L&D

Finally Med Surg clinicals are over! The stress of pre loading and writing care plans is over...for now! Oh well, I have to enjoy the little things. My Maternity nursing clinicals have started. They actually started last Friday. We get to go to Labor and Delivery, Postpartum, or Nursery. These clinicals are only for 3 weeks. Last Friday, I had the privilege of going to L&D which was something I was really looking forward to. I just think it's amazing to see something like life being started. It's really encouraging especially since most of the time you have to see patients because they are hurt and are in need of some medical intervention. L&D was so great! I loved it! The nurses were so helpful and the nurse that I was following let me to everything. I finally got to put in a foley cath on my patient! (Only nursing students would be excited about putting a tube up someone's urethra) She also let me 'check' my patient. 'Checking' a patient is basically the vaginal exam to see how much the cervix is dilated. I know, it sounds really gross, but once again this is something that a nursing student would be elated to do. I'm glad that my client let me check her. She was so great about everything! Clinical is just so much more enjoyable if you have an awesome patient...and nurse. If the nurse and/or patient won't let you do anything, you won't learn! I learned so much from that clinical. By the end of the clinical, I could read the fetal monitor and the other monitory with the mother's contractions. It was way cool. The best part about this was I witnessed 3 births! They were all vaginal. I was kind of hoping to see a c-section, but I'm not complaining! 3 vag births is great. The first one was a first time mom. She delivered a baby boy. He was so cute...well you know once they wipe him off a little. I know it sounds really cheesy, but I kind of teared up on this one. It was the first birth I had ever seen in reality. I have watched a few births on videos, but you don't appreciate it as much when you are 13 and are just not comfortable with your own female anatomy let alone watching someone else's on a screen with other 13 year olds. I noticed as the dad was watching the nurse do the APGAR scores, I think I saw him tear up. It was beautiful. The second birth was another baby boy. I remember the mom had Harry Potter IV playing the whole time. It just made me laugh a little inside. This baby boy actually kept urinating when the nurse was trying to do the APGAR score! Urine was just shooting all over. I really didn't expect it. They had to diaper him up. The third birth was also a baby boy. This was with the woman I was primarily taking care of. I really wanted to help her and stay for the birth, so I actually stayed until 4. Clinical ends at 2. But it was worth it! I would have done the same if given another chance. I really wanted to see her baby. With this birth, I got a front seat in all the action! I had to hold one of her legs while the other leg was being held by the husband. I remember she took one hour to push and she kept saying that she felt sorry for the husband and I because we had been standing for an hour straight. I was just perplexed. We just kept telling her that she is the one that's working the hardest! She's the one that is pushing this human being out! I was just amazed that this woman in labor was feeling sympathy for us. It was just shocking to me. When she finally delivered, it was an amazing baby boy. He was so beautiful. :) And I finally learned why the put the little hats on the newborns. CONEHEAD! I just never knew that. Luckily conehead goes away in a day or two. So pretty much L&D was awesome. Tomorrow I either go to postpartum or the nursery. My classmates tell me it is boring, so I guess I'll just have to experience it for myself.