We recently read a ‘note’ by a nurse and shared by many other nurses and even midwives. It was not just a ‘sense of humor, deal with our hard job’ list of how you know you are a nurse. It was rude, disrespectful and a perfect example of what many women find wrong with their traumatic hospital births.
After this was shared and discussed, a wonderful group of nurses sent me this list. I am so appreciative of them taking the time to write this for the BWF Blog and our followers. It more accurately (and gracefully) shows what the job of a supportive, caring nurse looks like.
40 ways to know you’re a L&D nurse …
1. You can eat your lunch next to that placenta you’re waiting to send to path for chorio without batting an eyelash.
2. You’ve calmly said “I’m a little concerned about your baby” while you’re heart is sinking in your chest.
3. You’ve started all of your intrauterine resuscitation measures, called for more nurses, and drawn up your pre-ops… All while hearing the clunk – – clunk – – clunk of heart tones… And keeping the laboring woman and every family member in the room calm.
4. Asking your patient if her high school has a daycare and if they’ll call her when her baby is ready to nurse is normal chit chat.
5. You really, really hope that the patient that took castor oil earlier to jump-start her labor doesn’t want an epidural.
6. You get your almost comically soft voice on while family members are trying to frantically “soothe” the laboring woman hoping they’ll take it down a notch… “That’s it… Perfect… In through the nose… Out through the mouth… Just like that… You’re doing great…”
7. You know that whomever designed those “informed consents” and made nurses have laboring women sign them a) wasn’t a nurse and b) was never an actively laboring woman asked to “sign here… And here…And here… Initial here…”
8. You just state “oh, it happens, don’t worry, I’m used to it” while cleaning up a multitude of bodily fluids because you know the patient is totally embarrassed about it anyway.
9. You have a hate-hate relationship with tangled cords and IV lines.
10. You enthusiastically have said, “You’re hurting more, that’s great, we’re going the right direction.”
11. And also, “you’ve got great bloody show!”
12. You know preventing the primary cesarean helps prevent future cesareans and all of the associated risks for each future pregnancy, plus, most pelvises are adequate for the baby to get through if the baby’s in a good position – you’ve just got to buy that prime some time and maybe get that baby to turn.
13. You know to ask about the father of the baby, history, and domestic violence when the patient is completely alone because the most unexpected people can have big secrets.
14. You would love your job even more if you didn’t have to chart it.
15. You daydream about inventing a telepathic chart-bot so you could magically chart while holding sacral pressure.
16. You get report, hang D5, clear her ketones, get her out of “left tilt” to way super lateral, and have a baby.
17. “Is she on her side? Like, all the way over to her side?” Is the go-to first-step solution to all problems.
18. You’ve held a woman’s hand and said, “I’m so, so sorry” and felt the emptiness surround you in the room.
19. You know the patient will look to you while the doctor’s talking, and the family won’t absorb what the doctor has said until s/he’s left the room and you’ve sat at eye level with the patient and explained everything again.
20. You want to get the low-risk no-pit laboring woman on intermittent monitoring before you see that little blip of a variable because we’re better off not knowing if all else is well.
21. You tell the doctor what you’ve already done and what orders you wrote for them.
22. You have a list of tricks for women with and without epidurals to get the baby positioned well, “open the pelvis up” and get the laboring woman to push the baby out effectively- and you’re not afraid to consult with your peers if you’ve exhausted your list and nothing has worked.
23. You get genuinely excited when the new issue of JOGNN comes in the mail and you get to read all of the new research articles.
24. You know the differences in evidence-based practices and tradition/policy-based practices, and know that change is a frustratingly slow-moving train, but keep on fighting the good fight.
25. It’s better to tell the laboring woman and family (and OB) she’s “almost there” than 10/100/0 and labor down a bit.
26. When another nurse calls out for “more hands!” you run straight to the room to help.
27. Same if she says “terb!”, “shoulders!” or “hemabate!”
28. You suggest methergine when the doctor says hemabate, because you know nobody, including the patient, wants to deal with hemabate poo.
29. When another nurse calls for the ultrasound machine and no heart tones are on the monitor yet, you bring it in without any questions.
30. You can talk yourself down from a crappy strip…”ok, we’ve got variability here, scalp stim, palpable fetal movement… This baby’s not acidotic… Still Category II…” … And you can chart it defensively.
31. You realize crappy strip and a crash c/s and you’ll have 9/9 Apgars most of the time, and a beautiful looking strip can just as easily have a crumpy baby.
32. You don’t let the IUPC fool you because you know adequate MVUs means cervical change, not a hard number.
33. You walk the fine line between knowing when to bite your tongue and when to speak up in front of the patient be the best advocate for her. You have the resources and research to discuss things you didn’tagree with at an appropriate time.
34. You know the chain of command and hope to goodness you don’t have to use it.
35. You advocate for immediate skin to skin contact- better for mamas, better for babies, and easier for nurses (and can’t we just wait a moment with the baby on mama before fussing with clamping and cutting the cord already?).
36. You can manage a an insulin drip, mag, labatelol and pit on a very sick mama, and know when it’s time to throw in the towel and get the baby out.
37. You have thought, “I really need to poop before she starts pushing” but decided against it because you had too much charting to catch up on.
38. When you see a woman come up sitting tilted sideways in a wheelchair and huffing and puffing, you get gloves on. She’s either complete and about to have a baby or she’s 1/thick/high – but better to error on the prepared side.
39. You can check a woman’s cervix within minutes of meeting her.
40. You’ve gotten a thank-you note from a patient and practically burst into tears because you remember why you endured through nursing school just to work yourself to the bone, have a crazy schedule, pull your muscles, get UTIs from not peeing, stay hours late charting, miss Christmas and birthdays and BE A NURSE!
Top Photo Credit: www.littlefredericksburgphotography.com
Bottom Photo Credit: www.rebeccacolefax.com
Recommended Reading
Helpful Nurses, Birth Tub, Yoga Ball and a Birthing Bar…A Great Hospital Birth!
My CBAVBAC – Cesarean Birth After VBAC
Community Support and Breastfeeding {Make a Difference}
Beautiful Hospital Birth From a Mother’s Eyes
Selah’s Birth Story
A Home Birth Story
Hypnobirthing: A Drug-Free Birth Story
A Long-Awaited Natural Birth: My VBA2C
The Freebirth of Poppy
Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum
137 Comments
Eli T
This doesn’t make me want to strangle the L&D nurses anymore! Thanks for posting and showing that some do really have compassion and love for their patients.
Afton
We do! We do!
janet
Hey, my oldest daughter’s name is Afton. And I’m a postpartum RN (formerly L and D, but burned out..also formerly a doula and childbirth educator.) Our hospital recently hired 3 full-time doulas!
My Afton is 38 years old. Love the name!
Cindy
LOVE the name Afton…how could I not!! And like you, I am too burned out!!
Ginger
Great read thank you
Serena Baumea
No longer work in an OB dept but did so for many years. How I miss helping in delivery. Would not trade my time in L&D for anything.
Erin
I have nothing but respect for the L&D nurses that assisted the births of my sons. The first one had had three natural births and helped my husband coach me through mine. Then, when someone contacted her to tell her I had had serious complications following the birth, she came back to the hospital (though she had been off duty for several hours) to sit with my husband and family. I still tear up when I think about that. She truly cared about my well-being.
The nurse for my second birth was just full of joy and HILARIOUS. She had both my OB and I cracking up throughout my labor. Her shift was about to end when I started pushing. I remember her saying, “If you have him in the next couple minutes, I’ll still be here to see him!” 🙂 I did. 🙂 But she still stuck around for a while to make sure everything was alright.
I thank God for those women! All you L&D nurses reading this, I thank God for you, too! Thank you for your work.
Jenn Blixt, RNC
Thanks for posting this. 99% of people have no idea how hard we work, how much we sacrifice, and how much we fight for our Mamma’s and babies. Not that we do it for recognition, but especially in the natural birthing arena’s, it’s easy to feel misrepresented and misunderstood.
Anna Ettin
I’m not a nurse so some of this was a foreign language, but most of it was just beautiful. I am terribly squeamish and am thankful that so many wonderful people take care of me and my loved ones when needed! My L&D nurses were angels. And the lactation nurse? I desperately tried to hate her, but ultimately wanted to sob and cling to her leg when it was time to leave. Thanks to ALL of you out there!
David Lane
Quite a poignant list! I have only been an L&D nurse for 2 years but they all hit close to my heart. Especially number 9!! I hate those cords coming off my mamas more than they do!
sy
I hate those cords so badly. I hope, one day somebody invent cordless monitor and IVs:)
MamaRN
There are cordless monitors! I had one! I still hated wearing it but it was infinitely better not to be tethered by one more thing!
Tania
Thank you for posting this! I have the utmost respect for nurses! I had a midwife birth in a hospital, so no experience with a nurse during labour and delivery, but I still can appreciate all the commitment and genuine concern they have for their patients. Talk about a difficult job-you must love it or you wouldn’t be in the field!
With all the hospital, Doctor, nurse bashing I see on some of these birth groups on Facebook, it’s nice to have it brought back to earth again. We have these profesisonals around for a reason, and boy are we glad to have them when things go wrong!
Thanks again
Nirvana
Awesomeness! I don’t think I even want to read the original list.
Blessings
Simone
Did my L & D nurses do a perfect job? No. But they did a good job, and most importantly they pretty much stayed out of my way for most of it. I did a 100% natural birth and had my husband, mom and sister with me. I appreciated that my nurses didn’t hover and allowed my labor to progress naturally. I do wish I’d gotten something for the vomiting sooner so they wouldn’t have had to stick me 6 times, but I maybe wasn’t as vocal about it as I should have been. The vomiting should have been a hint, though.
By and large I was happy with my experience, and I’m grateful that it was better than a lot of other women I’ve talked to 🙂
Valerie
The 100% natural birth mom. Good for you. Bet you had a birth plan that said you didn’t want any medications and not to offer them to you as well as another 3 pages of demands that you be left alone.
ingrid
You have got to be seriously kidding Simone…….EVERYONE coming in with natural childbirth in mind nearly always has a caveat that we absolutely do not ask if we can administer any medications as we are taking advantage of the patients vulnerability whilst in labor….yet another example of how the nurse cannot make everyone happy….so sorry it ruined your natural childbirth
Anne
For pain meds, yeah, but for vomiting? I think it would be safe to offer, or at least mention to her support people. That’s a bit of a common sense thing I would think. Moms don’t want to be bugged about pain meds, but many times they wouldn’t turn down anti nausea meds.
Camille
Yes this was so true and realistic of an L/D RN . It was refreshing to read.
I did it for a Decade. Nights only. On a High Risk L/ D unit. It was
My passion.. I’ve been gone for a Decade.Now n when I bump into people
They are shocked that I don’t deliver babies anymore.
I guess I made it look easy. I certainly don’t. Miss it.
Wouldn’t go back not even as a .unit clerk. We Deserve so much Respect.
Thank You was all I needed.
Jamie
My mom was a labor and delivery nurse for many years, and so some of these things I remember discussing over the supper table! She is still a nurse caring for her patients, and if all nurses could be more like her, the “baby” world–and the world in general–would be a much better place. I also had wonderful nurses during the births of my two boys, and I appreciate them all so much.
Patricia
34years ago I, an intermittent Marine Corps widow w/5 kids, graduated from nursing school because 42 years ago some nurse told me “Shut-up–you’re bothering the other women.” I determined to make a change. Laboring women on my watch, and those taken care of by the dozens of new nurses I have trained, will be taken care of with compassion and dignity. (and I promise to escape to the laundry room to scream out my frustration at the 17 year olds who won’t put the iPhone down and PUSH!)
Joan King
Our family has been so very blessed to have my sister Theresa Taylor King, Baptist Hospital, Nashville Tennessee deliver most of the children in our family. She has blessed every birth she attends with grace, poise, honesty, dignity and yes humor. I have the deepest respect for her and the team that she works with. Its a stressful time for the birth families and these nurses hold it all together and then I suspect give the doctor all the credit. They are angels with tired feet.
Cynthia Troutt
Someone who truly knows about being a labor & delivery nurse!
I’ve have been one for 27 years and done abosolutely
Everyone of 40 things and then some.
janet
Not all “natural birthers ” have “three page birth plans”, Valerie (another cool name! My baby granddaughter is Valerie! 🙂 When I had my 2 homebirths in the late 70’s/early 80’s, we needed those birth plans as the birthing room system we take for granted today was very new or non-existant. We pioneers fought hard, and many of us delivered at home. Some L and D RN ‘s still deliver at home! As I indicated before, I am a former doula., labor and delivery RN and current
postpartum nurse. I think part of what we are seeing now is the pendulum swing from epidurals and cesarean on demand (and repeat csections) back to what we strives for 30-40 years ago. Our hospital also advocates for at least 1 hour skin-to-skin directly after birth and no nursery.
Tara
We hit 100% skin to skin even with the bottle feeding moms this month!!! That is based on the birth mom’s who were interviewed by our lactation team, not based on charting (more accurate representation of care when you interview the moms).
I’m so proud of our team and their hard work to get those babies to stay on the mom 100% until the first feed. Skin to skin until the first feed! Best for babies.
Let’s all keep up the good work for our mom’s and babies.
Hannah Hargis
I have to have C – sections , and have always been blessed with the most wonderful nurses . I have nothing but respect for them!
Lana
I was a nurse for 41 years, many of those in the OR. We were a small hospital and did all the C sections in our regular OR. The OB nurse always came down and stayed with her patient. It was always a wonderful experience to see the baby delivered and have a good recovery. There were a few scary times when a baby needed to be rescusitated, but fortunately, they all made it. So many advances in L & D since those days and I really admire the hard work and dedication of L & D nurses. Cudos to you all.
Inez
Nurses like this are a true gift from the heavens. As a Mom of three, I can attest to the wonderful nurses and the crappy ones assisting me through my deliveries. We don’t always get to say “Thank You”, sometimes the shift changes and nurses leave, sometimes we are too delirious to express our gratitude. But the care, knowledge, efficiency, dedication from Labor and Delivery nurses is felt, appreciated and applauded. *Thank you*
Lisa RNC
I have been an l&d nurse for over 25yrs and have said or done all of these. Yes I may have been late getting home or worked holidays but having a mom who just delivered her beautiful baby say I couldn’t have done it without you or your waitress recognize you from the birth of her child who is now 14 makes it all worth it. I am now taking care of patients that I had the privileged of seeing at their own birth and many of the new grandmas remember me from their own birth so to all of the young nurses remember you can a make a difference
Catherine
I have been a labor nurse for 12 years and love it, this stuff rings sooooo true and I could come up with 400 more!
Mickey Habeck
I just read through this list and then I cried. I never read the other list, so I don’t know what it said. I am a Nurse-Midwife for 15 years and a L&D nurse for 3o years. I know why I cried.
Heather
the length of a birth plan is directly proportional to your chance of having a complicated delivery..lol..so keep it short and sweet moms, most units already do what youre requesting such as dad cutting cord, skin to skin and breastfeeding within the first hour..tell us if you want the Hep B for your baby.. or not, and whether you require pain meds..its really is that simple..let everything unfold as it needs to and keep your expectations realistic..we love you and want whats best for both you and your baby! A Happy Safe Birthing experience!!
Maryanna Foster RN
I agree with you whole heartedly. Please read my response at the end of the post.
Abby
I’m not a mother, and I’m not a nurse, but I have many L&D nurse friends and followed this link from their FB pages. After reading this list, as a woman who hopes to become a mother soon, I can only hope that whatever team helps me is made up of nurses like those that are commenting on this blog. If anyone has advice for how to find the right team, I’d love to hear it. I live in a big city with lots of options, and my pregnancy will be high-risk because of my epilepsy, so finding the right team of doctors and nurses has been on my mind.
Reading the comments on this post has been quite an education. Learning from those of you who have seen it all is a great way to prepare for what’s ahead. Thank you for all that you do.
Emily Serrano
I am a labor and delivery nurse and this was great, accurate and amusing.
I can speak for many L &D nurses Yes this is true. I especially love the breath in and out. And the bodily function along with thump thump. I would not change my job for anything. I love being a labor and delivery nurse.
Mary marcus
All of the comments are so very TRUE. I LOVE them! I loved working labor and deliver/scrubbing&circulating/pp and so on. Life was good until certain circumstances. Anyways I wouldn’t change it for the world especially the last so many years I worked in a small community where people recognized me, my children and my husband. My family were very proud of me and I felt very proud!!
Mary
I have been a Labor and Delivery Rn for 30 years. I have seen so many positive changes and I love caring for the laboring mother. One thing that does make it difficult is those that come in with a hard and firm birth plan and are not flexible. Th baby and your body are not aware of this plan and do always compile. I work very hard to assist my patients to have an the type of labor and delivery they want. But I always want a baby that is healthy and with all the potential in life that he or she is to have. (meaning no las of brain cells.) I want the mother to be healthy, sometimes we need to sacrifice our desires and plans for the health of our children ( and we are not always happy about that but we do it because we are mothers and we want what’s best for our children.) With my 30 years experience I have many methods to try and get your baby delivered that do not require medical intervention unfortunately I am made to feel unnecessary there are very few doula’s in my area that are not pushing their own agenda. They are not supporting their client. The client that paid cash to have them assist you in the birth of your child. I care for patients unconditionally from doctors and lawyers having babies to the homeless and drug addicts and everything in between and regardless of their financial situation. Respect my knowledge and allow me to help you in achieving a healthy/happy baby. I would love to a L&D RN for 12 to 15 more years. I do not want to burn out.
John
The most enjoyable and meaningful time in my entire professional life was when I did my lanor and delivery rotation in nursing school. I would love to be an L&D nurse if only my gender was welcome.
Jessica
John, one of the best L&D nurses I’ve ever come across was male. 😉
Nurse Jackie, RNC- OB, C-EFM
John, you can be an L&D Nurse. You just need another person in the room for vag exams and procedures (just as a male MD would). Go for it!
Joanne
I definitely know first hand the joys and sorrows of being a L&D nurse..It can be the happiest place or the saddest place in the entire world. But what a joy it is to experience the miracle of birth over and over again!!!
Jessica
I’ve had some amazing L&d nurses.. One was a good friend and came to my baby showers and basically delivered two of my babies. I got to know her well when I was there three times a week for NSTs. The nurse for my last baby turned off the light in my room, shooed everyone out, and sat in a chair and just hummed until my Bp calmed down a little and I fell asleep. She was amazing and made a very scary day just a little more bearable. I have much love and respect for you guys. You are amazing.
M Jane
I was an L&D nurse for 25+ years snd I truly loved it.I worked at a
High risk center-a teaching hospital. I had my ups and downs with
residents and attendings but I think we all do! For the longest time,
I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I got to be having endocrine
problems and didn’t realize how whacked out I was! But, I did figure out
that it was time to go. After 2 surgeries, God got me back on track. Now
I work at a rehab center/nursing home and I love it as much as L&D! Who
would have thought!?! But, I will treasure my days as an OB nurse for
all my days!
Marilyn
So appreciate the nurses who have encouraged me and fought for and with me through 6 labors- 4 induced and long and terrible. They listened to my concerns, eased them when they could, encouraged me when they couldn’t, and just went over and above for me! The best nurse I ever had tho, was the one with my last labor, who explained to me everything that was happening and why they were doing these things! I just loved being informed! Also a fave- with my second child losing his heart rate due to a wrapped cord, my nurse was matter of fact and honest, being reassuring still but letting me know in no uncertain terms that baby had to come out: fast! They skip lunch breaks and bathroom breaks and bring you toast with jam and ice chips and come running when you call to change a poopy diaper just because you just don’t have the energy to move anymore after 2 months of pre labor and 14 hours of real labor. They are my heroes!
Nurse Jackie, RNC- OB, C-EFM
I love this post. I have been an L&D Nurse for 13 years. I am precepting a New Graduate and I told her, last week, as we were waiting for our patient who was arriving by ambulance… “She is either closed or completely dilated. We will set up the room just in case.” That woman delivered 5 minutes after she got to our unit. I love my job.
Brandi Rennemeyer
I tear up thinking about you amazing nurses. My Sheri, L&D nurse at my last delivery. She held my hand, she held my hand while I bled out and she never let go! Then she came back after only a short break and maneuvered my BED and all my cords through hallways, around corners and into a tiny space in the NICU to get me close enough to hold my son- after nearly punching out the NICU nurse. She and all of you are the heros of my soul! I owe you my life AND my heart!
Nicole Elisabeth
When I had my son the first nurse I had was absolutely amazing and stood up for my choices against the OB at the hospital I delivered at. The OB was pushing pitocin on me and my nurse stalled it until I got my epidural. I will be forever grateful to her for getting yelled at for me and following what I wanted and not what the doctor was pushing on me.
Anne
My first birth was terrible, but after two home births I had to have two inductions after losing the babies about halfway through. I couldn’t have asked for better nurses. They were so compassionate and really knew their jobs and cared. One sent me a card on the year anniversary of delivering our daughter, and another bought me a figurine. Another sat with me for hours while my poor exhausted hubby took a nap, talking to me about life and everything. After my first delivery, I was so scared to be in the hospital, especially for such a tragedy. They were great though, we need more nurses like that!
samilayne89
My L and D nurses and CNAs did everything. My doctor made it in after my son was born. Thank god that they were knowledgeable and kind.
Amy
Reading this makes me sad. I am a labor nurse as well. Each person’s individual experience is different than every other person own personal experience. Each labor is different from the previous. If you read someones experience and it was negative, that does not mean this will be your own personal experience as well. Often, patients don’t realize all the 40 above stated items and more things that may be going that the nurse and other medical staff are doing to help them have a safe and happy delivery. A hospital is not a hotel. We have to follow certain regulations and policies and patients need to understand that, however, we want to follow the best plan that will make their experience as wonderful as they hope for. Having a birth plan is not a contract. It is a “plan,” and plans change sometimes, and patients and their families need to be open minded to necessary changes. We want what you want, but sometimes we need to make changes to try and keep that safe plan of delivery moving forward.
Our hospital too is enforcing skin to skin within the first hour and for at least two hours before doing any bathing, assessment and meds. We find that the patients really like this. We want the babies with the mom’s as much as possible. We are not doing evil things to your children if they are in the nursery. They are being watched, and loved when they cry and will be brought out to you if you request or if they can come to you and if not we will hold them, love them, just as you would want us to. Most of us our mother’s too. We love babies. This is why we do our jobs!
We are humans too. We are nurses, we love our job, through thick and thin, through hard times and easy, from rough family situations to more pleasant, from days that seem to never end to those that end just right. We love our patients, we just want you to love us and treat us with the respect we know you deserve and we do to. What a great team we would have if all of can work together and not complain about all the small things that didn’t make your experience 100% great. We are human, we are not perfect. We are just trying to do the best job we can to give you the best possible experience we can, and sometimes we are stretched so thin that we can’t do all that we would like to do to make that experience perfect. Be patient, just breath, and enjoy your birth and not worry about all the things that should have happened. Because ultimately what we all want is a “healthy mom and healthy baby going home together.”
Mrs. BWF
Why are you sad? This is a POSITIVE post on awesome nurses!!!
Fay
Thank you! As an LDR nurse for nine years I think a lot of people don’t know the extent of what we do. We don’t just sit around and hold babies. It’s an incredibly rewarding job but an incredibly stressful and demanding job as well. My heart has been full of joy and broken to pieces all in the same shift. Yet I keep doing it and wouldn’t trade it for anything! Thank you for shedding light on what each of us strive to do: care for our patients by helpign them to have the birth they desire all while trying to keep mama and baby safe and happy.
Bonnie Robinson
I was a labor and delivery nurse for 2 years and a postpartum nurse for 8, two of those doing postpartum and labor and delivery. What a joy. I loved my job and would have done it forever if I had not had three failed back surgeries. There is no better job then the gift of being able to watch, and participate in childbrith. To alleviate your patients fears and to be their advocate is what life is all about.
Maryanna Foster RN
In my nursing position we trained in all three areas, L & D, PP and Nursery. I worked that position for 25 years and can agree whole heartedly with Heather. The longer the birth plan the more problems there are. Because you have already determined how that birth will proceed and when it doesn’t then it somehow becomes a “failure” all around. We all want control over ours lives and the birthing experience is so dynamic and precious that we forget that there is only so much you can do to deliver a baby. Nurses are their to help you have the safest, most memorable, beautiful birth you can have. They have given their lives to educate themselves so that your experience can be exactly that and in that order. SAFE, MEMORABLE, BEAUTIFUL AND LOVING. This Posting was right on the money. I am always grateful for the THANKS I receive for the job I have done. But I will also forever carry with me all the devasting experiences I have shared with families. And some that families were never aware of. Because that “what we do” as nurses. It’s what we give our lives to do.
Katie
I LOVED my L&D nurses. they were seriously the best part of labor with my son. the doctors were in and out and not really clicked in, but our nurses were there for us. My nurse actually sat on the floor with me for a while while I rolled on a birth ball so she could hold the monitor on my torpedo shaped belly. My recovery nurses were just as amazing. I wanted to take them all home with me!
randi
OMG this all is so true. And I’ve felt and thought and and been through all of these.
Crystal
Where is the original post mentioned at the beginning? I’m interested to read and see the comments from it.
Jen
Amen to #14 & 38!
Susan Gaines
My dear daughter-in-law is a L&D nurse who just bore her first baby. Her L&D nurse, Jill, was the most beautiful person in the room until that baby came forth. I watched and listened to her in awe as she coached and encouraged her patient. She was breathtaking in her loving and soft-spoken in her encouragements and the warmth of her smile was a balm. Once baby came forth, my daughter-in-law was the most beautiful person in the room as she soothed and welcomed her son into life.
I adore nurses and have said for many years they are THE backbone of medicine.
Angela
I know this post is old, but I just had to post something. I just recently made the choice to go back to school to become a nurse. I am a birth doula currently, but felt called to l&d. I was so afraid of losing myself in the medical world, but this post just confirms, I don’t have it. I’m so thankful for this post and thankful that there are nurses who genuinely care about birthing mothers!
Tracey
I love this list! I’ve been a labor and delivery nurse for 26 years. I would caution anyone who reads this on # 21. I recently was “offered resignation” and relieved of my job of 20 years because of this common practice!
Julia D.
Great list! Having been a L&D nurse for 40+ years couldn’t have written anything more!
Corie
I am not a nurse, but your post brought me right back to the delivery room for each of my two girls. Thank you. Thank you for your work and sacrifice.