Am I being unrealistic? Is nursing maybe not for me?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi guys.

So I'm going to honest here. I'm interested in nursing, but I'm picky with the department I'd like to work in. I'm really only interested in L&D or mom/baby. Not that I'd refuse other units, but those are the ones that made me want to go into nursing. When I had my first baby 13 years ago I remember thinking how I would love to work in that unit. I have three kids and each time I've thought the same thing. FINALLY this year I started prereqs. I'm still pretty young...33. :)

Anyway. Here's the problem. I'm nervous that I'm setting myself up for disappointment. I'm scared I'll get stuck working in another unit that doesn't interest me at all. I can't imagine myself cleaning old men's poo and things like that. LOL

So I wonder if maybe nursing isn't for me given that I'm so intrigued with one area and not at all with the others. Maybe this will change but at this very moment i feel that if I graduate and am unable to find a job in L&D or postpartum I'll want ti give up nursing all together. Or maybe in school I'll realize I love another unit, who knows.

Your thoughts?

Oh and I also wanted to ask (someone suggested this to me), is there a way I can work in one of those units NOT being a nurse just to get a feel for it and see if it's anything like I picture? I live in CA and had my babies at Kaiser and I just assumed all the ladies were nurses but maybe not?

As an L&D nurse...I'll beg to differ. People have no clue what we do...no clue.

So you be perfectly comfortable floating to the ED, PCU or tele units on any given day? And comfortable in all of your skills. Say what you want but this girl was literally shaking during skills testing. L&D, while very specialized with a particular learning curve, isn't the same as the rest of the hospital. Nurses in M/B units are in a even worse position. The problem arises from the simple notion, your patients by and large aren't sick and come for one reason (although there are complications pre-eclampsia, PIH, etc etc). I am not saying you do nothing obviously but starting your career off in L&D will not benefit you later if you want to switch to an area like the ICU. If you want to stay L&D for life then that's another story.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
So you be perfectly comfortable floating to the ED PCU or tele units on any given day? And comfortable in all of your skills. Say what you want but this girl was literally shaking during skills testing. L&D, while very specialized with a particular learning curve, isn't the same as the rest of the hospital. Nurses in M/B units are in a even worse position. The problem arises from the simple notion, your patients by and large aren't sick and come for one reason (although there are complications pre-eclampsia, PIH, etc etc). I am not saying you do nothing obviously but starting your career off in L&D will not benefit you later if you want to switch to an area like the ICU. If you want to stay L&D for life then that's another story.[/quote']

You want to come to my floor? You feel comfortable doing that? Not likely.

I've had ICU patients in L&D. Emergency? We've got that down to a science. You learn very little of tele in school and most most med surf nurses never touch it either...

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Specializes in Pedi.
You may still have to clean up poo in L&D.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

This was my thought too, since many women have bowel movements during labor & delivery.

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Specializes in Urology NP.

You will get a fairly well rounded clinical experience or at least that is the goal in nursing school. And you never know, you may find that you love the ER, OR, etc. However, if you decide you only have eyes for OB or L&D then that is fine too. I went to nursing school with a girl who had the same idea. 12 years later she still works in OB.

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Yes I understand there are bodily secretions in L&D as well. I was kidding about the "man poo" but yeah, I do worry a bit that I'm too weak in the stomach to tolerate things like that.

I have some growing up to do? I'm simply trying to get an idea of whether or not this profession is for me, before I go and spend a whole lot of time and money on it. I am trying to figure out if it's what I want even if I don't end up in OB. Like I said before, I was NEVER interested in any other aspect of nursing. So I would be pursuing my dream of being a L&D nurse. Which again, makes me wonder whether this profession is for me or not. Because as everyone has said, i may or may not get a job in that particular unit. So I'm not sure if I should go into this profession having only an interest in one area and then just hope I fall in love with other aspects of nursing. Or if I should look elsewhere into another profession all together. I'm a SAHM now and was a preschool teacher previously.

Anyway, thanks for the helpful comments.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
Yes I understand there are bodily secretions in L&D as well. I was kidding about the "man poo" but yeah I do worry a bit that I'm too weak in the stomach to tolerate things like that. I have some growing up to do? I'm simply trying to get an idea of whether or not this profession is for me, before I go and spend a whole lot of time and money on it. I am trying to figure out if it's what I want even if I don't end up in OB. Like I said before, I was NEVER interested in any other aspect of nursing. So I would be pursuing my dream of being a L&D nurse. Which again, makes me wonder whether this profession is for me or not. Because as everyone has said, i may or may not get a job in that particular unit. So I'm not sure if I should go into this profession having only an interest in one area and then just hope I fall in love with other aspects of nursing. Or if I should look elsewhere into another profession all together. I'm a SAHM now and was a preschool teacher previously. Anyway, thanks for the helpful comments.[/quote']

Okay let's put it this way...L&D isn't the happy place everyone thinks it is. You need to know the reality of L&D.

You have to be ready for...

-Dead babies

-babies dying while you watch...in utero and after delivery

-moms hemorrhaging

-moms being rushed to the OR to end up with a hysterectomy

-moms who treat you like crap because they are rude and not grateful

-a mom coming into have baby #5...and mom is 20

-a mom with no prenatal care...knowing she was pregnant

-drug using moms

-babies born who you may not see die...but you know it will happen later in the nicu

-STAT csections...as in baby delivered within 10 minutes of doc calling for a section....and this means RUNNING the bed back with a mom who is scared and leaving behind scared family because NOBODY understands what is happening, mom being put to sleep still not aware of what is really happening so she it put under while scared out of her mind and baby literally sliced and diced out

-having a mom terminate a baby...because baby has downs or polycystic kidney or anacephaly

-doing CPR on a baby

-moms dying

-a baby laying alone in a bassinet gasp for breath because it was born alive after an elective termination but not viable gestation

There's lots of other realities. It can be a happy place. It can be a place that leaves you the nurse with memories that will haunt you forever.

L&D nurses in many environments have happy moments and many also have some PTSD from what they have seen.

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Those are some good points to consider as well. :( I really wish I could work as a clerk or something in the unit just to get a feel for it.

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You want to come to my floor? You feel comfortable doing that? Not likely.

I've had ICU patients in L&D. Emergency? We've got that down to a science. You learn very little of tele in school and most most med surf nurses never touch it either...

L&D is a niche so of course I won't be comfortable but I am an ICU nurse so I pretty much can float anywhere besides OB (I could probably handle M/B) or the OR. I'm sorry it just doesn't work that way for L&D. I am not going to get into ego measuring but being in my area emergencies occur about every day...soooo

Lots of floors for new grads are med/tele and we did lots of tele in my program. Maybe you had "Soft" ICU patients in OB but the real sick ones wouldn't even be pregnant or they might have been pregnant. You act like an OB nurse is not only OB but an ICU/ED nurse as well and I can't buy that. Do you have emergent issues sure, but that's what we do daily and is our sole purpose.

Nothing wrong with niche specialties but it doesn't replace that broad experience you get in a general med floor where everyone is sick.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
Those are some good points to consider as well. :( I really wish I could work as a clerk or something in the unit just to get a feel for it.

Ask if you can shadow an RN there? It will likely be a happy day but it will give you an idea of what it can be like. And remember...some units are very different than others.

One unit may do 4000 deliveries a year and take a the high risk patients. The other unit may do 400 births a year and send all high risk to another hospital.

People would ask me why if didn't work at xyz hospital and my answer was...too slow and nothing to "see". I stayed in a high risk busy unit that saw tons. A retired L&D nurse told me I saw more in 2 years than she saw her entire career. She always worked in small community units. She saw some bad stuff but not to the degree I did.

So it can be very different from one unit to the next.

FYI...the only bedside nursing I've done is L&D with the occasional float to PP, nursery, NICU and peds. I went right into L&D from school. I'm now moving our of bedside nursing.

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I'm not sure if I should go into this profession having only an interest in one area and then just hope I fall in love with other aspects of nursing. Or if I should look elsewhere into another profession all together.
Only you can answer that question for yourself.

Personally, I don't do it out of love; I have no need to love my work... I ask only to (a) not hate it and (b) to be sufficiently compensated.

I'd say the same thing to you... is it necessary for you to love it or can you accept simply not hating it? If the latter is acceptable to you then it seems a reasonable choice and one which, over the long term, may end up depositing you right where you want.

If you'd hate anything besides the mommy/baby thing, you're probably setting yourself up to be miserable... unless... you can afford to walk away from nursing if your dream isn't manifest.

FWIW... California is a hard, Hard, HARD place to launch a nursing career, particularly in the specialty units.

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OP if you want to get a feel for it why get certified and work for a while as a doula

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What about an OB tech? Would that be a good idea for me?

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