mormor

I was a new grad in 2009. The only unit I ever wanted to work on and the only reason I went to nursing school was to be a labor & delivery nurse. Nobody around here hires new grads into OB, but I managed to get the attention of a wonderful OB director who got me a job in another unit of the hospital so that she could eventually hire me into her unit. I've been in OB now for 4 months and I LOVE it. My orientation just ended and I will be going to nights in 2 weeks. My 4 month orientation was entirely days and it gave me the opportunity to see many things. The nurses/preceptors were all WONDERFUL with me. I have the same concerns about going nights as you do though: less support staff, having to call on call dr's at home rather than having them in the hospital or close by. I made sure in my scheduling that I'm on with strong, experienced nurses though so that I'll have experienced people with me. I'm still a bit nervous. I think that's natural. But the way I see it, I have to jump right in. Rarely have I ever heard of a new nurse getting a day position in an OB unit! I feel very very lucky so I read, read, read and try to know as much as possible. Good Luck!

These posts are so helpful, as I'm familiar with the maneuvers but as of yet haven't had the opportunity to use them - I know that there are no stepping stools in our L&D rooms. I'm going to bring this up with our director when I go in on Wednesday. The timing of the delivery of the head is also a very helpful piece of advice. The most important objective is of course the safe delivery of the baby and the well-being of the mother. But I'm also concerned that if such an experience results in a lawsuit, that I've done exactly what I'm supposed to have done. I rely heavily on the wise advice of experienced nurses! Thank you all!

Thank you all! Very helpful!

Hi All! I have been doing a lot of reading about shoulder dystocia but have yet (knock on wood) to assist in a dystocia delivery. I would be very interested in hearing about such an experience, what worked/didn't work, what the most critical issues were and how they were handled. Do protocols differ greatly between hospitals or physicians?I so much want to be prepared as shoulder dystocia is often so unpredictable! Thank you!

Thanks all for your great responses! I feel better knowing that my thought processes were correct after all. As a new OB nurse, I'm discovering how differently some of the nurses on my unit do the same things - this is such a great place to access expertise! Thanks again!

Thank you! That's what I thought and have been doing and then a nurse scared the bejeezus out of me when she told me to never ever mainline pit! Whew! I'm so relieved!

This may sound like a stupid question, but I'm a new OB nurse and I am confused about something. When we are inducing our patients, we usually have 1000 ml LR's as a main line infusing at about 125 ml/hr. The Pitocin runs on it's own pump starting out a 2 mu/min and is infused into the main line LR's through the port closest to the patient. I was instructed that Pitocin is never the main line infusion. If we have a pre-eclamptic patient, a separate IV site is established and the mag has it's own channel, and is also infused through the mainline LR's. Postpartum, we run the pitocin (20 units in 1000 ml LR's) wide open. My question is, must it still be infused into LR's or can it be main line? I keep getting conflicting information on this and would appreciate any input from all of you wonderful experienced OB nurses! Thanks!

Thank you all for your great advice! I have also read an entire L&D textbook cover-to-cover as well as an intermediate FHR monitoring book. I have no disillusions that I'll go in knowing everything - I know things can get crazy and split second decisions must often be made. I'm trying not to let those thoughts dissuade me from a job I really think I'll love...I guess we'll find out pretty soon! Yikes!:)

Thanks so much for your great advice rayshanna! I will definitely follow it. I'm a relatively new nurse. I've been working in the surgical rehab unit for less than a year, so I'm quite nervous. However, I went back to nursing school with one focus - to become an L&D nurse. So I plan to give it 110%! :)

I will be starting my new job in L&D in a few weeks and I am BEYOND excited! At the same time, I'm really nervous. I've been reviewing a few L&D textbooks and reading up, but I know it's going to be baptism by fire anyway. I'm hoping that an experienced L&D nurse might have a little advice for me. What is the most important thing to keep in mind my first few months? What is the greatest difficulty in the beginning? How is the best way to try to prepare? Any input welcome!!

Could someone walk me through the protocol/process for checking peg tube placement and subsequently administering meds through the tube? I did this once in Nursing 1, but it's been a while and now I can't remember the exact order/details! Help! Thanks! :nuke: