Any Labor and Delivery nurses out there?

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I really want to specialize in Labor and Delivery. I would love to hear experiences from current Labor and delivery nurses or any nurse who's worked in that department. Another question I have is can you work in Labor and Deliver with an 2 year degree while going to school to get your BA or would you already have to have your BA before starting in that department. I greatly appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Not a L&D nurse, but the ADN vs. BSN is more influenced by the employing facility and current job market than it is by the specialty. So, that's something you should research- take a look at job postings in your area/the area where you want to work. Do they state experience required? BSN preferred? BSN required? Med/surg experience required? That can give you some insight into what you're going to need to do to make yourself a competitive candidate.

The other thing you can do is click on specialties in the yellow bar at the top of the website or nursing specialities in the grey menu at the bottom of the mobile website. From there, you can find the Ob/Gyn nursing forum- there will be many informative posts there to give you an idea of working in the specialty.

One more piece of advice: if you are currently a student, keep your mind open about specialties. I went in thinking I wanted to work in peds or L&D, and they ended up being my least favorite experiences. I kind of fell into the OR during my senior capstone (chose PACU to avoid med/surg, spent a day following a patient from admission through discharge), and that's where I've been ever since graduation.

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Hi Rose Queen. Thank you for responding. Yes, I am currently a student and I really enjoy babies. I've always wanted to be a Nurse and wanted to do some research on what type of Nurses delt with mothers, infants, babies etc. And I found out about L&D. If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you Enjoy L&D? Thank you!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I didn't like L&D because it was 100% not what I expected. Yes, there's babies. But there's also moms, dads, other family members, family drama, sad outcomes, issues like drug abuse and newborn withdrawal. "Enjoying babies" isn't the core of L&D nursing.

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Yeah I understand there will be family members and parents of course to help get through rough and stressful times. I know its not all happy moments since like you said sad outcomes happen. í ½í¸¢ Do you know of any other unit that specialize with babies? I heard about LDRP. I think that's what it is. Do you know a lot about that unit? I greatly appreciate your feedback. í ½í¸Š

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The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

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Hey Shycat thank you for thr reply. I really dont want to work with neonatal. I was now looking into LDRP or LDR. Ive been reading about both and found great comments about being in that specialty. I'm going to keep my options open though. Do you know about both of those units?

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Specializes in ICU.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Please remember that babies die too if you choose this route.

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I'm not too sure about neonatal. I'm more looking into L&D, LDR, or LDRP. Thank you guys for all your feedback.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I'm not too sure about neonatal. I'm more looking into L&D, LDR, or LDRP. Thank you guys for all your feedback.

You also need to realize those are some of the hardest specialties to break into as they do tend to be quite popular. So have a back up plan and a back plan for the back up plan.

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Okay I'll definitely be sure to look into other specialities just to start out in and then maybe I can work my way up to either of those units. But I'll definitely keep my options open and have many back up plans. What did you end up specializing in?

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