I am a student labor & delivery nurse, and last semester I completed my OB class. I hope you don't mind listening to a student's perspective. In the class we got to visit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a day (though we were not allowed to do anything but look at the babies, no care given to them) and spoke to a neonatologist. In the NICU, the nurses have to know more about abnormalities and illnesses in babies than those in L&D. They require an even more delicate manner than used with a healthy infant. Many of them started out in the well-born nursery or in L&D, and all of them agreed that it takes a lot of time and experience to be able to care for these infants. They had also all been there for at least 10 years, and said it's not a part of the hospital that nurses bounce in and out of. Most recommended being on the OB unit for a while before going to the NICU. The well-born nursery provides a lot of useful expereinces that can help in the NICU. And the well-born nursery is not without it's risky situations, too. Personally, I was in clinicals and my best friend's daughter came in and had her baby, a girl. Half an hour or so after the birth, nurses came running to my best friend's shouts (she works as a circulator in surgery) that the baby was solid blue. The nurse raced her to the well-born nursery (it was closer) and saved her life with chest compressions and O2. I say go for the neonatology if you're truly interested, but be in the OB unit first for a while.
I am a student labor & delivery nurse, and last semester I completed my OB class. I hope you don't mind listening to a student's perspective. In the class we got to visit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a day (though we were not allowed to do anything but look at the babies, no care given to them) and spoke to a neonatologist. In the NICU, the nurses have to know more about abnormalities and illnesses in babies than those in L&D. They require an even more delicate manner than used with a healthy infant. Many of them started out in the well-born nursery or in L&D, and all of them agreed that it takes a lot of time and experience to be able to care for these infants. They had also all been there for at least 10 years, and said it's not a part of the hospital that nurses bounce in and out of. Most recommended being on the OB unit for a while before going to the NICU. The well-born nursery provides a lot of useful expereinces that can help in the NICU. And the well-born nursery is not without it's risky situations, too. Personally, I was in clinicals and my best friend's daughter came in and had her baby, a girl. Half an hour or so after the birth, nurses came running to my best friend's shouts (she works as a circulator in surgery) that the baby was solid blue. The nurse raced her to the well-born nursery (it was closer) and saved her life with chest compressions and O2. I say go for the neonatology if you're truly interested, but be in the OB unit first for a while.