Birthday Nurse

Does Friday night have an OB curse everywhere?! It's like a full moon...Friday nights have a reputation for being beyond crazy!! Walk in the door @ 1830 and there are no empty rooms...and the board is FULL of labors! Labors are good....it means that they will get delivered and open up a room eventually...but they also can't be stacked up with one nurse, so it takes more nurses to take care of a board of labors over a board of antepartums. Still...I'd rather take labors anyday! Most of the labors were inductions hanging around from 0700, anywhere from 4-8cm. First clue that maybe the night is gonna be full of surprises, in the midst of a pushing marathon a family member passes out, splits their head open and is unresponsive on the floor. It took 3 docs and multiple nurses calling down to ED to have them send a gurney up to get her. "Well...can you put her in a wheelchair and bring her down, we're busy." Um...no. She's unconscious, we can't jus put her i...

And how did we finish the last week of the year?! Like crazy nurses at work! Our "goal" to beat a yearly record of babies was to deliver 315 this month. Because of the holidays we were a few behind, but I think this last week we went crazy and ended up at 300. I worked Christmas night...and the next 3. Christmas night was super slow, we were in the middle of a huge snow storm. I sat for 8hrs without a patient! It was pretty amazing :) We sat around and made no-bake cookies in the lounge and had some good laughs. The next 3 nights...were not so laid-back and relaxed. We had like 19-20 babies every day, there were a bazillion inductions/c-sections scheduled and we kept hoppin'! I had a good delivery each night, did my first c/s with the new (kick me!) charting system and survived :) We all learned a valuable lesson about not opening our mouth about our shift being over and took a crash c/s back at 0643 at change of shift. Craziness!! Ready to see what another year brings! ...

I'd forgotten how hard it is to go back to work after a long stretch off! Maybe that's because it's been so long since I had more than 2 days off in a row! After going in extra for a few hours both last Thursday and Friday I was off 'till last night! Count it...that's 5 whole days off!! It continues to be super, crazy, insane busy at work. We had 7 deliveries just on night shift alone, with a board full of cervidils and antepartums to beat. We were busy, but thank goodness we had 7 nurses there too! I had my first delivery in what's seemed like ages. At least 2 weeks I think. I wasn't all sure that it was going to be vaginal, but she did it!! I was so proud of her! 1st baby and a great support system in her sister, boyfriend and boyfriends' mom (even more impressive that the baby wasn't this boyfriend's but from a previous relationship). It was fantastic! We've had 210 babies as of midnight on the 18 th ...that's a lot. If it weren'...

I set a new record at work last night...3 babies in a shift! I don't think I sat down all shift! And I know I didn't have a chance to pee all night (but that's nothing new anymore) :( I had one delivery right off the bat @ 1845. Sweet little gal I had cervidiled the night before. Getting induced early for low fluid, never really thought she'd deliver vaginally. She did awesome!! Got delivery #1 recovered and moved, then took over another labor patient from another nurse. She was 5, blocked/comfy and went from 5 to complete in about 45minutes! She was a great pusher and had a fantastic soundtrack of "pump-it-up" music that we played while we pushed. It was the best pushing session I've had in a while! It gives the nurses energy too! She had a little bit of a long repair afterwards, but was a trooper about it. Got delivery #2 half way recovered before my next patient got there. She labored pretty well, tried the tub, tried an epidural that didn't really...

One of my favorite things is when I get to deliver someone who has personally asked me to be her nurse. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach that someone picked ME to be their nurse and I wasn't just the one who got assigned to her! One of my friends asked me months ago to be her L&D nurse and we've just been waiting and waiting. I think the waiting's been worse on her than me...she's been ready for this baby to be here for months I think!! I just finished a stretch of 8 days off and was out of town for part of it and we all knew that's when Little Miss was going to make her appearance. Mom had been contracting for days and days. She'd gone in for a labor check and wasn't doing anything. She was scheduled for an induction a couple days past her due date and wasn't too thrilled about that. Finally, my first day back at work, she came in ruptured and delivered in 3 hrs!! It was so fun! Super delivery and a super sweet baby. Congrats to Mom,...

Promise I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! More like into the crater of work! Even though it's the middle of October we're still busting at the seams and somehow managing to survive and laugh about it. Several fun babies lately...all girls, go figure!! There were moments that I felt like and idiot, a bad nurse and almost shed a few tears on the job...but then I look back on that night and think of all the things I learned and all the things I did that I didn't know I new how to do! I learned all about doing a D&C in our OB OR's ...something I'd never done. How to do a sterile vag prep (I've talked to 1 nurse on the floor who'd ever had to do that...). I learned that I could put a scalp lead on someone who was 1/60/posterior when I had heart tones in the 50's (even the doctor was impressed at that!)...and I learned that I could stand up to a doctor and get what I needed for a patient. I also learned that I have some of the BEST co-worke...

Wow, I'm been doing this blog in spurts lately...I end up doing it AFTER I've worked for the week ' cuz there's not much energy in between shifts! This month has been crazy busy, we were already pretty close to 300 babies when I left on Thursday morning!! I've had several nice deliveries, 2 of them last night!! Yay for double deliveries! The two last night were 2 within an hour, that's always good for getting the heartrate up! I did one delivery of "my girl" that I'd had since the beginning of the shift, then walked out and there was another girl that was 7-8 and for some reason the nurse that had her wanted me to take her and finish her delivery. I'm not sure why but the girl was unblocked and there wasn't much time to argue!!! By the time I walked down to the room (for the first time) the midwife said that she was 9+ and wanted to get back in the tub. I wouldn't have gotten her up to the tub at that close to delivery, but the midw...

Only 2 birthdays in the last week :( We've been having babies right and left it seems...I just haven't been involved in them. That makes me sad!!! I want some babies!! It seems like I've had cervidils and antes a lot lately. Boo. Neither of my birthdays have been terrifically outstanding either. Pretty "run-of-the-mill" almost...for lack of a better word...boring! The first one was a close friend of the doctor...so get this...the doc stood in the room and pushed with her for an hour and a half!! Seriously?! I love this doc, she's great, one of our favorites. But come on. I can think of only a handful of things that can make an L&D nurse feel more useless and a waste of space than standing at the perineum and pushing with the patient the entire time. Makes it even worse when the patients husband is there, and so is her sister...who is a pediatrician. So for an hour and a half I stood in the corner, dumping some astroglide everyonce in a while while doc, pat...

By Thursday night I was seriously dragging. We had all gotten our butts kicked all week long, and you could tell all us nurses were getting near the end of our strings... I took my patient back for a C/S about 1910 after her being a cervidil the night before and then on pit all day and having made NO change. That and the fact that every time she rolled or changed position baby would have a nice 5-6min decel . A C/S was definitely the best decision for her and her baby. She was a young mom, first baby, and she was giving the baby up for adoption after 24hrs. Got her all ready and back to the section we go. That's where things started spiraling out of control. We had a great anes team on that night, and usually it takes all of about 10 mins to get the spinal in and the patient comfy. So we started working in the back, since we didn't really want to move mom and cause another decel anes tried to put the block in while Mom was laying on her side. This is nothing new for them, ...

After Tuesday night I was already tired and it was only my 2 nd shift! The fact that I picked up an extra 6hrs Monday night really threw me off, and I couldn't even tell you what day it was! Wednesday I took a patient that followed me in the door for a rule out labor ( ROL ). I ruled her out after an hour, made her mad that I was sending her home, and tried to explain that I couldn't "force" her to leave but that I really thought she'd be more comfortable not in our beds and not being able to drink, eat or smoke her cigarettes . She finally decided to leave. Then I took another ROL , got her in a bed, then got a page that somehow it was my turn to take ANOTHER patient. Ok ...so I ran for about an hour and a half, the on-call doctor for the 1st patient decided that since she lived an hour away she should stay and would "probably go into labor during the night." I got her settled, gave her 50mg of vistaril to help her sleep (same sleepy effect of benadr...

Probably should talk about Friday night before I talk about the craziness of last night! Friday night...I walked into a girl who was unblocked and on pit but who really hadn't changed all day. I walked down with the day shift nurse to check her right before shift change...she was 8. (Still unblocked). Got the room all set up, gave her a few more contractions...checked her again...she was 9.5...few more contractions , complete. Please let the doc get here! I didn't put her in stirrups 'till I had the doc present and accounted for and I was sure I was gonna catch the baby...but I didn't. Nice delivery, she was so proud of herself for going un -blocked, and with good reason! I love it when they think they're only 2 and then realize that they're like 8 or 9 or complete. It's amazing how well they stay in control that way vs. knowing that they're getting closer and closer. I wonder if it really is a mind game!! So I hung out with my postpartum cuplet (since ...

Needless to say, it's been beyond crazy at work. I somehow managed to slip by on-call for part of my shift Friday night, I couldn't believe it! Then the calls started coming... Saturday night...sorry I have a wedding Sunday morning! Sunday... the manager of the entire Women's & Children's department called...twice!...sorry, I've got a bridesmaid dress on and I'm getting ready to march down the aisle! Monday ...just got off a mower after 5 hrs in 100 degree heat. Tuesday... I was scheduled to work, and sure enough it was crazy. Somehow we've only had like 3 or 4 nurses scheduled every night, to cover an completely full board. We had more nurses there on time and a half pay than we did straight pay Tuesday night! I delivered a girl on mag about 2100, and as I walk out of that delivery with pressures of 160's/100's I get a page that there's a cervidil coming that I need to take. Since when is an unstable mag patient not 1-to-1? Whatever wor...

So because of a fetal monitoring class this week that's required (even though we're not getting paid for it...) my schedule got all mixed up. Instead of working Sun/Mon/Tues and then having my long stretch off, I work Sun/Mon, class all day Wed/Thurs, then work Friday night. Then they "had" to switch my schedule next week because someone else had to change nights so I'm working like Tue/Wed/Fri. It makes no sense to me, and I can't say that it's all working out just how I want it, but I'm sure I'll survive somehow. It will be nice only working 2 IAR this week for a change instead of 3!! Looking @ the positive :) I started out the shift tonight with a postpartum mag patient...plus the baby. So even though they still say that I need to orient to M/B, they feel free to assign me a M/B patient before I've been over there. Maybe now they won't feel the need to float me over there since they can just assign me a M/B team over on labor now! Whate...

So Monday was my birthday, and I wasn't originally supposed to work. But then I switched a shift with another nurse so she could do something with her daughter...so I ended up working. I know nobody likes to work on their birthday, but I thought it was kinda fun! I had put in the request book that I did want a labor patient, because if I was gonna work my birthday, then I didn't want antes or postpartum! The worst part of the deal was that I only got one night off (Sunday night) between my 2 sets of 3 IAR , so that was kind a bummer. But tonight was good! I did get my birthday twin, a nice couple, a good delivery. She delivered right around 2100 and had a little girl! Yay ! It's kinda weird to think that not-all-that-many years ago that was my mom and dad looking at their first baby and not sure exactly what hit them...then here that baby is helping another mom and dad do the same thing! That's pretty cool :) It turned out that we had 3 back-to-back-to-back deliveries ...

This weekend has been CRAZY. Not "no end of patients" crazy, just steady and "nobody goes home" weekend! After the 33wkr came in with no heart tones on Friday night, things just snowballed. I feel like I've gotten SUPER lucky though. I've had AMAZING patients and AMAZING delivereis EVERY NIGHT!! Makes up for that week of all antes and NO babies! Anyway...I'm pooped! Friday night I got a totally cool patient, she's a nurse at one of the children's hospitals in town. I feel an extra bond when the patient is a nurse too, even if they don't know the first thing about labor. I think there is something to be said for having the common ground of just working in a hopsital. They know what it's like to get tied up with doctors, they know what it's like when things have to change or don't go EXACTLY as planned, they've learned what it's like to go with the flow. Even if you're not a nurse, you still understand the environment an...

So after my little "bike accident" on Monday...I've turned down more extra shifts at work than I EVER have. Mark this one down for the record books...I didn't even step foot inside the hospital since I left last Wednesday morning 'till I went back for some simulation drills this Wednesday night! That's over 7 whole days...gotta be a record for me!!! I'm sad about all that extra that I missed :( I felt super guilty and stayed for 2 hrs after the sim drills to do a C/S recovery Wednesday night and counted it my extra shift for my week off. And then did a full 12hr shift Thursday night. Things haven't slowed down...that's for sure! I did have a nice delivery, first one in a while after having antes all week last week. I went in early for a nurse so she could leave @ 1730...it's amazing how just an extra hour or two at work can make the shift seem never ending. After the delivery I took a cervidil , then another cervidil , then handed them off, th...

12hrs Monday night, 12 hrs Tuesday night, 13.5hrs Wednesday night, got a call and went in @ 0430 on Friday morning, then got another call last night and went in from 2300 to 0400. Part of 5 shifts in 1 week! I took tonight off before I start my 3 IAR tomorrow. When I got there last night they re-evaluated the board and kinda figured that they hadn't needed me as desperately as they thought they did, several of the patients ended up going home, and they did some re-assignments. If we get called in, we get paid for at least 2 hrs, so I figured I'd sit for 2 hrs and then go home. I helped move a patient or two, did some random stuff and was just about to leave when one of the doctors came down from the lounge and said he had a patient coming in who thought her water broke. He said that her own doctor was coming on call at 0700, so to just tuck her in and wait for the morning. So I said I'd hang out, get her started, then leave. Story short, she delivered an hour and a half ...

For an un -usual 3 IAR (Mon/Tues/Weds nights), this week's been pretty good! They called me 2 minutes before my alarm went off yesterday "can you come in early?!" it always scares me when DAY shift is calling for help, because seriously, if they have 10 or 12 nurses there already, how do they expect a night staff of 5 MAYBE 6 to handle it? And yet we always do...anyway, that's besides the point. So after getting ready and across town in rush hour traffic, I finally clocked in about 1800. As I was walking in, I met the couple I had triaged the night before and ruled OUT of labor, in the lobby. Guess the UC's came back! Nobody was expecting them, so I jumped at the chance to take them again. They were really sweet and I had been sad to send them home yesterday morning anyway. She was a good change from that morning, and I had her admitted, AROM'd (per doc), comfy with a block and all my paperwork done by 1930! Everyone else on night shift was just getting s...

Ok , hold the phone...last night...there were THREE nurses on L&D...ALL NIGHT LONG!!! I was a little nervous about it, combined, the 3 of us have about 4 years of experience, two of us are '08 grads, the other an '07 grad. Not that we're not capable nurses...but I know there's lots of stuff I've NEVER done, and if some train wreck walked in we'd be in deep meconium ! But...the night was great! I sent a triage home, there were 3 antes, I took a SROM , there was a cervidil , then after my delivery we had 2 ROL's walk in and then we had the 0730 C/S to get ready, but together we got it done! We were all pretty proud of ourselves. We had 4 nurses at home on call, so that made us feel a lot better, but we didn't ' need them! When we were leaving this morning I kept looking around wondering where all the night shift people were...and then remembered that there were only 3 of us! My delivery last night was a little crazy, she was a multip , SROM , star...

So after my melt-down post yesterday...I had a mag gal who had been cervidil'd X2, pit all day yesterday and was 5. Then she was complete at 1915 and we had a baby by 2030! Yea! But then again, the baby was only 4#3, so I would HOPE it didn't take too long to push out! Seriously though, more mag? I think at last count (after starting someone else last night) we have 5 patients on mag. That's insane! Our manager was in helping us 'till 0300 this morning and we had a little chat about an antepartum unit...and those of us from last night NEVER having to work it! Sure, a load of easy ante's is kinda nice every once in a while, but all these pre-terms, mags, etc are too much! I was talking to J on the way home this morning after we called a rapid response on her delivery from last night and she mentioned how nothing was every "low-risk" anymore. Every delivery has some complication or the mom is some kind of sick. Must be something in the water... So after I go...