BabyCatcher

I am an OB/GYN nurse. I love it!! I do Labor and Delivery, Mother/Baby, antepartum, as well as the occasional float to GYN surgery/women's unit (we don't get just surgeries there...but also moms who have had intrauterine fetal demises, etc)

It is exciting, and never the same day twice. For the most part, you get parents who are genuinely excited to be having a child, and you help them through something where they are MOST vulnerable and extremely trusting of what you have to offer. I like that a large part of the job is education as well as advocating for what that mom-to-be wants for her delivery. More often than not, they will tell YOU want they want their birth experience to be like before they will tell their doctor (intimidation? WHy, I have no clue because for the most part, the OBs have really more bark than they do bite), and it IS our job to convey that message. Luckily, most of the MDs and almost all of the midwives are amenable to what their patients want, and it's not an issue, but you do get that occasional pighead who doesn't want to do anything unless it's done his way.

You have to think quickly and act quickly because emergencies with laboring women happen FAST and need to be corrected fast. The same is true with postpartum nursing; your assessment skills have to be extremely good. The PP nurses spend far more time with the babies than do the pediatricians, and most of the anomalies that are found in the infants are found not by the MDs, but by the nurses. Education in this area is by far the majority of your job...but it's fun teaching the 1st time parents how to take care of themselves and their new baby. And the moms who have a ton of kids? Pay attention to them, because they will teach you a lot by taking care of them.

Antepartum to me is kinda boring, but it goes with the territory. A lot of antepartum patients are in the hospital for a LONG time, and you get to know them very well while they sit and wait for their babies. For example, I had a patient not long ago that had SEVERE hyperemesis while pg with triplets and she was in the hospital from 14 weeks to 35 weeks when she delivered. Her health was touch and go (total parenteral nutrition for 19 weeks, and her liver was shutting down), but those babies were in great shape and went home with her. She had been there so long that the staff threw her a baby shower in her hospital room....she got so much stuff (cribs, clothes, carseats, strollers, you name it) that her husband had to rent a truck to take it all home. THAT is that part of the job that really makes it worth it.

I don't like women's surgery...and that's probably because it's too reminiscent of med/surg nursing. No offense to the med/surg nurses, but I don't do wounds very well. (Yes, every nurse has her breaking point on what she can't do. I can handle blood, vomit, feces all just fine. Give me pus or give me phlegm and I fall apart)

Whatever you choose with nursing, there are loads of different opportunities. You can literally change careers completely and never leave nursing. Try it...gather up 10 nurses at random. I can bet you that you will have 10 different types of nurses. Hospital nursing is just one way of doing it. Some nurses never enter a hospital and wouldn't have it any other way.

As for types of degrees, there are a lot of ways to become an RN. Prior to becoming a nurse, I had a biology and chemistry degree, but decided to change gears. Since I had a prior bachelors, I onyl had to complete the nursing specific courses, which earned me another bachelor's. There are nurses with an associate's degree (2 years) and those that go through a diploma program. The RN part indicates that you have passed your licensing exam, regardless of degree level. (You don't go to school to get your RN, so to speak...you go to school to get your ADN or BSN. You take your NCLEX to get your RN). All nurses, in order to practice, must pass the NCLEX. Maybe it's my bias, but nurses coming into nursing in this decade are served best by having as high a degree as you can when you enter the field. Yes, BSN's may have more theory taught while in school and comparatively less clinical time, but studies done by the National League of Nursing have shown that within 1 year the BSN's have exceeded the clinical skills of their ADN contemporaries and are making more money than them from the get-go. I think a lot of that has to do with that BSN programs greatly stress integration of not just HOW things are done, but WHY and what to anticipate with your actions. ALso, many BSN's will move on to earn their MSN's which opens up even more opportunity, since there are so few of them in comparison to the number of nurses out there.

At present, I am in school to get my master's as well as to become a certified nurse midwife. I can't think of a cooler job out there!