Suggested Books and Resources

[futurelnd]

Hello all! This is my first time posting on allnurses after months of creeping annonymously. I've been a new nurse for one and a half years in oncology/med-surg overflow. Just found out a few days ago after months of applying to labor and delivery and mother-baby, that I was offered a job on the LD unit at the hospital I currently work at. Ecstatic doesn't come close to how I'm feeling right now; I fell in love with OBGYN world during school and clinicals, and I knew I wanted to be part of that community as soon as I could.

Any LD nurses that could suggest books and other resources to refresh what I learned in school? I have the maternal-newborn textbook from Mosby and I'm going to borrow "What to Expect While Expecting" from the library. Can't wait to hear about books and resources that you all use!

[peeweedelivery]

First of all...CONGRATULATIONS!!! You will love L&D....after the initial learning curve. We have the happiest days in the hospital but the saddest days as well. L&D is physically very, very difficult, emotionally demanding, and mentally challenging; every single shift. You will learn and grow as a nurse more than you ever thought possible, there is a reason it's difficult to get hired on in this unit!!

Having said all that, there is a steep learning curve and you will never know everything and just when you think you have seen it all, you see something you didn't think existed. Lol!!! As for books to help give you a good start, I would recommend getting a STABLE manual from the hospital library. STABLE is great!! I think it does a great job of explaining how to stablize the baby, but the physiology behind it will tie into your fetal monitoring in a way that will help guide your interventions during labor and the immediate recovery period. Also, get a basic EFM book, like the beginning AWHONN electronic fetal monitoring book. "What to expect when...." is a fun book, but it really won't help the nursing aspect for you. Reading through this forum here will give you a good idea of the job and what to expect as well. If you don't have NRP, get that manual first. Lol...I should have said that first. So, I would recommend

1) NRP

2) EFM

3) STABLE

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!! Keep us posted on how it all goes!!

[kalmolil]

This is perfect, thank you! I'm not the OP, but I just started L&D last week after spending the first 6 months of my nursing career in the O.R. It is incredibly overwhelming (my manager graciously warned me) but I'm incredibly blessed with a fantastic preceptor. I am a self-proclaimed nerd so I've been looking for some good resources and this gives me a great starting point. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated!