tcolleen

Thanks to everyone for their input. Rereading this thread has helped to reinforce to me one of the things I love most about nursing - other nurses! For all of the talk of "nurses eating their young", I have found that the vast majority of people in this profession are really quite exceptional and caring people. To clarify for Mario - my husband is actually extremely supportive of my decision to work or not to work. I want to work as long as I (safely) can because that will allow me more time after the baby is born before I even have to think about going back to work. We are both planning to take parental leave and go through this journey together. Congrats to all my fellow new parents/prospective new parents. Maybe we all get together for a chat on one of the new parent BBSes!

I would like to ask this to anyone who has worked as an RN while she was pregnant. I am 4 months along (my first), and work a 12-hour floor that is extremely busy. Sometimes I don't even get a chance to sit down to chart until the shift is over and I've handed over my patients. My question is this: has anybody worked a floor like this? Were you able to keep working up until your due date (or close to it)? I'm not sure what to expect. We are short-staffed (like almost all the other places these days) and I don't want to let pressure from management keep me working longer than is healthy for me or my baby. Also, what about after the birth? When did you return to work? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

If you do manage to nab your doctor, just make sure you never get old, fat, wrinkled, arthritic or form any strong opinions of your own. I have seen too many docs use their $$ and their Porsches (Jaguars, Mercedes, fill-in-the-blank here) to woo some trophy when the wife he just dumped (or hasn't gotten around to dumping yet) who put him through med school looks for a job to help support their kids. You might want to keep the number of a good divorce attorney in your little black book, just as a contingency. To be fair, I have seen one case where an MD and RN married and seem to be happy, but they have only been married for 2 years (no kids yet.) As for me, I recommend finding a nice engineer. I married one and he is stable, funny, intelligent and will make a very good father. I have also met many of his friends, and they are not nearly as boring as the stereotype will have you believe. Good luck!

Where I work, we get a 16% night differential (12 hour shifts, so there is only a day shift and a night shift). So the actual differential depends on seniority and what the base rate being paid is.