Katie71275

I believe mine was 3% last year plus I received a bump in pay (as did all staff) to bring the hourly pay more in line with what other hospitals in the area were paying)

Absolutely not and no interest in doing so.

I will be starting CNM school in August and have (almost) 3 years experience as a labor nurse. Personally, I think it's a great experience to have. You know how to read strips and know what interventions work in situations and know that some situations that first appear to be an emergency are not actually an emergency. Also, many potential employers of CNMs want you to have L&D experience.

I start the program in August! I am super excited(and nervous!)

Thank you! Do you have to find your own preceptors or do they help with that?

Did you ever start the program? I am interested in applying if I am not accepted into the program here in NC where I live. I am curious how it is going.

I will be interviewing Tuesday!

You develop it eventually. I despise small talk and yet I do it because it's expected. Ask your parents about their day, how they are feeling. Are there any problems they feel they need to be addressed? When you introduce yourself, introduce yourself to the entire room and visitors. Find out who the people there are. Tell them a little about yourself. Starting there opens up a lot of other topics.

I am currently in Raleigh, NC and am applying to CNM school here. If I get in, I am thinking of Austin after graduation....if I don't get in, I am thinking of moving my family to Austin Summer of 2017. Are there any hospitals that are better for L&D? What is the average pay for a nurse with 4 years of experience? I will have 3 years this June, and 4 by the time we are looking to move if I don't get into grad school. I'm looking for a hospital that preferably does EBP and is nurse friendly and supportive. I work night shift here, but am looking to go to day shift if we move as I am a single mom of 4 kids (currently 13, 11, 9, 6). Thanks and if you like, you can PM me. Katie

I think that's completely within your range to ask for. I work prn at a hospital and they were paying moonlighting docs thousands of dollars per shift they were working so I think 100/HR sounds very reasonable.

Personally I do feel any nursing or tech experience while in school is helpful. Will it prepare you for CNM school? Probably not. I would advise you to get labor and delivery experience while doing your BSN and CNM

It makes me feel good. But I also work labor and delivery so these are usually happy times. And I've helped them have their babies.

Personally I feel as a labor nurse and future midwife that being a labor nurse would be beneficial. You learn how to treat and react in critical moments during labor and events that may occur and I feel it helps you know why you are doing something. Also there are some clinical sites that want you to have labor experience and there are also some jobs that will not hire a CNM without 1-2 years labor experience. I have a coworker who couldn't get a job as a WHNP without labor experience because they wanted her to have that clinical background. Probably one hindrance I can see is learning to think like a provider when you do have previous labor experience.

Where on the East coast are you? I'm in NC and the earring salary is probably around 90-100k here. I'm a labor and delivery nurse who will hopefully start CNM school in August. In comparison, as a nurse I make 40$/hr by working nights and weekends. Weekday nights I make 30.10. I work a prn job as well which pays 40/hr. After taxes and insurance I make about 3800 from my full time and 700-1400 from my prn job a month. But in working 48 hours a week...nights...weekends. I think when you compare all the other benefits as an ANP such as CEU paid, insurance, hours...you will see the benefit more clearly than just pay.

I'm in Raleigh and we are one to one. However, we may have 2 inductions, or an induction and an active patient.

Blackbird it's good to hear you say that. I felt that as well. It looks like an amazing program but not worth the cost.

I do med calculations. Not a lot because yes they are calculated but I work in L&D so I give the same drugs over and over again I always check over and make sure I am doing it correctly. We also have smart pumps that have our meds loaded and we just select what concentration we are giving but you still need to make sure it's right.

I think it depends on what you ultimately want to do. Personally, although there is a learning curve to L&D, it is an awesome field to be in. It will also help if you do end up going to PP because you have an idea of what happens during the labor process and immediate postpartum. i would say go for it!

For me, it was finding the time to manage homework , kids, and work. I work 2 jobs, 60 hours per week in general, and have 4 kids that are 6, 9, 11, 13, plus 2 dogs, so finding the right balance is hard. I'm glad I am almost done though. I finish this month. Also glad the classes were 7 weeks.

I work one full time job usually Fri Sat and a Sun and then one prn job that I usually do one shift a week. I like to do my days in a row so I usually do those days thur and/or Monday so I often work 4-5, 12 hour shifts in a row.

For my hospital, it's first come, first served. You have 6 months in advance to request your time...and you can use your PTO as needed, there's no abusing the PTO system....I tend to work around my vacation days....so in November, I took my family to Disney for 10 days.....We are self schedule, so I scheduled myself to work 2 days before we left, took 1 PTO day that week, 1 PTO the next week, and when I came back, I worked 2 shifts in that second week...so I got a 10 day vacation, and only used 2 days of PTO.

I work in a very busy hospital doing L&D(and am hopefully starting CNM school in the Fall). I personally feel, the good outweighs the bad. I have done many fetal demises, because as I said, we are a pretty large hospital with a large number of deliveries, so we are going to see more. They are always sad. My last one was right before Christmas, and I was there when she found out and was told. It was awful. I stayed with her through her induction and a friend/coworker and I were her labor nurses the entire time she was with us. She had a beautiful delivery(it's hard to understand how an IUFD can be a beautiful delivery, but it was), and watching the love she and her husband had for their baby was sweet and emotional, even if it wasn't a baby they got to take home. It's so hard, but so rewarding at the same time. I cried all the way home after each shift and all the way to work during that time. It doesn't make me hate my job. You have to be able to understand that terrible things happen to amazing people through no one's fault. You also have to be able to accept that not everyone is perfect and you will have patients whose babies die because of their drug use...or who are in bad family situations. You still have to care for them and treat them with respect. I saw a lot more of this when I worked in a teaching hospital....where I work now, we don't see it as often, but it does still occur.

I think both have great programs. I went to an info session for Vanderbilt and while the program looks awesome, I can't justify the cost. It is extremely expensive.

I work labor and delivery so it's a little different as I only have one to two patients usually. But I say "I'll be back in a bit to check on you. Is there anything I can get you for now?" I'm in my rooms at least every 30 minutes anyway usually so they know I'll be in and out.

I would go to the bigger facility for the experience. But is also make sure to read a lot about positioning and movement for patients to hopefully keep your own personal section rate down.