L&D nurses who became CNMs

[TarheelGirlx3]

So I am in my 3rd semester of a CNM/WHNP program. I have been a nurse for 3 years, where most of my experience has been cardiac ICU. I transferred to L&D back in June of this year, and this is my last week of training before I am on my own without a preceptor. My hospital is the main hospital, with 3 other small outlying hospitals. We have been the only hospital in the system with L&D for more than 5 years now after 2 of the hospital's maternity services were shut down. As you can imagine, it's made our little community hospital quite busy! Its not unusual for nurses to have 3 patients, to deliver babies in triage because labor rooms are full, or be 6 inductions behind😳. I am super passionate about women's health and becoming a CNM, but I am starting to not enjoy the bedside nursing role in L&D. I can't slow down enough to enjoy it 50% of the time. I am super grateful, however, for the learning opportunity..it is invaluable. Wondering if anyone else that is a CNM or WHNP didnt particularly enjoy the bedside RN role in the field?

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

We're still ice chips only for everyone too. They aren't even following ACOG guidelines or listening to one of our OWN academic OBs who just published a paper on liberalization of oral intake during labor. It doesn't help that the nurses do little to question anything. It's either "well that's how we've always done it" or "that's how I was taught" because the "we've always done it that way" are teaching the newbies. I get yelled at a lot...

Yuck. Keep fighting the good fight, labordude!

[TarheelGirlx3]

Thanks for your response....I was starting to doubt myself and career choices because I LOVE everything about women's health and want to empower women about their own bodies and what they are capable of....but it's hard to keep the faith when you work in a totally medicalized, OBGYN dominated, L&D unit.

[TarheelGirlx3]

I love women's health and I LOVE being a CNM. I didn't really like working as an RN in any capacity. The sheer volume of tasks that need to be completed and charted on, ugh it makes me tired just thinking about it. I used to have to manually transcribe every last PACU VS into the EHR, because the monitor didn't talk to the computer.

It is also really hard when you find yourself working in a less-than-evidence-based unit. It is very frustrating to feel compelled to deliver sub-optimal care, like being pushed to get weights and measures within a few minutes of birth, not even token lip service about trying to respect the1st hour.

One place I worked, a doc always did this annoying thing where he would proudly hold up the freshly born kiddo and direct someone to take their picture, before he would pass them to mom. If no one had their phone out, he would literally stand there displaying the crying, wet, cold, scared little baby, patiently waiting while grandma dug through the overnight bag. All the while mom is still in position, stirrups and all (because *of course* he did all his deliveries in a broken bed).

He also would sometimes do a vulvar betadine wash. Just sometimes. Not sure how he decided which women needed to be disinfected, and which did not.

This stuff drove me *nuts.* Perfectly exemplifies the culture of that unit.

Thanks for your response....I was starting to doubt myself and career choices because I LOVE everything about women's health and want to empower women about their own bodies and what they are capable of....but it's hard to keep the faith when you work in a totally medicalized, OBGYN dominated, L&D unit.

I hate to say it...but I'm starting to think I enjoyed my time as a bedside ICU nurse more