Jill10191130

I make $22.53/hour with 7 years OB experience in Alabama. I make an additional $6.00/hour shift diff on nights.

At the small rural hospital where I used to work, we had a case where a section was done without anethesia. There was a mixup with the CRNA's on call. There was a stat section and baby was dieing. I think first hearttones were inthe 60's. They told the mother that they could do it without anethesia and attempt to save the baby or they could wait on anethesia. She said "do it". They said she lay her arms out and told them to cut her. Nurses layed over her arms, upper body, and legs while he cut. Baby survived. Mom was later transferred to a large high risk facility because she ended up having some type of rare, life threatening disorder or pregnancy that wasn't caught up until this happened with the baby. Last I heard, both mom and baby were doing well though. I work in a much larger facility now. Sometimes I wonder how I worked there so long. There was so much risk involved that I didn't see at the time.

You know your an OB nurse when... You can estimate the weight of a baby within ounces just by looking at it. You've seen more lady partss than Elvis. You wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom. You break your pointer and middle finger and can no longer work. You know it's a full moon without ever seeing the sky. You avoid pregnant women at all costs when not at work for fear of having to deliver a baby on your day off. You've said the word, "PUSH!" 50 billion times. You know what FLK stands for. You can tell what the fetal heart rate without ever looking at the fetal monitor. That's all I can think of for now.

In the facility I worked before we used 45/45 and in the one where I work now we use 50/50.

Defintely takes a good 2 years before feeling comfortable. Even then there may be things that you don't get to see as often and have to refresh yourself on. When I first started I wrote EVERYTHING in a small notebook that I kept in my pocket. It was my security item. If I ever had a question, I just referred back to my little book. Maybe you could do something like that.

Alicia Keys "I Am Superwoman" This is for all the mothers fighting for better days to come and for all the women sitting here trying to come home before the sun. All my sisters coming together saying Yes I can, Yes I Will Because I Am Superwoman Yes I am, Yes She Is Even when I'm a mess, still put on my vest with a S on my chest Oh Yeah I'm a Superwoman.

I've been doing OB nursing for almost 7 years now and at times I'm still moved to tears. One of my favorite memories was of a couple who had been married for 18 years. She was 42 and he was 46. They had been trying to have a baby since they had got married. She had never been able to become pregnant even with some fertility treatments. I don't think they did IVF though, instead they opted for adoption. When they arrived that morning in labor, they had the cutest 2 year old little boy with them that they competely doted over. They had told me during her labor that after they adopted him, they unexpectantly found out that she was pregnant. When she delivered that moring, it was just a wonderful delivery. She cried and he cried. She looked at him and said "finally". They just looked at each other, held each other and cried. I couldn't help but tear up. It's really a great memory.

OMG! That is awesome! Good for her!

I saw a doctor place bottles of sterile water out of a warmer and place directly against a patient to warm her post c-section. She also had some burns. She was the daughter of nurse there.

I recently started at a larger hospital where the nurses manage the epidurals as well. I had never had any type of experience with this as the CRNA's did this at the hospital where I had previously worked. At the new workplace, the nurses get the meds out, primp the tubing, and set up the pumps. The MDA comes over and presses start and the nurse connects it to the patient. Then you pretty much never see them again unless there is a major problem or a section is called. I was very uncomfortable with this at first because I had alwasy been told that nurses were to do nothing with the epidurals because it was out of our scope of practice.

I went from a very small community hospital, about 30 - 50, deliveries a month, to a hospital that does about 140 - 160 deliveries a month. It's a much smaller number than what you are talking about but I've seemed to finally after 3 months adjust to the swap. It's been a little challenging learning the different ways that the new hospital does things but I've made it through. I'm feel pretty more and more confident each day.

We use Stadol 1mg and Phenergan 25mg IV q 4 h. At the facility where I used to work, we gave Demerol 50 - 75 and Phenergan 25 IV q 3 - 4 hours or Stadol 1 - 2 mg q 2 - 3 hours. I much prefer the Stadol. It seems to help with patient's pain much more than the Demerol ever thought of doing.

Working 12's has it's advantages. One is that you only have to work 3 days a week. So that means a sitter for only 3 days a week. You get 4 days every week with your child. Our unit does all kinds of shifts, 12's, 8's, 16's, 7 on, 7 off, etc, etc. I choose to do 12's. I like only working 3 days a week.

I had a patient's sister stay in the room for an epidural one time. She was standing against the wall on the opposite side of the CRNA. I was holding the pt up and she was behind me against the wall. She couldn't see anything. When we finished as we were laying the patient down, the sister falls straight foward face first to the floor. At first I thought she had tripped and fell. I went over to her and turned her over. She has probaley a 2 inch gash across her chin. She began spitting and spat her teeth out that she had cracked into when hitting the floor. SHe had to go to the er and get sewed up. It really messed her teeth up. Anyway, ever since then, I make others staying in the room sit down.

Most new OB nurses on our unit get 12 weeks of orientation. GL