What made you choose L&D

klone, MSN, RN · Dec 11, 2006

Because I wanted to become a lactation consultant, and after researching the pathways, I realized that getting my RN was the fastest, most effective way of doing it. I just sort of "fell into" L&D as a result, and found that I love it in its own right.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Dec 13, 2006

I loved community health before I loved OB. I started out working med-surg (blech, at least for me) then switched to a community health center where we did "womb to tomb" and I loved it. I switched to OB after ds was born and I realized that when I'm 90 and drooly sitting in the nursing home (that ds has picked out for me), I may not remember who the president is, but I will probably remember when I had my baby. I think women deserve to have a great birth/postpartum experience and so my goal is to give that to all my patients. I know that sounds foo-foo & idealistic. Some days it is harder than others. But it's what I strive for.

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 13, 2006

I was in the military when I had my first child. I went into labor, quite unexpectedly, at 33 weeks' gestation. They managed to hold me off for another week, at which point, my son would wait no longer. I stayed in the hospital nearly 2 weeks, and my son, another week after that. The nurses were WONDERFUL---all of them. I thought to myself that was what I wanted to do---something meaningful that touched others the way I was touched.

So when I got out of the Air Force, I used my GI Bill to go back to school and eventually graduated with my nursing degree. It was by sheer dumb luck, the nurse manager in an OB unit where I did clinicals, happened to find my application for the float pool and called me and asked if I was interested in OB. WAS I INTERESTED! OMG I was ecstatic.

Anyhow, that was in 1997, and 9 plus years later, still doing OB. I have my good days and bad, but overall I am so very happy things worked out as they did. And I try always to treat my patients the way I was treated when I had my first baby.