Clinical rotation

HI!! I had my labor and delivery clinicals this past semester. Here are some tips.

If a woman says the baby is coming, it more than likely is

BP will sometimes drop after an epidural is administered. You will probably get to give an IM of ephedrine. I did this (it was my first IM), good way to get your technique down without worrying or fretting about hurting the client, because she can't feel it anyway:chuckle

You will see alot of poop, and i am not talking about baby poop:rolleyes:

Be prepared to hold up some legs.

Good luck and best of wishes to you

Hello! I am a new grad nurse and just passed boards a month ago. I had my L&D rotation about a year ago. First of all, depending on your facility, the competition between students to attend a lady partsl birth may be stiff. Our clinical was on Mondays in the morning, and many patients were not even induced until around 10 or so. Very few lady partsl deliveries during our clinical day. If you are interested in working in LandD, let your classmates know. I have always known that I wanted to do oncology, and knew that seeing a lady partsl birth meant a lot more to the other students who wanted to do LandD when they graduated. If the opportunity comes up...TAKE IT!

We got to attend many more C/S births, which is a great learning experience. We also did a lot in postpartum (my facility was all separate)...if you havent already given an IM, find out if there are any Depo shots to give. You may be giving breastfeeding help and advice...read up on it before, as it can be embarassing to sound clueless with a nervous new mother (learned that from experience!). Also got to do my first staple removal in postpartum, first straight cath in L&D, and first IMs (one Depo to mom, one VitK to baby). So even if there arent many deliveries, there are many learning experiences in L&D.

If you havent already seen a birth, try to watch one online or on a video before you go in to the room. Can be very messy...not at all like we might expect. Lots of pain, poop, blood, and other various bodily fluids. And be prepared to get a little teary when the baby is born! Have fun...hope you love it.