my job

When people find out that I work as a nurse in Labor and Delivery, I usually get two pretty standard reactions. Girls say something like, "Oh wow, that's got to be amazing." Guys say something like, "Ew, gross, I don't want any details."

I also get to hear a lot of people's birth stories, like how long they pushed, how bad it hurt, how incredible epidurals are, how big their baby was, and how hard or easy the following few days were. I think that being a nurse offers people some level of comfort in their candidness. Often, before saying something really gross or personal, they begin with, "Well, this might be too much information, but you're a nurse, so you're used to it." Then they proceed to describe their placenta, their episiotomy, their hemorrhoids, and their subsequent need for Colace. I totally thrive on these conversations. Ya'll are talking my language!

With all that said, I also get asked, "Well, what exactly do you do?" So I'll take a second to tell you, in limited detail, what my job consists of.

First and foremost, I am a labor nurse. I admit patients, put in their IVs, give them any meds or fluids they might need, watch their vital signs (blood pressure, temp, heart rate), monitor their contraction rate and strength, monitor baby's heart rate, stay with them through an epidural placement if that's what they choose, offer labor support, keep them breathing and in control when it hurts so bad, coach them through pushing, call the docs when delivery is immanent, and watch them closely after they deliver.

I am also a baby nurse, which means that I take care of the baby right after its born--making sure baby is breathing and stable, suctioning all the gunk out of the lungs, weighing baby, doing footprints, and wrapping baby up for mommy and daddy. That's one of my favorite things--to take a new baby to his or her parents for the first time. Pretty cool moment.

Then there's the OR...whenever my patient has to have a C-Section, I work as a circulating nurse in the OR, meaning I document everything that is happening, get the patient prepared for surgery, keep an eye on things, and get anything that the MDs or Scrub Techs might need for the surgery. Love the OR.

After the OR, I become a PACU nurse, which means I watch the patient as she recovers from the C-Section. There, I mostly monitor vital signs and do pain management, which is usually morphine, because it works. I also help mommy and baby bond despite a little harder road to delivery.

I'm just learning how to be a triage nurse, which means that I help the MDs figure out who needs to stay on our unit and who needs to go home. This mostly involves asking patients lots of questions and monitoring them for a little while. Triage gets exciting when a patient comes in and tries to deliver in the hallway or at the front desk. Then we have to move pretty quick. Or really quick. This usually only happens when someone has had more than one baby. We keep a pretty close eye/hand on moms who have had more than 3.

Eventually, I will be able to be a scrub nurse, which means I get to scrub in the OR and hand the MDs their instruments for C-Sections. Some people say its great, others say its terrifying. Either way, at least I'll be learning something.

So that's pretty much my job...go team va-jay-jay. I have lots of amazing patients, and some pretty difficult ones too. Regardless, I get to see babies born just about every shift, and it never fails to blow my mind to see a new, little life. God is good...