Mother Baby Unit

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Jan 30, 2019

When I worked in Mother Baby as a tech, my main duties were catering to Mom and getting vital signs. Catering duties include: making sure she is comfortable, making sure she isn't hungry, making sure she is not sleeping with the baby, answering any questions she might have, amongst more. A lot of the time I helped moms up to the bathroom the first time they went to the bathroom. We got to remove foleys on my unit as well as draw blood and do blood sugars on both Mom and Baby. If Baby was crying a lot and I could tell the parents were exasperated, I would either offer to take Baby to the nursery or help with Kangaroo Care. I also helped parents with bottle feeding their baby. Moms who had c sections needed their Peri pads monitored for bleeding as well as post c section vitals.

I wasn't in the nursery very often but when I was I'd bottle feed babies, hold and rock some of them who were crying, give baths, draw blood, and change diapers.

It's been a couple years since I had that position but I guess the best tip I can give you is to show your enthusiasm. The Mother Baby infant in my experience is very different from any other unit in that situations are usually happy. Being enthusiastic, and showing your kindness and patience will help in your interview. Good luck!

**LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM** · Jan 30, 2019

The techs on the MBU where I used to work helped moms out of bed to go to the bathroom for the first time, changed bed linens, answered call lights, fetched water and supplies, removed Foleys, and could draw blood. For babies, they were able to draw blood/do PKUs, hearing screens, give baths, do weights, assist with circs, and watch babies in the nursery if their moms needed a break and the charge nurse had stepped out. Many of those baby tasks are farmed out to lab techs or hearing techs at other hospital, but at ours, we had to do it all. A solid foundation in breastfeeding is always helpful to be able to assist moms if the nurse or LC isn't free. Ask what specific skills you will need to be trained in. None of the skills listed above are rocket science, and your back will be much happier than when you worked with sick adult patients, trust me ?

Trauma Columnist · Jan 30, 2019

Moved to OB/GYN nursing. Best wishes

angelicasmth · Feb 2, 2019

Thank you!

angelicasmth · Feb 3, 2019

Also I'd like to add another question, regarding vitals.

For the sake of psyching myself out, what vital signs are nurses looking for from their mother and baby PT's. The ideal Vitals.

These questions are asked a lot in interviews, so I just wanted to see what Nurses consider ideal vitals in this type of unit.

Shauntil07, LVN · Apr 19, 2019

Hello @angelicasmth! I've been a PCT for a few years and like yourself, I have experience working on other floors-Rehab, Brain Injury and Stroke, Oncology, Heart/Lung Tx and now I currently work on a mother/baby unit. The good thing is, with you already having experience on these other floors, you're probably overqualified for the mother baby unit because much of the skills you use on the other floors, you won't use on mother/baby floors. However, I tend to get floated out to the rest of the hospital when the census drops on my floor so I kind of refresh some of the skills I may not use while I'm on my floor.

I'm assuming you have already done your interview but I don't know if you got the job. With that being said, working on a mother baby unit has been a relief for me because I am in school and it does give you allow for some down time. I have always wanted to be on a PP unit and now that I'm there, I am hoping once I do finish nursing school, I will be able to stay there.

Shauntil07, LVN · Apr 19, 2019

On 2/3/2019 at 12:48 PM, angelicasmth said:
Also I'd like to add another question, regarding vitals.
For the sake of psyching myself out, what vital signs are nurses looking for from their mother and baby PT's. The ideal Vitals.
These questions are asked a lot in interviews, so I just wanted to see what Nurses consider ideal vitals in this type of unit.

Some of this will depend on your patient. A rule of thumb is usually no higher than 140 (or 150)/90 and no lower than 90/50. However, if a PP pt came in due to preeclampsia and complications that affected her blood pressure, the Dr. may set specific parameters that she has to fall within (which could be totally different than what I stated above) and if while doing her vitals she falls outside of that, you will be responsible for informing the nurse and the nurse will proceed from there.

On another note, I pay attention to patterns in vitals signs (I've been doing them for so long, lol). For those who were my stroke and heart tx pts., their blood pressures tended to be higher due to the pathophysiology of the damage to the brain, new heart adjusting to new body, etc...(not always the case but in many cases, having a higher blood pressure meant the heart was pumping correctly and the blood was getting to the brain efficiently). These pts. parameters are much higher than normal. But for my PP pts., their vitals are more like normal. Most of them don't have secondary and tertiary illnesses going on. Hope this was informative for you!