Did anyone try L&D and hate it?

vashtee, RN · May 27, 2008

I had my L&D rotation in nursing school, and I hated it. Most of the patients were teenage, unwed moms. It sucked.

joolia · May 27, 2008

I have no experience with L&D, but I just don't get what the fuss is all about. Seems like everyone wants to work L&D. That, or the NICU. I just don't get the attraction. I guess it must be the kid thing, but I don't get it. I'd rather have an adult pt. any day of the week!

happybunny1970 · May 27, 2008

I wouldn't say "hated it".....

I originally decided to enter nursing because of L&D -- I think many women do because that is the main reason why many women in their 20s and 30s go to see a doctor: to have babies -- and so this is their first real experience with the nursing field.

So I decided after an especially, um, LABORIOUS labor with my second child that I wanted to be a nurse. I loved my nurses and weren't they great and I can do that for someone else! While waiting for a response from the RN program at the local college, I became a certified Doula and signed up for the volunteer Doula program at the hospital where I was working in the business office (a Doula is a non-licensed childbirth assistant, primarily there to calm and focus the mother). I worked my fanny off, taking call several nights a month, with a 3 year old and newborn and working and taking prerequisite courses...

Maybe it was taking so much on at once that caused the burnout, maybe it was the simple fact that, yes, the only mothers I ever attended were VERY young (the youngest was 13, the age of my daughter now, God help her), and unwed, and often did not speak English... and the nurses often only called when they wanted a 'babysitter' for their patient who fit above description, but what REALLY, DEFINITELY steered me away from L&D as a career was A&P II and learning more about other body systems. I fit my own initial description: I had never been treated as a patient before I got pregnant the first time, I'd never been in a hospital except to visit a friend who had had a baby. All I really equated nursing with was childbirth.

I still enjoy the excitement of childbirth... from a spectator's view. It's just not where I want to work. And yet my sister, also a nurse, worked for several years with psychiatric patients, and just got a job in L&D.

Go figure.

RN1989 · May 27, 2008

Yes - ICK!

1. not interested in looking at that part of anatomy or sticking my hand up in it on a daily basis

2. stupid women who endanger their babies by not drinking water and/or refusing to eat because "I don't want to get fat"

3. children under the age of 13 having babies, often by "family members" and this was ok with the nuns of that hospital but it is not ok to discuss birth control options with young women desperate not to get pregnant for the 4th time by the time they are in their early 20s

4. doctors endangering pts who labor "too long" because the doc has somewhere else he would rather be - leaving you to try to CYA in the chart

5. women screaming at you wanting to have their butts kissed and be given enough pain meds to kill an elephant and they refuse to understand that their baby will die if they get any more drugs

6. women who squish your hand during vag exams or squish their own babies because they don't want to open their legs up and show their privates - never mind that they had to open their legs to get pregnant in the first place

7. women who want to lay in bed naked with their genitals open to the door because they are hot and then they take off the sheet you put on them for modesty

8. pts and families yelling at you because you won't let the laboring women eat pizza they just ordered

9. having a large family reunion in a small labor room and refusing to get out when you need to do a vag exam

10. women endangering their lives and the lives of their babies by not following instructions to take care of their diabetes and/or eclamptic conditions - then threatening to sue you while you try to keep them and their babies alive

11. being on call for low census and then racing to the hospital to find way too many patients to be cared for by the number of nurses because somebody screwed the schedule up - which happens in other areas but L&D is highly litigious specialty

Lots more but that is just off the top of my head

Halinja, BSN, RN · May 28, 2008

Yes - ICK!
1. not interested in looking at that part of anatomy or sticking my hand up in it on a daily basis
2. stupid women who endanger their babies by not drinking water and/or refusing to eat because "I don't want to get fat"
3. children under the age of 13 having babies, often by "family members" and this was ok with the nuns of that hospital but it is not ok to discuss birth control options with young women desperate not to get pregnant for the 4th time by the time they are in their early 20s
4. doctors endangering pts who labor "too long" because the doc has somewhere else he would rather be - leaving you to try to CYA in the chart
5. women screaming at you wanting to have their butts kissed and be given enough pain meds to kill an elephant and they refuse to understand that their baby will die if they get any more drugs
6. women who squish your hand during vag exams or squish their own babies because they don't want to open their legs up and show their privates - never mind that they had to open their legs to get pregnant in the first place
7. women who want to lay in bed naked with their genitals open to the door because they are hot and then they take off the sheet you put on them for modesty
8. pts and families yelling at you because you won't let the laboring women eat pizza they just ordered
9. having a large family reunion in a small labor room and refusing to get out when you need to do a vag exam
10. women endangering their lives and the lives of their babies by not following instructions to take care of their diabetes and/or eclamptic conditions - then threatening to sue you while you try to keep them and their babies alive
11. being on call for low census and then racing to the hospital to find way too many patients to be cared for by the number of nurses because somebody screwed the schedule up - which happens in other areas but L&D is highly litigious specialty
Lots more but that is just off the top of my head

LOL, yeah, that and more!

There was a LOT I liked about L&D. Beautiful experiences, lovely mothers to be, great co-workers...But I do remember having an out of body experience right before I left. I was doing a vag exam on an obese woman that apparently hadn't washed her private areas since she got pregnant. (Oh my lord the SMELL) Her cervix was way way way posterior, Doc couldn't even find it. All of a sudden I'm floating up near the ceiling looking down at me, my hand all the way in her trying to find the cervix, my face within inches of her as I squirm around trying to find the darn thing and I thought...Is that really me? Is that really what I want to be doing?

I have my annoyed stories too...the women who are having a fifth baby, the other four have all been removed by DHS one at a time. The woman who did meth while pregnant and then didn't want to have a patch because it might hurt the baby, the 13 yo momma (with her own momma sitting proudly beside her) with several boys waiting in the waiting room because she wasn't sure who was the father...sigh

I'm kind of enjoying PACU...though I still occasionally have to inspect private areas....hysterectomies etc...at least I'm not having to insert my fingers.

MikeyJ, RN · May 28, 2008

After experiencing my L&D rotation in school -- I would never ever work in L&D. I actually enjoyed the patients and find women's health very interesting. However, almost every single L&D nurse I encountered were down right MEAN to everyone outside of the L&D world. It was a nightmare from day one. I will never step foot in an L&D again.

pirap · May 28, 2008

i did my internship in l&d and liked it but i've found i love mother/baby way more.

my best friend did her internship in l&d and got a job right out of nursing school worked a year and left. she left because the enormous responsibility and liability was too much for her to risk. think about it, in most states the parents can sue you up to what 21-23 years later?? maybe that small decel caused them a brief deprivation of oxygen and they sue you because johnny is special ed? you know maybe you spent over an hour trying to get the doctor to come access the strip and he just kept telling you to give her oxygen and turn her, etc and you tried to tell him about decels, etc and he still dragged his a$$ in on his time only to do an emergency section with the baby going to the nicu with apgars of 3/5 and later to find out the kid has mild cerebral palsy. ok who gets blamed? the nurse of course.

if it's your dream-make sure you have good malpractice insurance and you are up on your game with good assessment skills and ball$ to get a doc on the phone to be an advocate for your patients!

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · May 28, 2008

Wow! Sounds like a lot of nightmare places to work. It's a shame, really. I still LOVE L&D! I can't imagine doing anything else at this point in my career. So far, there's nothing I DON'T like about it.

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · May 28, 2008

Yes - ICK!
1. not interested in looking at that part of anatomy or sticking my hand up in it on a daily basis
2. stupid women who endanger their babies by not drinking water and/or refusing to eat because "I don't want to get fat"
3. children under the age of 13 having babies, often by "family members" and this was ok with the nuns of that hospital but it is not ok to discuss birth control options with young women desperate not to get pregnant for the 4th time by the time they are in their early 20s
4. doctors endangering pts who labor "too long" because the doc has somewhere else he would rather be - leaving you to try to CYA in the chart
5. women screaming at you wanting to have their butts kissed and be given enough pain meds to kill an elephant and they refuse to understand that their baby will die if they get any more drugs
6. women who squish your hand during vag exams or squish their own babies because they don't want to open their legs up and show their privates - never mind that they had to open their legs to get pregnant in the first place
7. women who want to lay in bed naked with their genitals open to the door because they are hot and then they take off the sheet you put on them for modesty
8. pts and families yelling at you because you won't let the laboring women eat pizza they just ordered
9. having a large family reunion in a small labor room and refusing to get out when you need to do a vag exam
10. women endangering their lives and the lives of their babies by not following instructions to take care of their diabetes and/or eclamptic conditions - then threatening to sue you while you try to keep them and their babies alive
11. being on call for low census and then racing to the hospital to find way too many patients to be cared for by the number of nurses because somebody screwed the schedule up - which happens in other areas but L&D is highly litigious specialty
Lots more but that is just off the top of my head

Wow! You hit the nail on the head!! One of the hospitals I worked at always had big problems staffing their OB/GYN unit and I worked Tele/ICU. We always got pulled to OB. When I got pulled to the unit, I enjoyed it, I guess because they had to be nice to the "pulled nurse" or something. So I decided to transfer to the unit full time and I got an eyefull! Had no idea what I was getting into and the grass was greener on the other side and all that. OMG!! It sure seemed like a long time waiting to transfer back to my unit!

I think the worst part of it all was learning to scrub in for the sections.

Anne, RNC:bugeyes:

grammyr · May 28, 2008

Hated OB rotation in school. All OB nurses have my utmost respect and admiration. The post partum part never bothered me, but the delivery part made my physically ill.

Dialf · May 28, 2008

I started out in mother/baby and decided to transition to L & D. it was a mistake. you better know what you're doing at ALL TIMES in L & D b/c you will get sued in 10 yrs for a careless mistake and that doc that you thought was "nice" won't have your back in court, that's for sure.

It is a highly stressful field and is not for the weak OR new grads! get your foundation in med/surg or at least 1 year in post-partum before considering L & D. don't lose that license that you worked so hard for... :up: