Pregnancy and being a nurse

[Irish_Mist, BSN, RN]

Let me preface that I am not yet a nurse.

Before I became pregnant, smells like feces never really bothered me. Now that I am 7 months pregnant, the smell of feces makes me gag! For those of you that are nurses and have been or are currently pregnant, have you gone through this and does it impact your job? Seeing as how tired pregnancy makes me, I commend all of you who have been pregnant while being a nurse!

[ChipNurse]

I am currently 16 weeks pregnant and I am working full time as a nurse. It has been a trying experience as I had 8 weeks of ALL day nausea. I didn't have too much difficulty with the smells, which I find surprising as I work in a SICU which has a myriad of all types of drains coming from every place in the body. I found breathing through my mouth helped. The worst thing for me was the smell of food, and thankfully most people in the ICU don't need a dinner tray. The thing that was the worst was the fatigue. I had a hard time getting through the 12 hour days for a while, but my body has seemed to adjust. You just do what you have to do at work. I am most concerned about the combative patients... I stay away like the plague if I can.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

I'm a nurse and I'm 15 weeks pregnant. I work Full time on Postpartum. I do get nausea and headaches from time to time and I always keep ginger ale and crackers on me. If I feel a wave of nausea come on, I take a quick break to get myself together. I also rotate ( one-two night shifts per 6 weeks) so that is very tiring at times.

Thankfully, I work in OB so my co-workers take great care of me:yes:. I know once I get further along, it will be more difficult but so far so good.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I had twins 2 months ago, and I worked until 34 weeks. The smell of feces didn't bother me, but certain sights, like flies, did. I had pretty bad GERD and nausea at the end, which led to unpredictable vomiting. I work private duty, so I got to sit pretty often, but it also meant I had no help with my clients. I was put on a 30 lb. lifting restriction at 12 weeks. Fortunately, all of my clients have ceiling lifts.

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

I've been through 7 pregnancies since becoming a nurse(only 2 of them resulted in living babies.) I was sick the whole 9 months with my 2 boys. It kind of just became a way of life. I carried a plastic bag in the car. I often had to run to the bathroom from a patient room and then go back in. The worst was vomit and GI bleeds. When I'm not pregnant, not much bothers me. I will say my coworkers would pick up some of the grosser tasks when they knew I was pregnant.

I've always worked overnights and my nausea was always way worse overnight.

[Caffeine_IV]

Colostomy bags were what really got to me during pregnancy. I could not stop gagging/vomiting.

The fatigue early on was horrible but I worked until 36 weeks.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

I worked full time in ICU all the way until 41 weeks. Had my little man at 41 2/7. It was rough. I was tired. Smells didn't bother me too bad but randomly emptying a foley or something would make me gag. My problem was my bladder. I peed on myself a couple time turning and repositioning patients. ( Yea maybe I shouldn't have been but I did). Don't recommend it..... B/c you may pee your pants.

My coworkers were awesome and helped me a lot. I had an emotional crying fit one day when I had a horrible assignment and a horrible day. At 3pm I sat down at my desk and just started sobbing. It was pretty embarrassing. But my coworkers were great. Helped me out and bought me candy. You can do it. As hard as it is you will look back and think about how funny it was or be proud at how well you stuck it out....

[Rnis, BSN, DNP, APRN, NP]

I am 16 weeks pregnant ...it's not to bad. I make taking breaks a priority right now where before i would work through for patient's sake...... i occasionally still puke but i have some control and can get to a private bathroom far away for patient care. this is my 2nd pregnancy as a nurse. and it honestly is not that bad.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Congrats also to the pregnant PP's.

I have 5 and worked up until delivery with all of them. Actually I had my last little man just a few hours after clocking out--I'd been in early labor from 1/2 hour into my shift. But I digress.

This last time I had a pt with nec fasc in his groin. Even with the mini air filter and several bowls of shave gel in his room, his wound still smelled like a decomposing animal. I started keeping a little tub of Vicks in my locker!