What is your role?

L&D you spend a lot of time watching the nurse. She/he sometimes lets you do things, too. You'll learn scheduled c-section prep, fetal monitoring, NSVD monitoring, etc. For actual births, you will probably only observe or maybe help in positioning during a lady partsl delivery. Try to connect what you are seeing with what you've learned in class. Make the connections!

Your floor might have a nursery. You'll learn taking vitals on a newborn, feeding, burping, diapering, observe NG tube feeding and bilirubin light therapy.

In postpartum, you'll do a full PP assessment, flow charting, and rooming-in baby assessment. A lot of PP is patient teaching and answering questions. It is probably one of the more pt. education intensive rotations you'll ever be on because you educate at every contact. The mother and/or father WILL ask you questions, even if you are not accompanied by a nurse or your clinical instructor. Don't make up stuff to say to them if you don't know; they deserve better than that. So, be prepared, and don't be afraid to say, "I'm not sure about that. I'll check and get back to you." And be sure you actually get back to them!

Pain assessment is huge in OB! I did mostly PP, and the pain can come from incisions, episiotomies, afterbirth pains, etc. Know the nonpharm techniques for pain management, esp. for episiotomies. Some pain is expected in OB, but your role is to help bring it down to a manageable level, as determined by the patient, using a variety of techniques.

You'll have the reluctant ambulators, and a good nurse is incredibly persuasive and helpful to get the mom to take care of herself and get home. I saw one mom holding on tightly to her post c-section PCA, and the nurse spent two hours (off and on) persuading and cheerleading her to start ambulating, working her through her anticipation of pain, etc.

Breastfeeding can be frustrating, especially for new moms or moms who tried it on previous children and did not have the support they deserved. Positioning, latching-on, nipple care is very important for these moms. You'll see your nurse walk into a room with the mom trying--frustrated--and then the nurse educated the mom, and it is wonderful to see a once-frustrated mother have a smile on her face as her newborn is feeding. I saw it more than once.

Depending on census and what you are and are not allowed to do, you might experience more downtime with this rotation than in others. Pass food trays, pick them up, refill water, change trash, etc. You can keep yourself busy to an extent.

I know there's more, but that's all I can think of right now.