Help! L&D vs Mother-Baby...which do I choose?

labordude, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2018

Have you taken the opportunity to shadow on each unit? That is the best way to understand what you will see. I can tell you 100 things about why I chose L&D, but so few of them may apply to your situation or your organization. If they are ready to hire you, you can easy ask to shadow for a day, do a few hours on one side and then a few hours on the other. Part of it will boil down to what you are looking for? The pace is fast for both, but in different ways. I have so much respect for my mother/baby co-workers, it's a busy specialty in our hospital due to volume and a lack of space to put delivered patients, so the throughput is quick. Our L&D is busy as well and lately "lunch" has been eating a granola bar running to a delivery. We may be a 10-bed unit, but we have days we do 17 deliveries. Volume and staffing levels matter for whichever specialty you choose. It also depends if you like to have the baby still inside the mom and try to get the little bugger out safely. Or do you want there to already be a couplet when you get to work.

staygolden0109 · Oct 1, 2018

I have not had the chance to do a day of shadowing yet. I'm happy to know that I can still ask for that opportunity, however. I enjoy fast paced and seem to thrive in those type of environments. As far as deciding if I prefer the mom still being pregnant or the baby to have already arrived, this is where the hard part comes in. Either way seems great to me. I will say though that I like the idea of being able to interact with the babies. I also have been considering aiming for a position as a maternal-fetal medicine nurse in our hospital. I know this would require me to have at least 5 years L&D experience and of course other certifications. I appreciate your advice and will hopefully get the opportunity to shadow on each unit.

AZBlueBell · Oct 3, 2018

I struggled with this when I began 6 months ago as a new grad. I knew I would always want to do l&D , but I also felt a strong pull to PP. I wondered if starting in PP would be better, but now that I've had a taste of L&D (and PP because we do float there when needed) I'm so glad to be L&D. If you have ANY desire for that, I'd say go for it. You'll possibly still get a PP fill, but that can be very task-y type nursing. I feel like I'm doing a lot of tasks and charting, tasks and charting, tasks and charting! It's a very busy type of work, but then when you're done with the tasks, it's very slow (sometimes not!). It's kind of hard to explain, but overall my short experience in the field has me feeling like l&D has more excitement, critical thinking, and skills used all while being able to do the PP role if needed. Just something to think about!

CherylRuth · Oct 3, 2018

I see some striking differences in L&D vs Mother/Baby. If you like adrenaline rushes, thinking on your feet, multitasking, critical care, ER-type work then L&D might be appealing for you. Mother/Baby has some of that, but is more stable. The big emphasis in Mother/Baby is educating the new moms and their S.O.'s and helping with breastfeeding. Usually there are fewer emergencies in Mother/Baby than L&D. I've been a Mother/Baby nurse for 21 years and love it because I get to help and nurture my moms and assist with breastfeeding. I cross-trained to L&D for 6 weeks, but didn't like the pace. I like more predictability and education and that's why I choose Mother/Baby over L&D. I hope that this might help you in finding what's right for you. I like the idea someone presented to shadow both L&D and Mother/Baby. Great idea!

staygolden0109 · Oct 3, 2018

This helps me a lot! I like fast-paced and an ED type environment. Thank you for your post. I think I have made my decision so fingers crossed I get the L&D position.

mtnviews · Oct 4, 2018

If you like that sort of environment or looking to get into MFM, L&D is a great way to go. I work in L&D and love it.

I would like to add though that you mentioned in another post that you feel a strong pull towards working with babies, and L&D is not always a great way to have contact time caring for babies. I can go weeks between taking care a baby if I get a string of early labors, triage patients, high risk antepartum patients (the latter two after more experience), etc.

When we do care for babies, we are usually trying to cluster a majority of our care into a narrow window because recoveries are short and we want to maximize bonding/skin to skin and breastfeeding time if the parents are interested.

And sometimes the babies we take care of are already dead or have poor outcomes (fetal anomalies, no heart tones from initial assessment sometimes even at term, non viable gestation coming in already delivered or about to deliver, etc).

I only say that because sometimes I hear students on our unit saying they want to get into L&D because they love babies, and I feel like I spend way way more time with pregnant women and their variety of visitors than I do babies on an average day. Also I feel like people new to L&D don't always come in mentally prepared or even willing to care for demises which, at least at both places I work, is definitely part of the job. (Side note/clarification: it's totally understandable to be scared, apprehensive, whatever when it's unfamiliar or maybe temporarily not in a good mindspace for that level of care, which is totally different from someone refusing to ever take those patients because it's "too sad," they feel only people without kids at home should have to care for them, etc.) Though personally staff members I've worked with are always super good about providing tons of help and support to get through that care, especially when it's new and unfamiliar.