What would be reasons why someone didn't like L&D?

[Sarah LnDHopes]

Besides the obvious (a nurse who just isn't interested in this population), why would someone not want to do L&D if they originally thought they would be interested?

I apologize if this question is worded awkwardly...

The thing is, I can't think of one negative about the area, and I absolutely love pregnant women and babies. However, considering I've never worked with them in a nursing role (I have not and will not do an OB rotation) maybe there is an aspect that I'm not considering...

I am wondering, because as I get further in school (graduate in May) I really feel like I would be most at home in L&D.

[aloevera]

I just want to tell all you wonderful OB nurses that one of you was the reason that I went back to school to become a nurse....

When I had my son many years ago, I did not want any drugs, my husband was absolutely of no use...he was watching a basketball game on the TV....this was long before men got involved (lamaze, classes, etc.) I had the most wonderful, caring nurse...she breathed with me and spent much time with me during my 12 hr. labor....I just adored her !!!! She made such a difference in my experience that has lasted a lifetime.....I still talk about her when talking about childbirth !!!

Thank you all you great OB nurses, You DO make a difference....

and yes, this WAS in a small, rural hospital.....in Cumberland, Md.

[Sarah LnDHopes]

Thank you all for the insightful responses :) I'm currently nursing my son as I read, and will try to post a more thoughtful reply tomorrow!

[smithtip]

I have heard some horror stories from new grads that are orienting at facilities that are much bigger than the one I work it. As I mentioned in another post, we are a small "birthing center" that is in a hospital but a closed unit. We have 4 "birthing" rooms, two rooms that have standard hospitals beds in them - we try and use those for c-section patients, and an "exam" room that has been used to deliver babies in when there are a lot of people on the floor at once.

I used to be a social worker before I went to school to be a nurse (I'm a new grad too) so when I decided to go into maternity it was more for the education piece/pointing mom in the right direction for resources. I didn't enjoy labor and delivery during my clinical rotations because I felt like everything went too fast and I didn't understand why pregnant women were restricted to bed, forced to have foley's, etc. When I got the job at my current facility, I didn't have much choice but to also learn L&D because it is such a small facility and the nurses are assigned to rotating departments (meaning you do all three so I have to learn all three). However, being in the facility that I am in, I don't mind L&D as much besides feeling clueless on what to do - which I'm hoping will get better.

As someone said earlier, though, I could see blood being an issue, or screaming patients, or heck even screaming babies. Sometimes when you've got a real screecher for a baby it can be unnerving doing a PKU or drawing their CBC - so I suppose that could deter someone too.

[Neveranurseagain, RN]

When I was present at a friend's hospital birth--my OB experience was with a birth center and home births staffed with CNM's and CPM--I thought it was more like moving cattle thru chutes than a birth. Made me realize NEVER to work in a hospital as they view birth as an abnormal process.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

When I was in nursing school, I'd actually thought I'd love L&D, maybe even become a midwife. I love working with kids at church, I'd seen everything from cats and dogs to pigs and cattle born, and it's always a miracle to me, every time....I really thought that's where I'd end up.

Until I had to hand a baby back to it's crack mom. The kid was full term length but only 3 1/2 lbs, had skin like a Shar-Pei because mom's drug use had not only burned off all her fat, but all her baby's as well. Poor little thing when thru withdrawl, and would just shriek when you touched him. The doc got a drug screen on the baby, which was positive. Our state values "parental rights" and doesn't have the laws that would allow the child to be removed at birth....didn't help that this woman had 4 prior children (she was 19) and that I overheard the SW tell her, "now, you can be charged as an adult if you treat little John like you did the last kids..." I had to hand the baby back to the mom, who just placed it at the foot of the bed -- didn't feed it, didn't cuddle it, because she was too busy talking on the cell phone about who she could "party" with when she got home.

When I got home, my mom took one look at me and said, "who died?" I told her I couldn't have felt any worse if I'd taken the baby and threw it into the middle of I-85 -- it would probably have had a better chance. That kid's as doomed as if it was left in a snowbank in December.

So, anyway, that's why I don't do L&D.

[Barkow]

While I generally love my job, work politics get really stressful. I also think that the nurses on my unit have way more autonomy than they should (no in-house docs overnight, and they like their sleep). While I've learned a lot as a result, it gets frustrating to do and manage so many things.

Overall, the part I find most frustrating is seeing people have babies that don't value them as much as you would hope. Not every baby is created with the love and want that you'd expect, and too many babies are discharged into awful environments. A lot of the moms come out of bad situations as well. There are definitely wonderful situations that keep you going, but the bad ones are more frequent (at least where I work).

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

I don't want to do L&D b/c I know how I was and how my sister was when we were in labor...I'd have hated to have had to deal with either one of us!

[FroggyMama]

I was SO looking forward to working LDRP....until I got the job! I lasted about 6 mo. If I could have stayed in the nursery all the time, it would have been my dream job. I loved the babies.

But I absolutely hated the labors. I didn't like being screamed at, cursed at :argue:, kicked at, yelled at by allll the other people in the room, ignored by the pt and her baby daddy while they were watching TV and I was trying to save their baby's life , being constantly yelled at by the doctors, and mostly, having to hand those poor babies back to crackhead mothers who didn't even want them. Too much for me to take, so I left. Sure, I get a little of that kind of stuff on the floor, but in much smaller doses.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Some people are not adrenaline junkies, and L/D can certainly be one adrenaline rush after another. I'd much rather have 3-4-5 couplets and an antepartum on mother/baby, as hard as 5 couplets can be, than one or two labor patients. It can hit the fan so easily, and I don't like to be there when it does.

[Sarah LnDHopes]

Again, thank you everyone... I think I have a better perspective :) Think I'd still like to try, but will certainly be keeping an open mind.

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

Wow....reading some of these posts has been rather eye-opening!

I had my first child 29 years ago this past August and didn't get so much as a Tylenol during my labor. Had my second daughter 25 years ago -- nothing. And 21 years ago had my 9 lb. 9 oz. bouncing baby boy (oh, Lord) with NOTHING. It was at least offered but by the time I was ready to take them up on their offer I was too far gone, lol!

When did the mentality switch from "natural" births (as we called them in the old days) to this mentality of everyone with pit or epis?!?!

I know when my daughter her had kids 7 and 4 years ago, they slapped on the epis after a certain point in her labor, but she also hadn't attended any kind intense Lamaze classes like we had to. I also don't think she was anywhere near ready to handle labor without meds...

Anyway, interesting post...new grad here, working on a med/surg floor and SURE that this is not the place for me. Applied for a L/D position and am hoping to hear something this week.

Best wishes all!!

[SmilingBluEyes]

Some people do not like having to deal with the occasional heartbreaking losses that occur in OB. The old saying "when it's good, it's great----when it's bad, it's horrible" is never truer than in OB. When the poop hits the fan, it spreads far and wide. By that I mean, yes, most moms are healthy and the situations are positive. BUT in that rare case where life-threatening complications arise, well, this sticks with you a LONG time. The loss of a mom is horrendous and stays with you a lifetime.

Some can't handle that.......it's not natural for the young to die. It can and does happen, on occasion in OB. That can be a reason why someone may not like it.