Lesson learned the other night. Listen to your heart.
Woman comes up from triage at 2cms BUT very uncomfortable. After about 45 mins I am able to get the anesth. doc to give her an epidural on her request. No relief. None. Hmmm. She had just been checked downstairs. She was a Primps. First time mommy. So you would not expect anything to happen quickly...
I am sent home early because of quiet night. It's 3:30am. I go into my moms room and take out a pair of sterile gloves. I wanted to check her before leaving...just in case there has been progress. Charge Nurse with 25 or more yrs experience comes in the room and says.. "what are you doing?" I explain I was going to check her. "Newp don't. She's probably 4cms". This Charge nurse is Very bossy and intimidating and when she tells you Don't, well you don't lol.
I start giving report to the oncoming nurse Jen. I see her strip out of the corner of my eye. There are little humps on her contractions. That means pushing is happening. Hmm. "Jen look". I explain to her what happened with bossychargenurse. But I say to Jen. "I just have this feeling...lets go in together. You check her. But I want to know before I leave."
Well Jen introduces herself and pulls her gloves on. You Had to be there to see the look on her face as she sweeps her fingers around the cervix. Yip. You guessed it. There is NO cervix lol. And when Jen says "look" and points to the perineum...I see hair!
So we jump into action. Call the Primary doc and get the resident there asap!
So this primps mom went from 2cms to 10cms in about an hour and a half. Unheard of..but sometimes happens.
I looked at meanchargebossynurse as I clocked out but didn't say anything. I knew it. I should of stood up to meanbossyintimadatingchargenurse. But I doubted myself.Not again I won't. I will keep learning to trust my instincts.
Even tho I'm a newbie. =)
8 comments:
Hey you! Wow... I love this post - pretty powerful. And a message I needed to hear tonight!! Trust your heart, trust your instincts! We all seen to struggle with confidence & trusting ourselves sometimes...
Your a good nurse, I mean you are a good nurse. If I were you, I would have said something to that charge. But I guess sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Great job!
Awesome. I think it's great that you kept your professionalism...if there's one thing a laboring mom doesn't need it's drama between the nurses! :) Great insticts...in work and in art!
I hope bossymeanintimidating charge nurse learned HER lesson. Hope she's not choking too hard on her humble pie.
You go, girl! If I was having a baby, I'd want YOU to be MY nurse.
Well the thing is, the more experience I get, the more little signs I am able to pick up on.
Like..women get sorta all nasty in transition (8-10cms). They say things like "Don't put your hand there" and push hubbys hand off. Or "I can't DO this, take it OUT!"
lol. And you can tell by sentences like...."I feel like I have to poop" or "I can't sit Up straight like this anymore..it hurts!"
And you Def can tell when a mom is coming down the hall from triage to be admitted and she's moaning loudly how far she is along lol. It's a distinctive sound.
I like admitting a mom and following her all along her trip down the dilation path. You get to know what a woman's tolerance is and can tell when she's made change.
Thanks for your encouragement guys!!
Wow! Just wow.
AS much as I want to believe that the charge nurse was put in her place, chances are, she wasn't. She probably would have replied - had you said anything - with something to the effect that she would have caught the info on the strip. Oiy!
I stumbled on to your site. It's great. I want to thank you for going with your gut. I was a mom that was not e-faced? or dialated when my water was broken and had a baby 45 minutes later. My husband did most of the work. The charge nurse didn't think It would happen so fast and was bossy to a (new) nurse. It all worked out well. But trust your gut! My sister works in L&D and she's fantastic! She always has said trust yourself, your in charge of that mommy and new baby.
Love this about trusting what you know. Well done!
Thank you too for stopping by my website and leaving a comment. I need to have a good read through your blog so I can learn more about your love from another land.
My sweetie went to University in Cardiff and speaks a bit of Welsh. He spent his teen years in Tenby.
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