So I haven't posted after the past 2 shifts and I have many crazy things that have happened. First, an overview: I am still loving L and D and have only one more week left until I move to Women's Specialty OB. I am so much more comfortable with the patients, nurses, floor and process of labor and delivery and can really see myself doing this in the future. I can't imagine that seeing a baby in it's first few seconds of life will ever get old!
Now, onto some of the crazy stuff. (This seems to be a recurring theme on L and D)...
I had my first two patients who were substance abusers...my shift ended before I was able to see the babies born so I'm not sure how they turned out but I know that since they receive oxygen and nutrition via the placenta, they also have been exposed to the drugs that their mother's were abusing. This means the baby will need to be weened off of the drugs when they are born. I can't imagine that this is a good way for a child to come into the world and this is why education about birth control is so important. My first patient was abusing prescription drugs but my second patient was abusing harder drugs. (Side story: apparently they are being monitored by DSS because the father runs a meth lab. When asked what he did for a profession he promptly reported that he was a, "Chemical Engineer"...nice try buddy). (Second side story: when I walked into their room just to throw something away he had his shirt off and I was so flustered I dropped what I was holding, picked it up, dropped it again on the way to the trashcan, and then got my sleeve caught in the trashcan...awkward...and I never figured out why he too off his shirt). Anyways, while we gave the same care to these patients as all of the other ones, its harder to feel joyous and excited for them, however, it is a good eye opener for me that there are so many different kinds of people out there.
Remember in my last post when I said I had to change my scrubs because someone's amniotic fluid splashed on me? Well today someone was pushing and she squirted pee on me...for some reason it wasn't as gross (is that weird?) but I'm realizing now that in nursing and especially L and D, you have to just roll with it. It's a good lesson for me to apply to my everyday life so I'm just going to look at it positively!
Last small story to end the post...I saw the biggest baby today! He was ten pounds and his mom was tiny. I know ten pounds isn't the biggest baby ever but it was the biggest I'd ever seen! I could barely lift him when we were weighing him (maybe I need to lift weights some more...) and his hands and feet were huge. He was very cute and chubby which I personally think makes babies look cuter.
Anyways, can't wait to see what my last week on L and D has in store for me!
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