Atensibilla

Hi Debbie: Nice to meet you and thank you for all your help. It is very appreciated. I am so glad I found this forum. :rotfl: I have so many questions that I had no idea how to get answered and now I can finally get some clarity. For that, I apologize up front.....I will ask a LOT of questions. I feel it's necessary to ensure I am doing the right thing with my life. It's not that I'm not willing to work weekends, just that I wanted to know if there were ways to either not do so at all or get around it with tenure. I am curious as to whether you can request specific weekends off. And, what about the pools, once I get my experience with preceptorship, can I go to work for a pool or agency & attain free weekends? If not that, then is it possible to work in an Ob/Gyn's office after L&D and how does one get those coveted "office" jobs? Also how difficult is it to change specialties? Say if I decide after 5 years in L&D that I want to do Oncology or Emergency or Anethestist? Once again, my hugest thank you's. Renee'

Hi everybody: I'm Renee' Snyder, currently 25 years old at the end of my freshman year in college. My family is one built around nursing, seems all the women in my family are nurses. My mom is an LPN & RT working on her RN right now, my aunt is a 17year proctology nurse & my grandmother was head charge nurse for the L&D unit in flagstaff for what seemed like forever. I have considered many careers, but always keep coming back to labor and delivery nursing or Certified Nurse Midwifery. During high school I had the opportunity to be involved in a Healthcare Technologies & Certified Nurse Assistant program. Both of these classes offered short term clinicals in L&D and I absolutely loved my time there. I have attended about 9 births, 6 in clinicals and 3 as a friend/doula. During one of the friend's births I actually got to see a caesarean section. I know this is what I want do. Being anywhere near pregnant or laboring women just feels so right to me. I know it's what I am here for. I just have some concerns about logistics. I have some very specific questions regarding L&D nursing: 1) Is it possible whether through pools or some other method to avoid the dreaded weekend shift or will that be a permanent part of my life? 2) If you believe in more natural birth options, what setting is best to work in and can you help out mothers in hospital settings to have their birth their way? 3) Are there any Arizona L&D nurses on this forum? If so, how long is preceptorship out here? 4) Can you come out of nursing school & immediately get into L&D or do you have to do med/surg or telemetry? 5) What are the best and worst aspects of L&D nursing? 6) I wholeheartedly believe that birth is a natural process that should not be invaded by unnecessary medical interventions that are purely for the comfort of the physician or are simply preventative measures. Will my "natural" birthing outlook make my work difficult and or frustrating? 7) What is involved in preceptorship? What I mean is that my mother says that the hospital that you recieve your training at requires you to work for them for a certain amount of time after they specialty train you. Is this true? And for how long does that particular hospital "own" you after your specialty training is complete? Thank you all so much for your help, any and all advice is welcome. Renee'