CapeMaui

Take the dream job. You have to do what is best for you and you will be better off in the long run.

That is aweful! We definitely use gown, gloves, and maskehen the isolation requires!! I work in the ICU (neo and pees) and many have suppressed immune system, if we are not careful, they can get really sick! Plus, don't want to bring anything home to my kids!!

Thanks Jolie, that's a great idea, I was also just thinking that myself. :) I think since we're going to start trying very soon, I will go to my OB for a blood test. I'm sure she'll let me know if I'm all clear or what I need to do. Thanks again everyone, for your input! :)

The 2 kids I had, one was a premie and the other was IUGR, no spots, but very septic though. I think we test the kids when either they're very sick or have a very bad nippling issue (bad coordination). The other R/O CMV/Torch babies were all negative as well, so I'm hoping it's less common than I think.

Gompers, You're right, I'm sorry, that was a dumb assumption on my part... I work in a big city hospital and we do see a lot of babies born to Moms who used drugs or live in shelters, etc. I've only had 2 babies with CMV+ and a couple with r/o CMV, but other nurses have told me that they have had quite a few. That's why I thought prob most nurses in the city hospitals would have had exposure and therefore + for the antibody... Apparently, it's more prevalent in day care health workers than in the hospital, as we are more consciencious of universal precaution. I'm just wondering what would be the effects on the fetus should the woman get preggo while having an active infection, primary or not...

What if the person has an active infection going on? CDC site says that as long as the infection was more than 6 months before preg, the fetus would be safe.... however, what if the person still has an active infection (primary or not)? I'm sure most nurses working in the NICU or working with children in general are of the 80% with + CMV IgG antibody... there's no way of knowing if there's an active infection since it's asymptomatic in healthy adults... will it affect the fetus when the woman becomes preggo?

So, apparently, > 80% of healthy adults are already CMV IgG antibody (+), does anyone know what this means to people who are looking to get pregnant? Does this affect the fetus the same way an actual exposure to CMV does? I mean, I know that + for CMV IgG antibody just mean that the person has been exposed to CMV at some point in their lives, IgM must be tested and a culture will probably be needed to see if there's an active infection going on... But what is the risk to the fetus??

Thank you everyone!! Your responses have put my mind more at ease! I was so worried about all the xrays going on around me, and with the CMV, I always glove to change diapers, so I feel better about that. With our babies that are r/o or CMV/Torch+, we always gown and glove too, I guess it is just in case the urine leaked through diaper and gets on the clothes.... As for pregnancy, thanks for all the tips/advice. I keep hearing scary stories about how so and so couldn't get preg b/c she worked nights.... hopefully that won't be me. I wil definitely rest as much as I can when I do get preg. I'm just not sure how soon to tell the NM, etc to avoid CMV/Torch assignments. Since I've only been here 5 mons, I don't want that to be perceived badly.... Then again, who's to say that I'll get it on the first try on nights Thanks again, if anyone thinks of anything else, PLEASE SHARE :)

Hello all, I'm a new nurse to the NICU and I love every minute I spend with the babies! I feel very fortunate to be workinging exactly where I have always wanted! :) So, I've been working at my unit for about 5 months now, during which, I've taken care of babies who are CMV+ (following universal precaution of course!) and have also inadvertenly got exposed to radiation when some of the technicians fail to annouce "xrays" before they click that clicker of theirs.... Since I'm not pregnant at the moment, I've not had any issue with the above.... However, now that my husband and I have decided to start a family, I'm very worried about any "accidental" radiation or CMV exposure. Has anyone run into this issue working in the NICU? Any suggestions? Should I tell my managers as soon as I find out that I'm pregnant to help avoid these situations? How early did you tell your managers that you were preg? Also, I'm working nights, has anyone had any difficulties getting pregnant working nights? And once you are pregnant, any difficulties with the pregnancy? I've heard/read that working nights can increase the risk of preterm labor/delivery.... is this true? If anyone has been through a pregnancy while working nights, how did you deal with the exhaustions? Any tips on keeping healthy? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi All, Awesome information here about how to get some zzz's while preggo while working nights. Would love to pick your brains on preggo and working nights. I'm going on 12-hr nights in a few weeks and my DH and I are planning our first pregnancy. We're giving ourselves some extra time as I think my bio clock may get pretty screwy from the whole night shift thing... Did anyone had a harder time getting preg? Once I do get preggo though, any tips on how to fight the fatigue while on nights? Also, is it better to do 3 nights in a row or 2 on/2off? Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Thanks everyone! All I can say is that I'm so relieved!! Good luck Jennerizer & LM_Neonurse (I'm guess you'll be working in the NICU as well? :) )

I passed!!! I passed with 75 questions and am now a RN!! I've also started in a level 3 NICU! I'm so excited! I'm also so relieved that I can finally relax and do some crafts :) Wanted to share my NCLEX experience and hope it'll be helpful to some. Out of the 75 questions, I got 2 multiple multiples, medium difficulty. One on Hep A and I can't remember the other. No math questions, tons of pharm though, probably because I got the first one wrong (I realized my mistake 2 questions later). Tons of nutrition too, again, probably b/c that's one of my weaker areas. I had only one cardiac question, but it was definitely a difficult one. I think I got it right, so I didn't get anymore. Lots of teaching questions and priortization questions. Then, of course, there's delegation, some were quite tricky. I had a few psychosocial questions too, but I couldn't really tell what part of the test plan it fell under. I think most of the M/S contents were tested through the priortization questions as I didn't get many straight m/s q's. Anyway, that's all I can remember for now. My only tip would be that if you know you have a weak area, study it, b/c the CAT format will pick that up. Good luck!

I've been using the Kaplan trainer CD and got 68%, 79%, 67%, and 63% (took this last one when I was really tired and late at night) on the 4 tests I've taken. But I don't really feel ready and I know that with anxiety, I'll probably do a lot worse... So I'm not sure if I should go take the test or not.... But it looks like I'm on par with those who've already passed the NCLEX, so maybe I should thanks again for your help!

Hi, For those of you who used Kaplan, what were you getting for an average score on the practice tests? Thanks!

Congrats to everyone on your new NICU jobs! :balloons: I'm also starting in a level III NICU as a new grad on 2/7. I can't wait! :) I'm very nervous but SO excited!! Good luck with everything! Here are some tips I've received from other RNs for staring in the NICU: 1) Ask questions!! Lots of questions! 2) Don't ruffle any feathers - many nurses have been there a long time, don't come in with an "I know it all" (don't show off) or "I'm a BSN and you're not" attitude. 3) Be happy, eager & enthusiastic, but DON'T show fear (the RNs told me that some nurses do "eat their young", so don't show fear as that'll just worsen the situation) If anyone else has anything else to add, please do :)