Second Career Nurse in Maternity

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I'm a second career nurse who graduated in July. I went to nursing school specifically because of my interest in women's health. My grandmother was a lay midwife in the 30's and 40's. I grew up hearing birthing stories, and always imagined that I would continue her work.

My problem is that I am struggling significantly in my first job as a mother/baby nurse. I had no idea how deep the water is in OB. The environment is very stressful, fast-paced--something like a cross between ER and OR. In addition to my postpartum role, I am expected to learn to scrub, circulate, and be the second circulating nurse for babies at births. I have had nothing but positive feedback from my preceptor; however, I feel like I'm going under. I have yet to have a shift that I haven't cried most of the way home. There is a shortage of LD nurses right now and I am being encouraged to move into this role. I feel like I am being asked to run before I learn to walk.

I am managing my stress very poorly, and I'm afraid my family is paying the price. I can't help wondering if this would be much easier if I were in my 20's instead of 40's. I'm trying to decide whether I should just throw in the towel and ask to transfer to behavioral health (my first career). I wonder if I've romanticized OB because of my family history and if I'm really not well suited for this area of medicine. I have some strengths, i.e., lactation and education; however, these areas are the first that suffer when babies are popping out all over the place. I hate the constant feeling of adrenalin when I step foot on the unit. Is this something that you adapt to or is it something that you either love or hate? I would appreciate any insight that you can offer.

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Specializes in L&D, PP, Nursery.

Oh honey, hang in there. My first job directly out of nursing school was in a Level III L&D. Not only was I learning the basic nursing skills but the fast pace L&D stuff, too. To top it off, I was steady nights, 5 nights a week so I was always tired. I cried every night in the parking lot of the hospital before I went in. I remember sitting on the locker room floor crying telling my preceptor "I can't do this anymore". Fast forward 13 years........ I now work 2 L&D jobs. Wouldn't change specialties for the world. It takes a MINIMUM of one year to be remotely comfortable, it took me longer than that. Even now I consult my peers about tracings, etc. I'm not sure about. I just oriented to scrub earlier this year. I was scared to death to learn. Turns out I love it! Still makes me nervous but the more I do it the more confident I get. Don't give up! We've all been there. There is sooo much to learn in OB. It's not all rocking babies as most think. We are a combination of ER, OR, Postpartum, Nursery, L&D nurses where critical thinking is absolute vital (as it is in all specialties). You will be fine. Promise.

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There is a HUGE difference in delivering a baby in a hospital vs giving birth with a midwife as your grandma did. In the hospital, it is more akin to moving cattle, with birth not being viewed as a natural process. You might feel more comfortable working in a birth center as it is a lower stress, less faced paced work environment.

I have assisted/delivered over 75 babies at home or in birth centers. The difference is like night and day.

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I will second that no hospital delivery I have ever seen comes close to any home or birth center delivery. It is night and day to be a "lay" midwife vs working in a hospital birth unit.

But! there is value in labor and delivery. You can provide great care to your patients, learn about high risk situations and how to treat them. You can be an advocate for your patients and help them to avoid some of the unnecessary interventions or poor treatment that is sometimes par for the course in a hospital.

As for clinical skills, there will be many days where you are freaking out. Each day will get a little bit better. In my experience I finally had a great day where I felt confident, then the next day had a terrible day again. But then you have a good day again and soon the good days are more frequent than the bad days and soon the bad days are gone. Try to focus on the positive- I could do no right in the eyes of my preceptor but I ALWAYS got great compliments and even letters from my patients about how great their care was. This sustained me when I was trying to chart q 15 mnutes on two patients and deal with doctors who would rather be at home. It will pass and like another poster said, it takes about a year, but by then you will love your job. I am also a second career "mature" nurse and I have often thought I would have done better when I was younger and didn't have so much "experience." It's very humbling to go from being a respected management level employee to trying to screwing up the way you label a tube. Best of luck!

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Specializes in L&D,MB,Pediatrics, nursery, level 2 nicu.

I agree with all those who replied to you before me. HANG IN THERE! It takes a while to get comfortable in any nursing job as a new grad. It took over a year for me in my first job. My first job was a very busy Peds Med/Surg unit and I cried on the way home regularly and I was still in my 20s:). It was hard work and the learning curve was huge. There is a ton to learn in L&D and even if your heart leads you to BC or Home birth eventually, this experience will serve you well in that. You definitely need to give it more time before you will know whether it's just that you are a new nurse or if it is the actual specialty that's not right. Chances are it's just the usual growing pains we all go through at the beginning of our careers! Good Luck to you:)

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Specializes in Acute Rehab, OB, MedSurg.

I don't have any real advice as I am also a GN, but I would like to know where you are located that there is a shortage in L&D nurses. I have applied to so many postitions and b/c I haven't any experience I'm turned away.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I also went to school to be an OB nurse. I am a new grad working in LDRP. I am 28 and its not exactly easy for me either. Its a steep learning curve to try to figure out how to be an R.N. and a specialty at the same time. We do it all, out patients, labor, deliver, post-partum, and gynecological-surgical patients with occasional female med-surg patients. Fortunately we do not have to circulate but do go down to O.R. to receive the baby. As hard as it is some times I remind myself that this is what I went to school for and what I love doing despite the stressful learning part. Every once and awhile I vent to my friend who graduated with me and wants to be a NICU nurse but is working ortho-med/surg, despite the extra clinical hours in the NICU she did in school, because they do not hire new grads; she always has something to make me feel better and ends the conversation with, "remember you are doing what you love".

I trained with a different nurse yesterday that I have not trained with before. At the end of my shift we did 1) what was your favorite thing about today? 2) what do you think you did best? 3) what would you do differently next time. The feed back made a world of difference. Maybe this is something you can do with your preceptor.

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