New Grad - NICU or L&D ?

[grpyrRN, BSN]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all staying safe during these crazy times we are living in!

I am going to be a new graduate RN in May, and will be applying to new graduate programs in my local area (Southern California, Riverside/San Diego). I will be applying to any L&D/Postpartum and NICU opportunities I can find because I love and am passionate about both areas equally. With that said, I am having a hard time picking which should be my first choice. In your opinions, which area would I probably find more success if I did my senior internship in Labor & Delivery and the Nursery? It may seem like a silly question, however, due to how competitive these areas are I want to give myself as much success as possible.

Thank you so all for your help!

[SteelGrey]

I started in L&D. I feel like NICU and L&D can cross paths at times, like if your a NICU nurse attending a c-section or a high risk birth etc if thats how your facility runs things. but I feel they are different specialties. L&D for me is ER for pregnant peoples. We do all OB triage...so think every possible thing someone comes for--bleeding at 13 weeks, round ligament pain, high blood pressure, premature rupture of membranes, --literally everything from nothing, to blowing out a baby in the parking lot or hallway. Then of course regular labor/births, inductions, PRE E MFM type pt's, scheduled and crash c-sections.

My good friend is in NICU and it can be a much more specialized/focused skills set " NICU" experiences are also going to be dictated by the level of care your NICU provides. Working at a special care nursery doing feeder growers is going to be a lot different than your states level IV NICU that is going train and expose you to caring for the highest level of care and intervention.

Do you like critical care? I think its important to think about the reality of what a job is day to day and your personality type. Do you wanna fly by the seat of your pants? Do you like structure and predictability?

You say Nursery..... Maybe postpartum/ mother baby is something you would like to consider also or what you meant ?

Good luck! lot's to think about ?