted the night before is now on 40% o2, up from 21% this am. I send a routine gas right before he craps out. Goes incredibly pale, fontanelles boggy. Bruised from head to toe. ABG is like, 6.74, 102, 20, -26, 13, etc..... we figure he popped a bleed, so his crit comes back 22. So while satting 2-8% on 100% HFOV, 20cc/kg pRBCs are infusing along with bicarb and NS boluses. Baby's baptized, but parents are there and want everything done. All other VS are stable! So 5 hours later, I report off on him to day shift with a much better gas, but waiting on a HUS. All night I kept looking at my other kid's remote monitor praying that she didn't go into a lethal rhythm while I was coding the other kid. All I can say is, thank goodness for Mental Health Days....

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I about had a cow last night. I got slapped in the face with Elizabells' "Assignment Karma." I came in and had a completely different assignment, and my podmate from the night before had my 2 babies. So I marched into the nursing office and asked politely to have my assignment back. So they gave it back no problem. So I go out, and what do I get? my ex-CDH with genetic and arrythmia issues is in full 2-3:1 atrial flutter ALL NIGHT. Adenosine and cardiovert is on the agenda if she craps out. (non intubated, no peripheral lines to give the adenocard) My other kid, a 23 2/7 weeked i admitted the night before is now on 40% o2, up from 21% this am. I send a routine gas right before he craps out. Goes incredibly pale, fontanelles boggy. Bruised from head to toe. ABG is like, 6.74, 102, 20, -26, 13, etc..... we figure he popped a bleed, so his crit comes back 22. So while satting 2-8% on 100% HFOV, 20cc/kg pRBCs are infusing along with bicarb and NS boluses. Baby's baptized, but parents are there and want everything done. All other VS are stable! So 5 hours later, I report off on him to day shift with a much better gas, but waiting on a HUS. All night I kept looking at my other kid's remote monitor praying that she didn't go into a lethal rhythm while I was coding the other kid. All I can say is, thank goodness for Mental Health Days....

YIKES! That sounds like a nightmare.

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Specializes in NICU.
We have babies in every nook and cranny! And it's not just preemies. Every day we get some TTN or R/O sepsis term kid.

Oh yeah, I know what you mean there. We used to joke that we'd start putting the bigger kids, in the open cribs, on the window sills!

I about had a cow last night. I got slapped in the face with Elizabells' "Assignment Karma." I came in and had a completely different assignment, and my podmate from the night before had my 2 babies. So I marched into the nursing office and asked politely to have my assignment back. So they gave it back no problem. So I go out, and what do I get? my ex-CDH with genetic and arrythmia issues is in full 2-3:1 atrial flutter ALL NIGHT. Adenosine and cardiovert is on the agenda if she craps out. (non intubated, no peripheral lines to give the adenocard) My other kid, a 23 2/7 weeked i admitted the night before is now on 40% o2, up from 21% this am. I send a routine gas right before he craps out. Goes incredibly pale, fontanelles boggy. Bruised from head to toe. ABG is like, 6.74, 102, 20, -26, 13, etc..... we figure he popped a bleed, so his crit comes back 22. So while satting 2-8% on 100% HFOV, 20cc/kg pRBCs are infusing along with bicarb and NS boluses. Baby's baptized, but parents are there and want everything done. All other VS are stable! So 5 hours later, I report off on him to day shift with a much better gas, but waiting on a HUS. All night I kept looking at my other kid's remote monitor praying that she didn't go into a lethal rhythm while I was coding the other kid. All I can say is, thank goodness for Mental Health Days....

Yikes!!!! Definitely need a Mental Health Day after that, hope you're doing something fun today!

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

I spoke too soon--I got cancelled today. :o:no::sniff: Bummed.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

p.s. Steve---I think that is possibly the absolute worst gas I have ever seen in my life. What do you wanna bet that the baby has bilateral gr IV's?

Poor baby.

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Specializes in NICU.
I got slapped in the face with Elizabells' "Assignment Karma."

Wait a sec... this is MY fault now? No ways, mister. :p

I think the worst pH I've ever seen was 6.69. The highest PCO2, on my monkey, was 182. That was the point at which they started using "below 100" as a goal.

Our census isn't as high as I've ever seen it, but the fact that 1/3 of the unit is still on contact for MRSA, with a whole weird thing going on with procedure for putting new kids in those bedspots, is making things pretty tight.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).
p.s. Steve---I think that is possibly the absolute worst gas I have ever seen in my life. What do you wanna bet that the baby has bilateral gr IV's?

Poor baby.

He sure did... I called last night after I woke up, and they repeated his HUS at noon and found exactly that...We all knew that that's what it was. They finally withdrew support at around 1800. :innerconfThe funny thing was that he was extremely active through all this. I've never seen a kid move like that with a ABG and crit that bad...

Definitely enjoying the MHD. They called at 11am to ask me to come and work OT, but I politely declined seeing as how I was lounging in bed with the TV on, and had already made plans for the day. Now if I can just haul my lazy carcass to the gym later I'll be perfectly happy.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

I used to have a trached baby; she would throw a snit, bronchospasm, turn purple, etc. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her TCM reading 3 digits. @ that point it doesn't matter WHAT the actual # is! I think that kid knocked a few years off my life.

By the way, she's ~ 10 now, has had hearing problems, but is doing well in school (I think she's in a special class for hearing impaired, but otherwise grade level). Amazing little kid.

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