Goozgog

Hey Good luck to you all....I'm in the CNEP 64 class with two more terms to go until Clinical Bound...I can't wait! When I applied to Frontier I didn't know any NPs or CNMs, so I asked the nurse manager, nurse educator, and a co-worker/friend to be my references. Hope to see you in the Frontier forums....

ditto and yep yep yep. I had two babies in nursing school and already had a school aged child. That was tough. I work full time with two 12s one week and three 12s the next on weekend nights. My kids are in school and daycare M-F, that way I can study and have some sanity time. I am officially enrolled PT but have the option to study FT if I think I can handle it. Last term was FT for me and I made it without taking an incomplete (grades pending). I don't have time to do much else

By the way, I worked L&D for 6 weeks and went back to cardiology. In L&D I found myself covering my butt more than anything. I wanted to be the doula but had to watch the monitor etc...Hated it! No body in my tele job get it, but I don't care. Now I'm looking for work either in Hospice/home health (I think its the closest I can get to home births as an RN), or ER. I'm bored with tele, but can't wait to start clinicals as a SNM!!!

Epiphany, That was absolutely beautiful! I am currently a CNEP student, finishing my 3rd term at Frontier. I took my first class related to midwifery. Reproductive phys. It was the basics, but like you said, I am wondering how I am going to really "know" all of this stuff. I am scared and intimidated. I've heard horror stories about how hard "Antepartum"...You know. But I am so grateful and happy to finally, after all the years I fantasized about being a midwife, to finally be so close. Thanks for your "epiphany" Goozgog

my 10 yr old is in school until 3pm but my little ones 3 and 17 months are home with me and my hubby. There is no way I can study successfully with them monkeeying around the house all day.

Hi! We are not the only ones in CNM school without L&D experience. I think we'll be fine. Now I'm trying to find day care for school.

I did it! I quit L&D.........Agh! I'm goin back to tele, tele, tele, To work 75% weekend days. That is the best schedule I can get for school and family. I always doubt my decisions. But this time I am going to stick it out, go to school and focus on the type of midwifery practice I want to do.

The more I think about going back to tele the better it sounds. I was working straight nights over there and it wore me down emotionally and mentally. I have three kids at home so I rarely got enough sleep unless I hired someone to watch the kids. My old boss said I could work straight weekend days if I want and I can work 75%. I think that would simplifiy my life as far as scheduling my study time goes. The acuity has been really high there for the past few months and they have just changed their service line from med-surg to critical care. Personally, I like the adrenaline rush of being busy, and that unit is definately busy! In L&D I have to work 50-50 which makes it hard to fit in study time because for me, working nights takes a whole other day just to recover. I am useless when tired! I feel guilty having wasted L&D's time, but I really am not happy there. CPM's do just fine without hospital experience. If I work weekend days @ 75% I can plan to study 8 hrs p/d X4 with one day off every other week. I still need to get my NRP and I don't know if this hospital will let me do that if I'm not an L&D RN. The L&D unit required all RN's to get NRP certified at 6 months of hire. The birthing center requires it for all RN's. THAT is my real dillemma. Any thoughts?

hey Mom2Micheal, I actually called my old manager from the tele unit today and asked if I could have my job back. She said I could but wants me to think about it for a week. I don't know what to do again. I do love birth but not like this....I'm bored doing more charting than anything else. Maybe I would be better off getting the critical care type of experience I was getting on tele and have that knowledge as a backup instead of pit, epi's and c-sections. I'm still going to be a CNM when I grow up. The birthing center that my preceptor works at is going to call me to be a birth assistant PRN.

I should have read this thread prior to posting a new thread. I have been a RN for a little over year and worked in tele. I will start midwifery school in December and thought I should get L&D experience. Now four weeks into my orientation I am finding myself unhappy there. Read the thread "aspiring CNM in L&D." Now I am wondering if I should go back to tele and work the horrible night shifts again, or look for a job in home health/hospice. Hopefully my hubby will make enough money soon that I can quit working while in school. The RN's in L&D gossip about my preceptor who works in the only birthing center around here. They don't like her becuase she "gets in the way of nursing care," like, taking off the O2 when the RN just put it on. My guess is that this particular CNM is trying to maintain the power of the birthing woman while in a powerless environment.

So here I am working L&D. I have been there 4 weeks now and guess what? I am not particularly happy there. I am bothered by the fact that every woman who walks through our doors in intervened upon. I am bothered that we "RN's" have to cover our butts, so whatever the fetal monitor says, I have to show that I have intervened, usually with O2 etc..I am bothered that the "patient" gets multiple vag exams before, during, and after rupturing membranes, and then she ends up with a temp, chorio, and then a C-section. I am bothered that a co-worker gave me an attitide when I let my young pt on pit walk around the unit to help her labor progress. I didn't know the pt had to be on a monitor while walking. I said ok and put the pt on an avalon monitor. I felt so dumb! I don't think I want to work there anymore. Maybe I will be happier working Hospice/days...

I felt the same way. I only became a RN so that I could become a midwife. I had no interest in working with sick people either. In school, my favorite class was ob and I loved the clinical. After graduation I applied to L&D in two hospitals. They both said they wouldn't hire me without some kind of experience unless I had capstoned there and of course I didn't. Unfortunately, my school couldn't get me in. So I applied to a cardiology unit because I had a classmate working there who loved the experience she was getting. I thought this is probably the best way for me to get my "nursing" skills in for now. While in cardiology/tele, I traveled to Ghana with my employer and some MD's for a humanitarian mission. I met with the nursing supervisor at the hospital there and she said I could work wherever I wanted, so I chose L&D. THAT was scary! The women literally birth on a type of dentists chair covered with a plastic bag that falls into a bucket! I don't know why I brought that up, but I felt useless in there L&D ward. We saw lots of premies "sharing" NICU beds, and one of them had expired! Anyway, I ended up working on a regular med-surge unit where the people really were sick. Much sicker than our patients that I have seen at home. Why am I bringing this up? The experience gave me an appreciation for nursing in general. The nurses I met and worked with in Ghana did not participate in patient care. Patients in all of the units I went to were left alone, without any type of information. They were just happy to be in a hospital....I guess they didn't know they were getting septic there! We spent some time talking with the nursing students. I found myself as a new RN talking about the importance of nursing and most of all about human dignity. I felt like I was standing in my teachers shoes, lecturing myself and my classmates...it was very wierd. I am now a new RN in L&D and so-far I love it. I have questioned some things and wished that these patients would just walk, or not take the epidural. I wonder why all of the patients are in bed waiting. When I was pregnant, I was moving all the time, and I had two babies naturally, one of which was at home in the hot-tub...great story for later. I chose to work L&D right now becuase I start midwifery school in December and I really want to have the exposure to hospital births just so I know what to expect. Ultimatley, I would like to do homebirths (not legal for CNM's here) or birthing center births, not hospital. As far as talking to pt's about alternatives, I had an opportunity just the other day. A 16 year old came in at about 7 months gest asking about waterbirths etc...I wanted so badly to tell her about my homebirth midwife or of the birthing center nearby, but I am new and didn't know how to approach that. I just told her that there is ALOT of info on the internet about natural births in Utah. Okay, this is a long one. I hope it helps. Also, I can't wait to see you Frontier ladies in December. I can't even describe how happy I am to finally embark upon this long awaited journey!

I haven't registered on BT101 yet. Am I on there? My name is Marci. Heritage, which hotel will you stay in? Maybe we can do some sightseeing together before catching the bus to Hyden. OMG I can't believe this is real!

I was having second thoughts about going to school right now but have decided to stick with my heart. I'll see you there! Is anyone arriving November 30th? From my neighborhood, there are not any flights that will get me there Dec 1 in time to catch the shuttle bus. I will have to arrive the night before, or leave the 30th with two stop-over's to arrive by noon on the 1st. I am so excited, I feel like I am in a dream!:typing:rolleyes: