GoBabyGo

Please read more carefully and slowly. The problem is not about the right to choose. This is about a nurse and mother looking for advise on having to handle, as I did, a patient coming in at 24wks to terminate. No medical, congenital, genetic reason ect.... just birth control. Again, for the third time, I am not judging anyone! Just wanted a little advise about dealing with a very real aspect of L&D. Every unit has their moral dilemma. Not judging. Thank you to all of those who actually gave constructive advise.

Dear merrywhiterose, I am so sorry for your loss. As a new mother myself, I can not even begin to imagine what you must have gone through. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with me

Thank you all so much. To be clear, I am not judging anyone. Life experience has taught me that it is never my place to judge another human being, at work or in my personal life. I am mentally trying to cope and process the concept of doing everything to save one and literally terminating another. If anyone has any thoughts about what they do to cope that would be greatly appreciated. PS The posts and threads I have read so far on this site are amazing and incredibly helpful.... I'm hooked

I have finally have gotten a position in L&D. I had worked towards this position for many years now and somehow during my interview a question was raised and I was blindsided. I was asked if I would have a problem participating in late term terminations.... up to 26wks. How had I not realized this was a very real part of L&D? I worked with OB patients for 5yrs (MD office) and had also done my senior preceptorship in L&D, but somehow this never entered my mind. The interviewer proceeded to go into graphic detail about the procedure and needless to say the obvious reason why we could not comply if the patient requested footprints. Wow... it's been a few months since and I'm still struggling with this. I feel compassion for the mother who has to make the heart breaking decision to terminate because of medical/genetic/congenital reasons ect. I struggle with the elective late termination because I just can not wrap my head around it. In one room I have a mother destroyed at the thought of losing her 25 weeker and in the other another patient as she stated is just "Getting rid of it". Where is the line between our nursing duties and ethics. Thanks so much for any response. I know this is a very touchy subject.

As a student I wanted L & D. Simply... I was happy there, I excelled there, and it was my calling. Upon graduation I was presented with an opportunity to become part of a prestigious ICU fellowship program. There were a million reasons to take it, so I did. Excellent training, opportunity, experience, and all the other reasons you may get to possibly change your course from OB. I was absolutely miserable in ICU. Thank God for the support of my hospital and my manager, who helped me follow my original passion... back to L & D. I'm still considered a new grad, so I entered a program for new grads that my hospital offers specifically for those new L & D nurses. There are positions out there, but be prepared to work full-time nights. By the way, the point to my story is to follow your passion. The first job out of school really sets the tone for the rest of your career. The great thing about nursing is the ability to change specialties, but in the end it would have been a lot easier if I would have held out for an OB position. Hope this helps. P.S. You're going to get a lot of nurses telling you why you should not specialize as a new grad....so be prepared.