What's so special about being a Postpartum Nurse?!

Fiona59 · Mar 29, 2011

Well, in my hospital post partum is a separate unit from L&D, so the nurses don't cross the floor lines.

Post partum is busy. Well, depends on the birth rate in your area and if you are a regional centre. Lots of teaching, lots of paperwork.

We started the shift with ten patients (5 mums, 5 babies) discharge them, get fresh deliveries. Our unit allocates you x number of rooms (we have semi's). During the shift it depends on how fast your beds are filled. I've heard of shifts where nurses have charted on over 20 patients on their 8 hour shift.

You need a thick skin and not focus on the babies. Ours is also an inner city hospital, so you have addicts delivering and are responsible for the urine catches on the newborns, we have babies apprehended on a regular basis by the province. Can you handle telling a 15yo Mum that the government has taken her child into care? Our nothern territories send their multiples and high risk deliveries south, we are the regional centre. So, lots of different cultures and languages.

The hostile Mum who had her "birth plan" not go her way due to an emergency. I remember one who verbally abused her husband so badly, the hospital social worker was called in.

There is no such thing as a typical day in nursing. Especially on postpartum. I've heard of fights between the grannies, various candidates for fatherhood arriving to meet their new offspring (security loved that one, almost like a Jerry Springer show), professional athletes spouses delivering who think the sun rises and sets by their needs. Working with a mum who has lost one twin and safely delivered the other. Working with a woman who's first delivery will be her only delivery due to an emergency c-section with horrible complications.

You just learn to roll with the flow and hope for a good shift. You learn not to laugh when you hear some of the new names and spellings the child is being saddled with.

Usually, the post partum nurses are older. Ours are mainly over 40 and never leave. Maybe two vacancies a year.

Florence NightinFAIL, BSN, RN · Mar 29, 2011

I have always wanted to work in maternity. Preferably postpartum because I have not had any clinicals/experience with labour & delivery and really like the patient education centered focus of PP.

I know there are certain classes to take to get into L&D....is there anything you have to have if you want to get into PP with medsurg background only?

NPvampire, MSN, RN, APRN · Mar 29, 2011

I don't do L&D, but most job postings I've seen require ACLS and PALS.

serenity1 · Mar 29, 2011

I have been in PP for a year now. I can't imagine working in any other department. As stated above, there is no "typical" day. I work night shift so it is a little quieter in the hospital than day shift. Normally, we take 4 moms and 4 babies--but it could be 6 moms and 2 babies as sometimes the babies are in the NICU. It just depends, but we usually do not have more than 8 patients total. We are also separate from L&D. I hold NRP, BLS and STABLE certifications.

You never know what you are going to get..lady partsl delivery, c-section, both. Usually it is a mix. I assess mom and baby and also weigh the babies on my shift. We have to do newborn labs/screening and bilirubin checks around the 24 hour mark. I pass a lot of pain meds and colace. Moms can be very healthy and stable or very sick, some are abusing drugs and CPS gets involved. We get moms on magnesium, antibiotics, etc. I have had moms come over with the epidural still in place due to low platelets. I deal with moms of very sick infants or fetal demises. It can be very rough some days.

My patients have ranged from 14 to 48 years old, and from many cultures. For many it is their first baby. There is a lot of patient education in postpartum. It is my responsibility to make sure the patient knows how to care for herself and infant before she leaves. Breastfeeding takes a lot of my time. Babies do not all come out knowing how to breastfeed and it can be extremely frustrating for moms. I do not "play with and hold" babies all night as some of my friends think.

I love being a postpartum nurse. There are sad/bad days, but the majority of my days are happy. Most of my patients are pleasant and eager to learn about caring for their new baby. It is a lot of work, and it will keep you hopping. I feel very blessed to have the position I have, although I have struggled with my expectations of what I thought nursing would be like in general. I see myself possibly cross training to L&D in the future, and I am working on teaching our prenatal classes. Good luck....go for it!!:)

MomBabyUnitRN · Mar 29, 2011

What's it like being a pp nurse?

Love/love relationship with my patients. You still need a lot of patience to work with some of the mom/dads because sometimes they thing that texting their friends is more important than feeding their infant. Sometimes they think that anything is more important than their infant. You really have to lay the law down and let them know that their infant is top priority. We don't get a lot of parents like that, but they do arrive often. I really do love my job and wouldn't want to go back to med/surg. I think after 15 years of doing med/surg, correctional, ER, and other things, I've deserved to get here. :) I work the night shift. It is sometimes just as busy as the day shift with couplets coming and going, but mostly they're just coming. :) We typically have young, college aged patients with a few older ones thrown in.

What is a typical day like?

Busy. Just plain busy. A lot of teaching, a lot of medicating and a lot of babysitting. It's not all about sitting around and rocking babies. In our facility, we don't have a well baby nursery. We do encourage rooming in with their infants but sometimes the parents are just too tired to even function. I don't mind taking their baby for a few hours to let them sleep. There are discharges/admissions. A LOT of breastfeeding teaching.

How many patients do you usually have?

We typically have three couplets at the most. I've taken care of more, but at our facility, it's usually three couplets. So that's six patients in all I chart on.

Do any of you have certs/specialized in this area?

Yep. You have to take NRP (Neonatal resuscitation), BLS, ACLS, S.T.A.B.L.E., Breast feeding classes, and other ones like shoulder dystocia and other problems.

TonieRN · Mar 29, 2011

PP?? I started in Labor and Delivery as a nursing student...hired into PP as a new grad and cross trained to Labor. Some people seem to think that PP is a breeze....soooo wrong. I agree, you must have thick skin. I sooo remember my last week of orientation on PP...gosh...one of those days when if something COULD go wrong, it did. This was at an inner city hospital...we had everything. This particular day..had 7 couplets with a nursing assistant suppose to be helping me. My 24 hr c-section dehicsed....while her babys circ started bleeding...while Labor room was calling for my BTL to come over and while another Labor nurse was calling wanting to give report...while my NA was MIA.....I also remember the 15 yr old who i could not even get to hold her baby, much less to learn to care for the infant...gma took care of the baby. Also remember walking into a room..again on orientation..had two twelve yr old moms in this room...they were playing house with their babies. Remember the 17 yr old G3P3..going into the room at 9am..baby pushed against the wall crying...I gently made the comment "your baby is crying"...she responded with "ya, the snot nosed brat wont shut up"...i checked the babys chart...baby hadnt eaten in 4 hrs....was hungry....talked to social services..told they could not do anything since no actual abuse occurred but could see if she would be open to home followup. This was while i had young ones at home, myself. I learned...spent many days crying the entire 30 min drive home, i did toughen up...learned to separate. Realized i could not solve everyones problems all of the time...did the best i could. prayed alot...hoped i made a difference. Yes, i too remember the drug addictied babies...gosh, soo many babies i wanted nothing more than to take home with me...to protect...to love..couldnt tho. My typical attitude was to do the best I could every day...to try to make a diffence..realizing I may never know whether i did or not. Showing these mothers compassion...often times mothering the mothers.....And I wouldnt trade my nursing experience AT ALL..i was where i was suppose to be when i was suppose to be there, if that makes sense.

blessings

DownSouthDiva · Mar 29, 2011

PP Nurses:

What's it like being a pp nurse?

--- I've only EVER wanted to be an OB nurse & I honestly love it! I spend majority of my day focusing on patient education!!!

What is a typical day like?

--While I was working days (a lot of hustle and bustle),

0730: All babes into the nursery for rounds by peds and nursing assessment

0830: All mom assessments done, pass morning meds (normally stool softener, ibuprofen and multivitamin)

0900-1200: Get discharge out the door

1400: Rounds on babies (get temp, review pee/poop sheet)

1600: Rounds on moms (I/O) & evening meds

on nights, there's not as much hustle but when the $h*t hits the fan, it goes bad quickly!!

1920 -- Assess babes whose parents aren't attending discharge class and return to moms room

2100 -- Discharge class taught by RN (assess those parents babes while they are in class)

-- Pass evening meds

0100 : pass meds

0300: rounds on babies

0500: rounds on moms

0600: early am med pass

In the midst of that stuff, new admissions, hemorrhage, breastfeeding help and pain control take up the remaining time.

How many patients do you usually have?

-- up to 4 couplets (moms and babes); only 3 if there's a patient on magnesium sulfate

--if staffing perhaps, if there are twins, 3 couplets as well

Do any of you have certs/specialized in this area?

NRP

PALS

STABLE

--at our facility we are allowed to cross train, in fact they encourage it because we are a closed unit.

Hope that helps

caregiver1977 · Mar 29, 2011

I have given birth to 5 children, and it was the PP nurses who comforted me when my hormone's were crazy and I couldn't stop crying and didn't know why. It was the PP nurses who comforted me when my husband (he has his good and bad moments) would either fuss at me at the hospital or over the phone when I was still recovering from the medicine they gave me for my pre enclampsia/high blood pressure and dealing with our seriously jaundiced son. I can't think of one bad experience I had with a PP nurse (but I can think of a few with my L&D ones :)

For some patients who don't have a lot of support, you are going to be one of their only sources of comfort. I don't know if that is right, but it happens.

caregiver1977 · Mar 29, 2011

magnesium sulfate! That was the stuff! Imagine trying to recover from that stuff and giving birth and being fussed at by your husband because your older child acted up at daycare! The PP nurses were a God-send to me!

katesans1 · Sep 20, 2017

Didn't have 5 kids, just one. But the PP nurses that cared for me and educated me in those vulnerable post c-section hours are the reason I'm going back to school at 34 to be a Nurse. I can't wait to pay it all the way forward.