New mother baby nurse to be ...would love some advice about what the hardships are.

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Most of my experience has been on med/surg although I floated occasionally to postpartum and have just been hired to work on a mother/baby unit. I'm so excited about this as OB nursing is why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place. I'd love some advice / thoughts on what you like about the field and what you dislike. After reading through a ton of posts I get the feeling it's really busy and fast paced but I think I'll be okay w/ that after working medsurg. Any medsurg turned OB nurses out there who can compare the two for me?

TIA!!:nurse:

Specializes in L&D.
I am a new OB nurse as well...my first day of floor orientation is Wednesday! Perhaps we can compare notes as we go along... I am very excited, because this is why I too became a nurse.

Hey! Let us know how your first day goes! Good luck! Have fun! Learn lots!

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Specializes in L&D.
I also want to transfer to mother/baby but I have only med/surg type experience. (9 yrs of that) I have been out of school for a while now and I am afraid I don't remember what I need to for this area. I was wondering if you were given the chance to brush up on your skills where you work.

Hi! Having 9 years of med/surg will help you tremendously with mother/baby. Have you applied anywhere yet? Remember you will have orientation and have a preceptor for a while before you are on your own...

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Specializes in L&D.

Also, would anyone mind listing some s/s newborn distress?

Tacchypnea, grunting, mewing, off color, high temp, low temp...

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Jitters (possible low blood sugar)

Poor tone

Retracting and seesaw respirations

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

IRT= in regards/reference to

It's internetese, not medical shorthand :))

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Thanks all for the newborn s/s distress. I was wondering what a normal set of newborn vitals would be. Especially resp.

I'm sure all that will be covered once I get started but I was just curious if anyone had those values memorized off hand.

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Specializes in L&D.
Thanks all for the newborn s/s distress. I was wondering what a normal set of newborn vitals would be. Especially resp.

I'm sure all that will be covered once I get started but I was just curious if anyone had those values memorized off hand.

Respirations: 40-60

Temp: >36.6

HR: 110-160

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

RR can be as low as 30 and HR as low as 100 at rest. Obviously if the infant has just been screaming crying, the HR and RR will be elevated for a few minutes afterward.

I don't know how to put this in exact words, but after a while you can just tell that a baby is sick, sometimes well before they exhibit clinical signs. I'm not sure though if that is a RN skill or a mom skill or a combo of the two :)

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I don't know how to put this in exact words, but after a while you can just tell that a baby is sick, sometimes well before they exhibit clinical signs.

And I don't know about you, but for me the trick is getting peds to come see them and take me seriously at this point. Sometimes I get 'that feeling' and then the next night kid has been taken to ICN.

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On the topic of newborns in distress, I have a personal scenario that occured with my newborn a few months ago and was wondering if anyone had some input on it.

I nursed him within one hour of delivery and after that he was wisked away for his bath and other things. I received him again at change of shift which was about 3 hours later and he was lethargic and difficult for me to arouse. After taking his cap off him and unswaddling him he still didn't wake up enough to nurse. The newborn nursery nurse came in and began vigorously wiping his face with a wet wipe. I knew she was doing this for his own good and even though she didn't tell me, I'm guessing she was worried about his blood sugar running low. Well, the vigorous wiping of the face and entire head continued for 5 minutes or more. At times she seemed to cover his nose for too long.... at least in my opinion. Watching this whole thing was really upsetting for me and it was all I could do not to take my baby from her. I was wondering if this is pretty common to almost "rough up" a baby in a sense to get him awake enough to get that colostrum in him. This nurse was really rough!!

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Specializes in OB, NICU, ICU telemetry tech.
Hey! Let us know how your first day goes! Good luck! Have fun! Learn lots!

First day was great... very busy, but I know this is where I want to be! Today went by much faster with all boy babies and circs before discharges, etc... I got compliments from all of my patients, so that was a huge boost of confidence that I'm doing alright (even if I'm a bit nervous!) This is a much happier environment than the ICU I've worked in for the last 2 & 1/2 years!

:nurse:

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Specializes in Rural Health.
First day was great... very busy, but I know this is where I want to be! Today went by much faster with all boy babies and circs before discharges, etc... I got compliments from all of my patients, so that was a huge boost of confidence that I'm doing alright (even if I'm a bit nervous!) This is a much happier environment than the ICU I've worked in for the last 2 & 1/2 years!

:nurse:

I am so glad you had a wonderful day!!!! I hope and pray that you have many, many, many more just like them!!!! :yeah:

I start in my OB unit June 23rd and I can not wait!!!!!

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