EllenDeeRN

I was lucky enough to be hired right out of school. I work in a high risk L&D unit at the biggest hospital in my city. I did my preceptership on my unit and I think what happened for me was that they were really short on nurses and needed more staff. Although I'm just now feeling a little tiny bit comfortable at work, they needed more staff! Do you best to get your preceptorship in L&D and bust your butt while you're there. Offer to do things for all the nurses...if anything it will just get you in the habit of "teamwork" that's so important in L&D. Good luck!!

I had a pt last night w/ great BP's, occasionally a 140's/80's. No s/s Pre-E. Uric acid was 5, LDH was slightly elevated, Creatinine was 0.9, all other labs were fine. The results of her 24hr urine had 10,790mg of Protein/ 24 hrs!!! 10 Grams of Protein?? I actually called the lab b/c I didn't think that was possible. When I called the doc, she said it doesn't happen often, but it can happen. She was thinking some type of atypical Pre-E or kidney process going on. So what's the most you've seen in a 24 hr urine?

I work in L&D. We had a patient who had been in and out of our unit for 6wks. Her baby had a rare antibody and we had done 3 intra-uterine blood transfusions by the time she delivered. I had her on her first night in L&D, the night before her first blood transfusion. Which was a year (to the day) after she delivered a beautiful 36week stillborn baby boy. When I left that day I put my hands on her belly and we prayed together. Baby was kicking like crazy! The last night I worked she was called in for decreased FM. She showed up and baby was in the 50's. I was able to run into her run quickly and give her a big hug and tell her I was praying for them, before the stat c/s. The unit was crazy that night so I didn't make it over to check on the baby. Anyway...I always called him "little monkey". So today I was shopping and in the window of Build-a-Bear was a monkey. So I made him a monkey and dressed him up in a firefighter outfit because his daddy just finished with fire school. I was going to leave it in the NICU for him. Question is....is that weird? Is there some sort of unspoken rule about not giving gifts to patients? I don't ever do that but I feel like I've really bonded with this family. I will never forget them and their stories...I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't wierd!

First I must admit that I did not witness this, but heard about it the night it happened. Thought you all would get a chuckle. They took a laboring mom to the OR for an urgent c-section. One of the nurses told the father to grab the blue pack on the counter and put the scrubs on, so that he could join his wife in the OR. Well a couple of minutes passed by and he showed up at the nurses station wearing his socks, a la Risky Business, and the gown that our MD's wear for deliveries. He was holding the bulb and the face shield and asked one of the nurses what he needed to do with those. Apparently he had opened the OTHER blue pack on the counter (our vag. delivery packs that we use to set up our tables). After she picked herself up off the floor from laughing so hard she had him turn around so that she could tie his gown up. That's right, he didn't have it tied and his boxers were blowing in the breeze! She had him just stay in that little outfit, so that he didn't miss his daughter's birth, but was quickly summoned to change back into his clothes later. :chuckle

We do not allow people to come and go once a patient starts pushing up until the time that any perineal repair is complete and the pt is somewhat "put back together". Nothing grates on my nerves more than people going in and out while someone who has just pushed for 2+ hrs is laying there, exhausted with her legs spread eagle in stirrups and she hasn't even held her baby yet. Ugh...can ya tell it's a pet peeve of mine?!?

Hi all, I will be graduating in August with my BSN. I start my precepted clinical at the end of this month hopefully in L&D. (I've qualified and turned everything in, but am still waiting on my instructors to find a preceptor) The thing is that I want to go straight into L&D and I keep hearing people say that it just isn't possible. What is your advice for me. I'm planning on working my butt off in the precepted clinical and seeking out the nurse manager to talk about jobs, but at the same time I'm going to try to be researching other hospitals to see if they hire new grads to L&D. Anything else that I can do? How did you get into L&D? Thanks!