Bad weekend at work.

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Specializes in OB L&D Mother/Baby.

Just need to vent a bit here as I had a pretty crappy weekend at work.

My first night on we were already busy with a full floor of postpartum/couplets and an antepartum on mag... We get a call from the ER saying that they have a patient that is coming up crowning. Quite honestly ER is notorious for not having a clue so I wasn't really that fired up about the call, I went in and get a labor room ready as another nurse is throwing together a table... Well the girl gets to the floor and we have no history because she "didn't know she was pregnant until the day before" she swears she's had a period every month and just came in with abd pain... I put on the monitor and we had beautiful heart tones, so I go on to check her and sure enough she's got an anterior lip, a bbow and what feels like a sizable head there... Mind you we are a smaller hospital so I page the doc at home and he says he's on his way (usually takes him 15ish minutes). We're basically prepared to deliver a baby of unknown gest age but fortunately she holds out for the doc, her ruptures her and in ONE push the baby is out and full term, no problems... Come to find out she has a history of blood pressure issues with her first pregnancy and delivery. She was not at all shocked to have delivered and handled the situation quite well... The night continues and I'm ready to get out of there...

The next night we are almost equally as busy with patients. We get a call in the middle of the shift saying that 911 was called and there was a man bringing in his wife and her water broke... they gave us a name or as close to what they thought the man said, well she's a primip and quite honestly again I'm not really that concerned because we seem to have a lot of false alarms... But as soon as I saw her I knew it was different, she was 22 wks and stood up from the wheelchair scared and shaking in pain, trailing bloody amniotic fluid behind her, the entire wheelchair seat left with a puddle of blood. At this point we have no clue what's going on but I again page the doc and say "I need you now" and she says she's on her way... I check her and she's certainly complete with a baby at 0-+1 station... We are at this point scrambling to get help and decide what to do, we had heart tones or at the time we thought we did. The OB is obviously NOT going to make it so I calmly sit with the patient while my coworkers get an IV going and set up for a resus so we're ready for anything. I personally delivered a sweet baby girl who was whisked to the infant care center by the rt and er doc to see what if anything could be done. There was never a heartrate... and I began to think that our strip looked eerily maternal. My heart was so touched by this mama who did everything "right" and yet had such an unfortunate end to a lovely first pregnancy. She was stable medically after delivery. I still question what happened and why.

I had one more night and fortunately my bad luck ended. We had an uneventful night. I'm of course sad but at the same time feel strangely blessed to have participated in these births. I hope that I brought some comfort to this mother and that the most hurtful/painful moment of her life was made even a small amt better by having a nurse that understands what it's like to lose a baby. :redbeathe

I only have one night off and I'm back to it. I'm hoping for a slow week!

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Specializes in NICU.

I'm sorry about your weekend. Your patients are lucky to have you, though. You treated those women well; you're a good nurse :). You were kind to sit with the patient while all the nursing tasks were being done. I'm sure she appreciated you.

I've taken care of a lot of patients who have had fetal demises and the strength of these moms always touched my heart.

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Specializes in M/S, dialysis, home health, SNF.

You are indeed a remarkable nurse to do OB. I only lasted 4 months there.

Last weekend we were coming up on a full moon.

Nuff said. ;)

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Just need to vent a bit here as I had a pretty crappy weekend at work.

My first night on we were already busy with a full floor of postpartum/couplets and an antepartum on mag... We get a call from the ER saying that they have a patient that is coming up crowning. Quite honestly ER is notorious for not having a clue so I wasn't really that fired up about the call, I went in and get a labor room ready as another nurse is throwing together a table... Well the girl gets to the floor and we have no history because she "didn't know she was pregnant until the day before" she swears she's had a period every month and just came in with abd pain... I put on the monitor and we had beautiful heart tones, so I go on to check her and sure enough she's got an anterior lip, a bbow and what feels like a sizable head there... Mind you we are a smaller hospital so I page the doc at home and he says he's on his way (usually takes him 15ish minutes). We're basically prepared to deliver a baby of unknown gest age but fortunately she holds out for the doc, her ruptures her and in ONE push the baby is out and full term, no problems... Come to find out she has a history of blood pressure issues with her first pregnancy and delivery. She was not at all shocked to have delivered and handled the situation quite well... The night continues and I'm ready to get out of there...

The next night we are almost equally as busy with patients. We get a call in the middle of the shift saying that 911 was called and there was a man bringing in his wife and her water broke... they gave us a name or as close to what they thought the man said, well she's a primip and quite honestly again I'm not really that concerned because we seem to have a lot of false alarms... But as soon as I saw her I knew it was different, she was 22 wks and stood up from the wheelchair scared and shaking in pain, trailing bloody amniotic fluid behind her, the entire wheelchair seat left with a puddle of blood. At this point we have no clue what's going on but I again page the doc and say "I need you now" and she says she's on her way... I check her and she's certainly complete with a baby at 0-+1 station... We are at this point scrambling to get help and decide what to do, we had heart tones or at the time we thought we did. The OB is obviously NOT going to make it so I calmly sit with the patient while my coworkers get an IV going and set up for a resus so we're ready for anything. I personally delivered a sweet baby girl who was whisked to the infant care center by the rt and er doc to see what if anything could be done. There was never a heartrate... and I began to think that our strip looked eerily maternal. My heart was so touched by this mama who did everything "right" and yet had such an unfortunate end to a lovely first pregnancy. She was stable medically after delivery. I still question what happened and why.

I had one more night and fortunately my bad luck ended. We had an uneventful night. I'm of course sad but at the same time feel strangely blessed to have participated in these births. I hope that I brought some comfort to this mother and that the most hurtful/painful moment of her life was made even a small amt better by having a nurse that understands what it's like to lose a baby. :redbeathe

I only have one night off and I'm back to it. I'm hoping for a slow week!

So glad you were there for these young moms. They needed someone who cares and they had you.
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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

((((((crysobrn))))))

Sorry you had a rough night. Funny how it can be so hard & such a blessing all rolled together sometimes......

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

I'm sorry that you had such a rough night. You should submit your post as an article on what maternity nurses actually have to deal with vs the perception most people (and other nurses) have,

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Specializes in OB.

I am sorry that you had a rough stretch. Both of those patients were lucky to have a quick thinking, compassionate nurse. I hope the rest of the week goes smoothly for you. hugs

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