nursepush

I have ALWAYS wanted to be an L&D nurse, ALWAYS. My first job was at an inner city hospital... I hated it. I hated the hospital, the staff, the patients, the shift, everything about it. I quit after 6 weeks. I don't regret it, not even a little. I had a new job lined up a couple of weeks after quitting the first. I've been at this birthing center in a small community hospital since the end of November. Before I was an L&D nurse I would tell other nurses that's where I dreamed of working. I was always told that it's not what I think it is and I would get mad thinking "don't pee on my parade". They were right, it's not what I thought it would be. It is so hard and so stressful. There's not a day that goes by that I don't do something to make myself feel stupid (although in my defense, it may seem like I should have a little more confidence after 8 months, I was off for 3 months because of pregnancy complications then maternity leave, so it's not been 8 months and my orientation was choppy). Anyway... I continue to stick with it because I love the people I work with and while there are moments I hate this job and I wonder why I ever decided to become a nurse, I mostly love it. I've had a few of those patients who make it all worth while. One in particular who made it the experience I always thought it would be. I helped her through a fast, unmedicated delivery. I helped her breath through it, I held her hand, I stroked her hair... she wanted me at her side, not her husband. When it was all said and done, she said my patients are lucky to have me. She gave me a glowing review from which I received a thank you note and a "bravo" from my manager. To this day, just thinking about that patient brings a little tear to my eye. I'm trying to be easier on myself. Beating myself up is a hinderence not a help. We've all been there. This job is hard but it's even harder if you're someplace you really don't want to be. Make a list of pros and cons. Is there anything you like about your job? Do you like the people you work with? Is it just the hours, midnights takes some getting used to. In the end if you can think of more things that make you miserable than happy, find a new job. Just make sure you have a new job lined up before you quit and you give your current employer 2 weeks notice. No one can ask for much more than that. If you don't care of you, who's going to?

I started my job at a birthing center last November doing 5 eight hour shifts, 11p-7a. I hated it and I don't recomend it. I think 12's would have been much easier to deal with. I did feel it interfered greatly with my personal life. I had 4 kids and I was pregnant with my 5th, I really didn't have the option of maintaining my schedule on my days off; when the kids were up so was I:banghead:. I spent those months in a fog. I couldn't make it through 30 minutes of a movie without falling asleep. So, I'm going to assume that you should probably try to maintain somewhat of a midnight schedule on your days off in order to function normally. My husbands shift starts at 3a and the person who was with my kids at night before the baby was born couldn't do it any more so I had to change shifts. My new shift is 3p-3a and while I like my midnight girls much better (so much so that I practically count the minutes until 7p when they start showing up), this shift is much easier on my body. I go to sleep when it's dark and wake up when it's still the "a.m." Oh, one thing that I found helpful on midnights, blackout curtains. Good luck! Andrea:nurse: