I thought I wanted to be a L&D nurse...

[emis]

I’m an LPN-RN student in the second year of my ASN program. I’m taking OB right now, which is notoriously the hardest course in the program.

I really truly want to give labor and delivery nursing a go. As an LPN, I have worked for the past two years in an ALF and the two years prior to that in an SNF. I love the elderly, I have strong assessment skills, and coworkers value my clinical judgement. I was promoted to charge nurse after one year of working in the SNF and continue with charge duties in the ALF. However, dealing with chronic illnesses and death is wearing on me and I was looking forward to switching gears after graduation

The problem is my test grades in this OB course have been incredibly discouraging!!! I am barely passing which is highly unusual for me. I have breezed through courses thus far and tested out of 3 courses.

Is my chronic illness/med-surg brain not adjusting well to obstetrical care? Am I not cut out to be a labor and delivery nurse? What can I do differently?

[MotherNurseWife]

Is there an area that you are struggling with specifically? How are you studying for this course? I am an LPN-BSN student but I won't start OB until next semester. I did, however, have to pass challenge exams in OB, Mental health, med surg and PEDS before getting accepted into the program. I scored best in OB and I used a book called Reviews and Rationals Maternal-Newborn Nursing by Mary Ann Hogan to prep. It is available on Audible also, so if you haven't used your free trial you could get it for free and listen to it during you commute.