westies

I think if you have family to support you that is great. I've commented on that numerous times at work and have supported other staff and this is the explanation I give to higher ups that make comments. When you have a sick child that isn't always an option. If my family were here, my mom and dad are in their 70s with mom having had quad bypass. Are they appropriate to watch a gastro/influenza/RSV etc child? We do not need to compromise them not to mention that kids need their mommies (and daddies) sometimes. They get the picture even when I used this on our infection control house manager and our hospital superviser.

when an individual takes a job they need to consider the aspects of the job and how it fits into their life. lives change as everyone knows and therefore jobs may have to change. one's life is their life, however although my family is my top priority and my job is a priority, it is not my employer's or coworker's responsibility. it is fabulous if they can help out, but not required. i have coworkers who will call in for day shift saying they are running late and can someone stay. myself or someone is always happy to help them out as long as it isn't abused. if someone is constantly coming in late (this is especially bad if they don't call in ahead of time, that is a yearly evaluation criteria in most places and should be addressed. if you have a job where your employer can make exceptions/changes that are options for anyone --that is fabulous and one should appreciate it. bedside nursing rarely has that, but you know that going in. i work nights now that i have young kids and that was a choice i made while my husband works days. someone is always home if they need us. when my kids were babies, i kept them home with me until around a year. i would sleep when they slept and then went to bed when my husband got home. i work 8 hour weekday shifts and very third weekend 12 hour shifts. i was lucky that when they got around 8 mos it was summer and i could have teenagers come into my home so i could sleep more. i have no family in town. now i am home if the school calls and one is sick. if i know ahead of time that one is sick, my husband checks his schedule before i call in with a sick child. majority of time i still go to work and he stays home until around noonish while i get some sleep. sick time is sick time. our vacation/sick time is all the same and everyone accumulates it according to their longevity at our institution. if you use too much, you just have to take the day off without pay. it is hard for them to argue about calling in with sick kids (especially if you are a single parent) but where we are there are no sick kid daycares. in my unit we work as a team and appreciate our coworkers. if someone has to go home for a sick kid, we help them out because we know they'll help us out sometime (even those without kids). there are times i don't call in sick when i need the money or know we are desperate in the unit that week. i work in a small unit so when we get busy things are stretched. i will often try to trade a shift with someone if possible. most people are glad to give up one of their weekend shifts to help me out. prn, different shift, different institution, less ftes, etc may be better for one with kids. i've even known nurses who have become self employed in order to "make their lives smoother between work and family".

I do 8 hour shifts during the week and 12 hour shifts every 3rd weekend. Having done every shift and every 8/12 hours, I feel what I am doing now is the best for me. I am 32 h/wk and having plotted it out for daycare it is only a few days difference. 12s are horrible for me. I hate that I often have to split 7-11p in one unit and then often back to my home unit for the noc shift. I feel rushed and don't feel I can do a thorough and good job on the 7-11 part. I've learned I don't need the stress, but will suck it up for the 2 weekends off in a row. Plus we've been so very busy lately that all I do for the weekend is work, sleep, eat and back to work again. I also find 12s to be more demanding on the body. I work straight nights and am more functional than when I do 12s which take a full day to recover from. The varying shifts are also very hard on one. I have 2 schedules for sleeping, etc. whereas if you do rotating shifts most have 3. I also find I have more productive time and family time. I'm not exhausted. I wake up when the kids get off the bus, make dinner, have time for homework, bedtimes, etc. I can also get up to attend school activities/volunteer since there is always the option that I can take a nap right before work. I work in an NICU and always need to be on my toes, so I am very careful to watch my sleep in order to be fully functional. My husband and I put a lot of discussion into this and this is what is best for now.

http://morrison6.com/ They were born in Minneapolis. I can't remember the DOB, but apparently another set were born the same day. Last I heard, 3 had died.

I work straight nights-8s during the week and 12s every 3rd weekend. I prefer this because 1. I'm home for my girls when they get off the bus. 2. Evening are too hectic for supper, homework, reading, play, baths and I hate having to hurry everyone so I can get out. 3. I hate 12s when we aren't busy in the NICU because then we get floated out. I don't mind going to Peds/OB or helping out in the hospital, but I HATE taking an assignment (7-11pm can be so busy) and then going back to take another one. I'd rather just stay where I am. I like to get all my work thoroughly done and 4 hours doesn't allow enough time when you have to add in charting. 4. I also like that we can still attend an event if it falls during the week. 5. Also 12s take me longer to recover from and I get more accomplished with 8s.

Shifts at our institution depend on what is open at the time after offering it up to current staff in the event they want a change. I was originally hired for day/pm, have since then done every rotation available. Now with 2 young kids I've done straight nights for..oh my goodness 8 yrs. I choose to do this, so that I may be at home when my kids arrive home from school or if they are sick or hurt. Not to mention I don't miss the politics of day shift, constant interruptions and phone calls. Although I may suffer a bit more stress with less help, no doctor in house, 2 staff only that are usually on, I do it for mental health as well. For my nights, I especially prefer my weekday 8 hour shifts since they go to bed at 7-730. 12s don't work for us and make it too chaotic in the evening, so I only do it on weekends when my hubby plays stay at home dad all weekend. It helps that I can sleep anytime anywhere.

My 2 cents... I loved the anticipation of every night wondering "will this be the night". I work straight nights so figured that would be my time to start labor. Yes it was for both. As far as pain, my first was an emergency c/s for complete and breech withing 1.5 hours of arriving. My second was a VBAC. Although I was much more uncomfortable after my lady partsl birth initially, the c/s was a much harder recovery over all. I was easily back to "normal" within a week. I still felt sore and wore out 3 wks out from my section. Thank goodness that was with my first because I would have had a 2 yr old at home with me second time around... Oh and not to mention I'm an NICU nurse who has seen more than her fair share of TTNB and PPHN from elective c/s. (does anyone else notice that they are doing them earlier as well?)

New NRP changes are coming and I haven't heard what they are , but currently if you read the changes from 2000 (http://www.aap.org/nrp/pdf/nrp_oct00.pdf), they switched from intubating based on the type of meconium to whether or not the baby was vigorous. That being said, I do not believe NRP specifically elaborates on suctioning on the perineum since that is before we get a hold of the baby. Where I work, the doctors still suction on the perineum if there is meconium, but that does not determine what we do. I can tell you we intubate much fewer patients than in the past for meconium. Hope this helps somewhat. Good luck in your midwifery!!