Wednesday was my last OB clinical, which made me sad. I have never looked forward to clinicals as much as I have for this class. I loved all aspects of mother-baby care and am even considering Newborn and NICU in some of my top choices in nursing interests. This was a great experience and I wish I could have more, but unfortunately, that is not how nursing school works.
My last day I was in Labor and Delivery. It was much slower than the first day I was there, however, there was already one lady about to deliver and another coming soon. The nurse "asked" the first mom if we (the 2 students) could come in and watch, and of course she said no. You can't just ask a lady in the process of pushing if people can watch. Its all in how you ask, or not ask. I mean, you don't ask if the nurse can come in, do you? But really, there is a way to do it that works and just coming right out and saying, "Do you mind if the students come in and watch?" isn't it.
So the other student and I took it upon ourselves to start working with the next mom to get acquainted with the mom and her family so that we could just be a part of the delivery when the time came. There were 2 more moms who were progressing rather nicely as well and they happened to share the same nurse who was the most helpful to us, the students, that day. She was great- asked us questions about the whys of things, showed us things, asked us for help. Its always great to have a nurse who didn't forget he or she was a student once, too. Anyway, the mom ended up delivering at about 10:45am and it was so awesome! I just loved watching the proud grandma's face as she watched her firstborn grandchild enter life and it did make me all teary. I loved watching the dad as his son entered the world, so very cool. I ended up even holding one of the mom's legs up as she pushed her son out, with NO epidural mind you!!! She was awesome. It was awesome. I so wished I could have been part of more deliveries.
The other 2 moms was kind of a funny thing. They had the same nurse, had the same doctor, were exactly the same amount effaced, the same dilation, everything. They were progressing about the same rate. At 2:30 they were both at 9 cm and were nearing delivery, but we were supposed to meet our instructor for our post-conference meeting and clinical evaluations (usually we left the floor at 3:30pm) so we didn't get to be there for those deliveries. I was bummed, because I had been working with one of the moms all day, they were expecting their first born, a boy and I watched as the mom made the decision to just take the epidural after she had really wanted to try not to. I also watched as her baby had some decelerations of the fetal heart rate, what's called "late decelerations" and is not a good sign. The nurse I was with immediately ran into her room, while another nurse on the floor, who was watching the monitor, called in to see if she needed help, to which she replied a yes. The other nurse came in fast and immediately started running oxygen to give to the patient and they had the patient turn on her side, left to be exact. It was a little bit of a scare, but in the end, the nurse's were able to get the baby to get the oxygen he needed to maintain his heart rate. After all of this, I really wanted to be there to see them welcome their baby into the world. Alas, this was not the case for me.
But I did get to witness at least one vaginal delivery, and for that I am thankful.
I am off from clinical for the next 2 weeks, then I begin 2 weeks of campus lab days for Ortho/Neuro (2 days each week). Four weeks from now, well more like maybe 3.5 weeks, I will start in the hospital for Ortho/Neuro and I will have 6 weeks there.
Time really is flying fast now. My final is Friday. I have 3 classes/7 months left. It was 7 months ago I started the specialty rotations and now they are done. Wow. It is amazing to me how fast this journey is going. Once I remember thinking nursing school would never begin, and here it is nearly ending.
I won't have anything to update this week, so I will be studying until my final.
I will let you know how things went then. :)
My last day I was in Labor and Delivery. It was much slower than the first day I was there, however, there was already one lady about to deliver and another coming soon. The nurse "asked" the first mom if we (the 2 students) could come in and watch, and of course she said no. You can't just ask a lady in the process of pushing if people can watch. Its all in how you ask, or not ask. I mean, you don't ask if the nurse can come in, do you? But really, there is a way to do it that works and just coming right out and saying, "Do you mind if the students come in and watch?" isn't it.
So the other student and I took it upon ourselves to start working with the next mom to get acquainted with the mom and her family so that we could just be a part of the delivery when the time came. There were 2 more moms who were progressing rather nicely as well and they happened to share the same nurse who was the most helpful to us, the students, that day. She was great- asked us questions about the whys of things, showed us things, asked us for help. Its always great to have a nurse who didn't forget he or she was a student once, too. Anyway, the mom ended up delivering at about 10:45am and it was so awesome! I just loved watching the proud grandma's face as she watched her firstborn grandchild enter life and it did make me all teary. I loved watching the dad as his son entered the world, so very cool. I ended up even holding one of the mom's legs up as she pushed her son out, with NO epidural mind you!!! She was awesome. It was awesome. I so wished I could have been part of more deliveries.
The other 2 moms was kind of a funny thing. They had the same nurse, had the same doctor, were exactly the same amount effaced, the same dilation, everything. They were progressing about the same rate. At 2:30 they were both at 9 cm and were nearing delivery, but we were supposed to meet our instructor for our post-conference meeting and clinical evaluations (usually we left the floor at 3:30pm) so we didn't get to be there for those deliveries. I was bummed, because I had been working with one of the moms all day, they were expecting their first born, a boy and I watched as the mom made the decision to just take the epidural after she had really wanted to try not to. I also watched as her baby had some decelerations of the fetal heart rate, what's called "late decelerations" and is not a good sign. The nurse I was with immediately ran into her room, while another nurse on the floor, who was watching the monitor, called in to see if she needed help, to which she replied a yes. The other nurse came in fast and immediately started running oxygen to give to the patient and they had the patient turn on her side, left to be exact. It was a little bit of a scare, but in the end, the nurse's were able to get the baby to get the oxygen he needed to maintain his heart rate. After all of this, I really wanted to be there to see them welcome their baby into the world. Alas, this was not the case for me.
But I did get to witness at least one vaginal delivery, and for that I am thankful.
I am off from clinical for the next 2 weeks, then I begin 2 weeks of campus lab days for Ortho/Neuro (2 days each week). Four weeks from now, well more like maybe 3.5 weeks, I will start in the hospital for Ortho/Neuro and I will have 6 weeks there.
Time really is flying fast now. My final is Friday. I have 3 classes/7 months left. It was 7 months ago I started the specialty rotations and now they are done. Wow. It is amazing to me how fast this journey is going. Once I remember thinking nursing school would never begin, and here it is nearly ending.
I won't have anything to update this week, so I will be studying until my final.
I will let you know how things went then. :)
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