L and D Job Concerns

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I see recurring posts where people post that L and D can be stressful and physically demanding. Can you tell me exactly what you mean by that?

I have a job offer for postpartum and hopefully will have a job offer for L&D:bugeyes:

I'm in my mid-thirties and I'm kind of scurred. I'm wondering if I'll have the energy level or the coping skills to deal with the stress and physical requirements for the L&D position.

Am I overanalyzing?

Since my back surgery, I avoid holding legs at all costs. Sorry......the birthing beds have foot holders, stirrups, pushing bars to plant feet on plus as someone else said.......put one of the 14 people in the room to work. Some hospitals have "no lift" policies now. After a no lift inservice, if you hurt your back they will not hold your job for you and you sign a contract agreeing to such. You MUST utilize all available equipment. These birthing beds cost multi-thousands of dollars and should be utilized. Most "helpers" ( putting it nicely ) are so shocked to find out the strength it takes to hold an epiduralized leg......especially when they fight you. Of course, in the event of a shoulder dystocia, that is another story....I am prepared to do McRobert's maneuver. I do not believe, however, in a routine delivery that we should be utilized as a piece of furniture. I don't see the purpose of it. They have already given up every semblence of a "natural" delivery with all of the interventions they have employed.......then pull out the stirrups and save your backs !!!! I also do not see the point of "massaging the lady parts" which is an elastic vessel already with the rugae. It is invasive and degrading to have someone's hand in there constantly. Just MHO. We have one family practice doc who is in there for hours during second stage. I don't get the point of it and have never seen anyone else do it.

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Specializes in L&D, QI, Public Health.

Thanks, Ladies. I'm getting really good tips from you. I look forward to this position, but my health/well-being is first.

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Whether or not you hold legs for hours, you do help put them in stirrups. You reach around cumbersome machines to plug and un plug things, you help patients get up to the bathroom, you push beds down the halls, you move patients to OR tables, you run up and down the halls fetching ice, meds, lunch trays; you bend to check Foley bags, you stand in awkward positions to help a woman get an epidural, you reach under tables to trace difficult FHRs during epidurals, you bend and twist to hand doctors swabs and gel and hang pit, you run from patient to patient while doing triage, you do twenty things at once when the baby delivers (including caring for mom and baby and doing paperwork).

As for stress, each birth is stressful (will the baby need resus? will the mother bleed?), will you need to do a D&C today? how about a crash section? will the next lady you put on the monitor have a fetal demise? will the big jerk attending decide to yell at you today? will the snippy attending say something humiliating? will your patient seize? will that nice antepartum at the end of the hall have a cord prolapse? will you have to finish one delivery and receive a new patient without getting lunch? are those lates? do you see variability or is that wishful thinking? will that family stop breathing down your neck?

I'm in my early 40s, and I love my job, but I don't know that I'll be able to do it forever. I give myself five more years, then I'll need to find something that is more restful.

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Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.

I don't work L and D but I do work PP and I can say that yes its a demanding job being anywhere near moms and babies LOL. So many people think its a breeze job b/c they think most patients are healthy but they are not always heathly and they often have a lot of needs so that makes it very busy!!!!! And constantly on their feet and constantly needing to find a way to pee and eat LOL ROFL!

But I do think its rewarding b/c you do get to be a big part of the miracle of new lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is great to be involved and to be able to teach things when you have the time.

I'm new to the practice but I do enjoy what I'm doing! :):)

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Specializes in L&D.
L & D is physically demanding as in never getting a break of any kind to eat or go to the bathroom. The ENTIRE shift on your feet, be it an 8 or 12 hour shift.

It's not like this everywhere. When you interview with the employer, inquire about the nurse:patient ratio, how many births/month etc. Where I work, we have 1:1 nurse/patient ratio always. We have about 130 births/month. So, not too busy.

I have found L&D to be much less physically demanding and stressful than med/surg. I find PP to be quite boring at times. I am also in my mid thirty's. I don't think being in my 30's makes me old. I feel quite young actually. It's going to depend on your fitness level and frame of mind I guess.

Hope this helps!

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Specializes in geriatrics, L&D, newborns.

I started in OB at the ripe old age of 54. I did L&D for 6 months before orienting to the nursery and postpartum. L&D can be very stressful, but we get to do all three (not at one time, of course!) so a day on PP after 2 in L&D is like a vacation. If you like an orderly day and time to go to the cafeteria for lunch, then L&D is not for you.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
If you like an orderly day and time to go to the cafeteria for lunch, then L&D is not for you.

After a gynie that wouldn't/couldn't pee along with having mental/behavioral issues, and then a grand multip PPH (both occurring simultaneously) plus 3 other couplets, I did NOT have an orderly night. That's becoming the norm around these parts. Grrrrr.

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Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.
I started in OB at the ripe old age of 54. I did L&D for 6 months before orienting to the nursery and postpartum. L&D can be very stressful, but we get to do all three (not at one time, of course!) so a day on PP after 2 in L&D is like a vacation. If you like an orderly day and time to go to the cafeteria for lunch, then L&D is not for you.

I work PP and newborn nursery and have yet to have an orderly day or lunch in the cafeteria. I'm lucky to pee most days LOL. So I can't even imagine what L and D is like.

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Specializes in LDRP.
There are occasions, rarely these days, since birthing has become such a spectator sport, that the laboring mom has no SO, husband, or any other person there to support her. Or just one person. And if someone is pushing 2-3 hours, there's no need to be massaging the perineum that entire time.

That really depends on the kind of hospital you work in. I work in a large county hospital and frequently see moms w/ no support person, SO, etc etc in the room--its just me and the patient many times. The spectator sport thing really depends on the population of patients that you serve.

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Specializes in L&D,Lactation.

Bravo to NurseNoras' post! Loved it. Kudos also to RN mama 05.

I too am beginning to wonder how much longer my body can take it. Had a discussion the other night in the break room with another L&D nurse, (YES, we were getting actual breaks!) and asked her why she thought the job was so stressful and she said unlike other jobs we are giving physically, emotionally, mentally and spirtually all shift. Most jobs become somewhat rote and you can function with half attention but I have to mentally be present 100% of the time as lives depend on it. It is exhausting! But those f us that do it have to be loving the adrenalin rush of not knowing what is walking or being pushed through that door!

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L & D is physically demanding as in never getting a break of any kind to eat or go to the bathroom. The ENTIRE shift on your feet, be it an 8 or 12 hour shift. I ruptured my L5 S1 disk with a huge extrusion impinging on the sciatic nerve while at work and had surgery a few weeks later ( after insurance makes you jump through the hoops of PT etc. before you have a diagnostic MRI ) I know I did it at work, but never tried to go the workman's comp route....... ( you will never be seen and are at the mercy of your facility for scheduling care. NY workman's comp is a nightmare ) Fast forward a few years and I tore a meniscus in my knee........don't try to wheel a 380 pound woman by yourself on a stretcher and turn a corner.......you will be planting your foot and pivoting the weight of your body and hers on your little meniscus and RRRRRiiiiiiippppppp !!! Again, I didn't tell anyone as it would have been a workman;s comp nightmare. And I would have been chastised for not getting help ( had there been help available, obviously they would have been helping me. ) Don't forget, bottom line with anything, IT IS ALWAYS THE NURSES FAULT. Mental stress...............I won't even go there. Look through past threads and posts.....you will get an idea of short staffing, poor management, high census, no vacations etc. etc. We will be lucky to get out alive and sane.

i hear you!!! i felt abused and when i got home i felt stressed and crazy after every shift. :(

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Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Family medicine.

MBA2BRN,

do you plan on working med-surg before l&d?

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