Sleepy_Princess

I'm in Texas, and foley balloons are definitely used here. My OB places them in her office, so she can monitor everything herself. She inflates with 30cc and sends you off for a long, brisk walk. She has you come back every hour to check in until the catheter falls out. She uses this form of ripening with her VBAC patients (like me) who need a little help getting started. I went in to have it done at 39 weeks. Fortunately, my cervix had changed dramatically overnight, so she sent me home. I went into labor on my own and delivered two days later.

Mama Flora, I posted in the other thread, but I just wanted to chime in again about the teaching part. I have been a teacher for the past five years, and I have to admit that it hasn't been what I expected. We really don't get summers off, and I usually drag home a bag full of work every day. With all of the prep time, grading, dealing with parents, and after school activites, I generally work a 9-10 hour day. That doesn't even count the time I spend planning and grading at home. It eats up a lot of my time. I decided to go back to get a second degree in nursing when I had my first child. It just seemed like a better fit for me for a few reasons. First, I can't drag the patients or the charting home with me, so nursing definitely won't cut into my personal time as much as teaching. I also sink about $500 a year (or more) into supplies for my classroom, decorations, and treats for my kids. I won't be passing out pencils or stickers to my patients for their good behavior, so that's more money in my pocket! Also, if you are a teacher your opportunites for growth are limited. Sure, you might get to be a team leader or a department chair, but you're still just a teacher. The only way to do something else (counseling or administration) is to go to grad school. However, nurses have so many more opportunites. You can go into management, patient education, and you have so many different specialties to choose from. Finally, teaching gets boring after a while. As a middle school teacher, I teach the same lesson 7 times in one day!!! Also, my curriculum requires that I teach the same lessons year after year. YUCK! I'm getting off of my soapbox now! :chuckle I hope I have helped you with your decision. Keep in mind that I have one more year of teaching and one more year of nursing school ahead of me, so I can't say for sure which one I like better. However, I think nursing is a great choice for our family. If you have the desire to do both, you could always go into school nursing! Anyway, I wish you good luck no matter which path you choose!

I think it is really interesting to hear so many opinions about being a nurse with kids. I've been a middle school teacher for the past 5 years, but I just started an accelerated BSN program because being a teacher is even worse. Everyone thinks teachers have it made because we have summers "off," but that really isn't the case. We don't get out of school until mid-June, and we report back at the end of July. During the limited time we do get off, we end up working in our classrooms to prepare for the upcoming year. My 15 month-old daughter is in daycare from 6:30am - 5:30pm five days a week (including most of the summer)! One of the things that I found so attractive about nursing was the 12 hour shifts and being able to work nights or weekends. I guess being a working mom is difficult no matter what career you choose!

My mom, a nurse for 26 years, made me wear TED hose when I got my first job at McDonald's at age 16. She had quite a few varicose veins from being on her feet all of her life, and her one big regret was not wearing support hose. Needless to say, I was the only teenager having hot flashes at the drive-thru. :angryfire They made potty breaks really difficult too. I don't think I would go through that again. I'll take the spider veins!!!! I will also add that she made me wear SAS shoes too. Yes, I was a very stylish dresser back then! They really made a difference, and they kept me from falling on my butt a time or two. Good shoes and relatively affordable. Although, I'm a big fan of Croc's too. Mom wears them to work, and she has given them her "seal of approval."

Hiccups can be a sign of a GI problem, so you might mention it to the pediatrician the next time you visit. My daughter has GERD, and she hiccups constantly because her diaphragm is irritated. She gets them at least three times a day, and they usually last 30 minutes to an hour. Her GI specialist assures me that they aren't painful... Just really annoying. I don't have any tricks to get rid of them, but a pacifier does tend to help.

Thank you so much to those who have responded. I truly appreciate it! This is a topic that I feel very strongly about, and I would love to hear opinions from as many nurses as possible.

Hi All, I am in the process of writing the only paper that is standing between me and the completion of my first semester of nursing school! I would truly appreciate your help with a few questions regarding C-sections and VBACs. Please take pity on a poor student, and remember what it was like to give up your Thanksgiving weekend to write...sigh... another paper! Thanks in advance for your help! 1. What is the C-section rate at your hospital? 2. Are VBACs allowed at your facility? If so, what is the VBAC rate? 3. Since C-sections are so prevalent, do you ever feel like you have to play a greater role as an advocate for patients struggling to have a lady partsl delivery? 4. Since access to VBAC-friendly facilities and practitioners is limited, do you ever feel badly when a patient must have a C-section despite their desire to keep trying for a lady partsl delivery? (When the doc says, "Time's up!" but mom wants to wait a few more hours) Is this situation stressful? 5. As a nurse, do you think VBACs are beneficial or dangerous?

Unfortunately, I don't think the fact that VBACs aren't allowed in most hospitals really matters. I think there is a growing group of mothers who feel so bullied and helpless that they wouldn't want to give birth in a hospital even if they could. Personally, I was TOLD I had to go in for an induction. After 12 hours of labor, I was TOLD that I wasn't progressing fast enough and that I HAD to have a c-section. I was fine, the baby never showed any signs of distress, but my time was up. It wasn't my fault that I had a medically unnecessary procedure because my ob/gyn didn't have time to wait for me. I don't think I should be punished because I didn't fight hard enough to preserve my ability to deliver lady partslly. When the time comes again, I will be taking my chances in a birthing center because I just don't trust ob/gyns anymore. It isn't about having something to prove; it's about having control over your own body and replacing a bad memory with a good one. Wow, I didn't realize I had become so militant about this issue!

First of all, congratulations!!! This isn't exactly the same thing, but... I had a baby at the end of April, and I decided to become a nurse about a week into my maternity leave. This is my second degree, so I only need 3 classes to get into an accelerated BSN program. I started pre-requisites when my daughter was only 5 weeks old, and made it through A&P I and II this summer. (It was only ten weeks, and I made A's in both!) My daughter is 16 weeks old now, and I'll be finishing up my pre-reqs and taking two upper-level nursing courses in the fall. (I'll officially start the BSN program in the spring.) So far, it hasn't been bad at all. We fell into a routine after about three weeks, and we've been sailing along since then. I've learned to study while she's sleeping, but I've had to learn to study while she's wiggling in my lap too! My husband has been very helpful since I decided to go back to school, so that has made it much easier. So, I don't think you'll have any trouble going back in the fall. It might be a little tough at times, but I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck! :)

Have any of you taken Microbiology and Pathophysiology in the same semester? I'm taking both in fall, and I'm just trying to get an idea of how hard it's going to be. I've heard that Micro. is very "challenging," but I haven't heard anything bad and/or scary about Patho. Is it possible to take both and still keep my sanity??? If I'm going to feel like banging my head against the wall, I'd like some warning. :uhoh21: Thanks!

I went through something similar two months ago. I had a "precautionary" induction at 37 weeks due to what was supposedly PIH. (I question this because my BPs were all below 140/90 and I never had protein in my urine.) I was put on bedrest for two days prior to the induction, but I wasn't given a chance to see if my body would respond to it. He didn't check my cervix to see if I was good candidate, and the baby's head was no where close to engaged. There was not a bed for me in the L&D unit the night before, so I couldn't have Cytotec... The whole thing seemed like a recipe for disaster. Fast forward to the day of induction... We arrived at 7:30, and the nurse started the pit. The doc was supposed to be there at 8:00 to check me FOR THE FIRST TIME and rupture my membranes. He didn't show up until 10:30... When I was finally checked, my cervix was green and I was only a fingertip after two hours of pit. He came back a few hours later to check me again, and told me that he suspected my baby was very large and that I might need a C/S (this was the first time he had mentioned the size of my baby). When the anesthesiologist came in a few hours later, he asked me why I was being induced. After I told him, he made a little joke about needing to buy my doc a new blood pressure cuff. (My BP had been LOW all day, but my doc said it was because the bedrest was working. DUH!) I should have read the writing on the wall then! Long story short, after 17 hours of pit., my uterus was saturated and no longer responding to it. I was 8cm and fully effaced when I was taken back for a C/S due to "failure to progress." My "massive" baby turned out to be 6 lbs. 14oz. with a head measurement in the 10th percentile. She's 9 weeks old now in the care of a G.I. specialist because her digestive system was immature. She obviously needed those last few weeks... Needless to say, baby number two is going to be a VBAC with a midwife... (I would rather risk rupture than go through this again!) So, you're definitely not alone! P.S. Let me stress that if this had been a serious situation, I would have happily gone through the induction and subsequent C/S without a single complaint. I understand the danger associated with pre-eclampsia, and I would never risk my child's life or my own. The doc chose to induce rather than try the bedrest, not because we were in any real danger, but because I was "far enough along and probably tired of being pregnant anyway." Sorry for the long rant.

I had breast reduction 2 years ago. During the surgery, I had some complications, and my left nipple had to be removed and grafted back on. I was told that I would be unable to breastfeed. I just had my first child 5 weeks ago, and I was not planning on being able to provide my little one with any breast milk. However, I was totally shocked when I started leaking colostrum out of the nipple with no "plumbing" when I was 8 months pregnant. I met with a LC in the hospital, and she told me to give it a try. Obvioulsy, my milk supply has been compromised by the surgery, so I have only been able to supplement the formula with it. I'm proof that it is possible--even with a graft. I would just put a lot of thought into it before having the surgery if you are passionate about breastfeeding because things happen that you don't expect. When I lost bloodflow to my nipple during the procedure, I also lost the ability to breastfeed normally. So, you have to weigh the risks.

Wow, it's great to see so many positive attitudes! I can't wait because I've been teaching 8th grade English for the past 3 years. I LOVE being a teacher, but spending every day with 13 year-olds can really get to you! I'm ready for something new. I've been playing with the idea of going into nursing for quite some time, but I finally made the decision when I gave birth to my first baby three weeks ago. I had planned on being a stay at home mom, but after getting to know the nurses in L&D, I knew I wanted to use this time to go back to school instead. I'm so excited!