have you delivered a baby on the ob unit you work on?

Specialties Ob/Gyn

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while you worked there?

i delivered my 3 on the same unit i now work on-but i wasn't a nurse then. it is interesting, knowing what i know now, to look back on my situations. and one of the nurses who was my labor nurse was my preceptor on night shift.

I completely misread this . . . .. I thought it meant did you deliver a baby as a nurse.

Ok - I did have two of my children at the hospital I work at now but I was not a nurse yet. I had my last child, on purpose, at another hospital after I became a nurse because I was NOT comfortable with my colleagues becoming familiar with my nether regions. . . . .no way. :uhoh3:

steph

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God, you are all so at ease about it. I'd have been mortified! I was sooooo shy back then. Worse now.

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God, you are all so at ease about it. I'd have been mortified! I was sooooo shy back then. Worse now.

I would have been "mortified" too - that is why I didn't have my baby where I work.

You aren't alone.

steph

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Specializes in NICU.

I will be having my baby at the hospital where I work. I don't work in OB, but in the NICU. I think I'd feel weird if I normally worked OB and had my coworkers seeing everything, though. As it is, I'm worried it will be a high-risk delivery and a team of my coworkers (RN, RT, resident, and fellow or attending) will be there! I plan on asking the L&D staff to protect my modesty as best they can. I hate going down for c-sections (which always involves a high-risk team for the baby) when they don't even have the mom draped yet - she's just naked on the table. Unless it's a crash section, I would prefer if they didn't call the team in until I'm draped and ready to go. I don't think that's too much to ask! If it's a lady partsl delivery, I would prefer if they could pull the curtain around the bed on the side where the baby warmer is so I have some privacy.

Of course, so many people tell me, "Oh, you won't care at the time! You lose all inhibition during labor..." and I don't doubt it. But I WILL remember it afterwards when I have my wits about me, and I really don't feel it's necessary that my coworkers see me in such an intimate and vulnerable position when something as simple as a surgical drape or bedside curtain can easily be provided.

Now, modesty aside...

I am very comfortable delivering at my hospital. The OB department is great - 24/7 in-house coverage by attending OBs and anesthesia, plus residents and fellows as well. Plus if the baby needs help it would be my own friends and colleagues working their butts off in the delivery room! There are only two things that really bug me (besides the modesty thing)...first of all, it's not a "family birthing center" but a teaching hospital - the c-section/pitocin/epidural rate is very high because there isn't much support for women to go through labor naturally. Second of all, after you leave L&D and get admitted to post-partum, the rooms are NOT private!!! :uhoh3: How gross is that to share a toilet with another bleeding post-partum mom? And to hear her, her visitors, and her baby all day/night long??? SUCKS!!! Luckily I've been chatting with the OB nurses who float to the NICU when we're busy, and they tell me that our own nurses are treated like VIPs and usually get their own rooms if at all possible...:)

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Specializes in OB.

I delivered my son where I worked at the time. I had a choice to deliver there or at another hospital. I figured that I knew the people I worked with and could trust them to give me the best care. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

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Specializes in Multi-Specialty, L&D, Mother/Baby.

My first two, I did not...my last one I delivered at the unit, I currently work at...although I did not work there then. I was a nursing student at the time. I did my preceptorship as a student a few months later with one of the nurses who took care of me. And she was my preceptor when I got my job there also.

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I delivered my son where I worked at the time. I had a choice to deliver there or at another hospital. I figured that I knew the people I worked with and could trust them to give me the best care. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I had already had my children when I became an OB nurse. I did have my first when my nursing school classmates were on their OB rotation though. I had a cesarean because she was a 9lb 14 oz double footling breech. I had my classmates taking care of me post-op, some even gave me their first injections! The first time I stood up after delivery I had two classmates helping me and I gushed blood all over the floor....sooo embarrassing.

When I had a spontaneous pneumothorax I was admitted to a med-surg unit in a hospital where I knew very few people. Not a good experience.

However, when I had to be admitted post lap choly and during an exacerbation of my MS both times I asked to be admitted to the OB unit that I worked on. Like you I wanted to be with the people that I knew and trusted. And I was right, they took great care of me. Of course, you have to be comfortable with the idea of your co-workers knowing your whole medical history etc. but that didn't bother me.

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