OB nurses get grouped together because so much of what we do needs to be seamlessly overlapped. I am the L&D nurse, I will take care of you when you are pregnant, and if all goes well for the next hour or two after you give birth, if there are complications I will continue to take care of you. A neonatal nurse will (hopefully) attend your delivery, and care for your baby during the time that I am still taking care of you. Post-partum or Mother/Baby nurses will take care of you when all is well with you and your child. It is our goal, at least where I work, that mom and baby are never separated. If you have a sick or premature baby that requires medical treatment for those reason the neonatal nurse becomes the most important of your nurses. As an L&D nurse, I can help you breath rhythmically I can implement your birth plan I can hold your foot/leg/hand/head while your pushing junior out. I can help you breast feed for the first time, I can also give you pain meds if you choose to go that route. These along with a whole laundry list of others are things that I can do very effectively. I have had some basic, down & dirty, training on taking care of your infant if you blow it out before anyone else gets there, and we will laugh about it some time in the future. However, in the past 18 months I have found my self in situations where I didn’t catch a “perfect” baby. I do not feel that I can effectively fulfill my obligation to mom, if I am unable to safely resuscitate her baby, should that be necessary. I don’t have exact statistics, but in my line of work 99% of the time I am in the happiest place in the hospital and the other 1% is the saddest place in the world. I want to make that 1% a much smaller number, so I have begun seeking education for myself, to assist the seamless overlapping of neonatal care. For the last 4 days I have been in Las Vegas attending the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) Educational Conference.
Terms:
Neonate – any baby less than 8 weeks old, premature babies from birth to a corrected age of 8 weeks.
Corrected age: age since birth minus number of weeks premature. So a baby that was born at 37 weeks, 6 weeks ago would have a corrected age of 3 weeks
Now to the guts of my learning adventure.
Monday:
Did you know it was important to keep a baby warm? Of coarse! Did you know that allowing a baby to get cold could cause brain damage and organ failure? Umm no. I also didn’t know that our radiant warmers were not effective sources of warming a very low birth weight baby. So if you delivery at 26 weeks or so and we saran wrap your baby, it’s because we are trying to help it maintain the heat it had inside you.
Having a baby requires an adjustment in thought process. Shocking, I know. But I sat in on a lecture by a woman who has spent the better part of her career researching ways to educate parents of sick or premature infants. I wont go into all the technicalities but I will say that sometime what we say and what you hear are two very different things, so even if you think you understand us, repeat it back to us, so we can all be on the same page. And along those lines, if you have questions, make sure you get answers before we leave the room. We have a tendency to think if you look ok, and sound ok, that you are in-fact, ok. This is often times the case and we have no way to know unless you tell us. A birth plan helps us give you the birth you want, as far as I know there is not a “post-partum” plan, and we need to know how to give you the post-partum experience you want.
And then there were venders!
I would like to take a minute and throw in some plugs for people/companies that are doing amazing things.
Simple wishes simplewishes.com is a company founded by four sister, two of which were there. They make a hands free pumping bra, that will get you through house work, homework, pumping at the office, or for those whose baby never learned to latch, exclusive pumping is really what this was designed for
Avent couldn’t have been friendlier. They are sending me samples, and at least appeared to be interested in my suggestion for making their breast feeding products even more breast feeding friendly. They even sent some products home with my friend who went with me to assist an exclusively pumping leaky friend of hers who was struggling. Big thumbs up guys!
Snappies snappiescontainers.com make breast milk storage containers for real people. They are not only cute and functional but they can turn into snack containers when your nursling is a little older. Or they can hold shampoo and lotions when your traveling. This is one group that is making breastfeeding easier and more mainstream! Yay Snappies!
Mighty Medela was there. They have some new products to support breastfeeding NICU babes. Not something that is available commercially but I give them 5 stars for making the lives of nurses, and moms pumping for their NICU babies easier.
A company whose demonstration made me tear up was Memories unlimited. They make memory type items for the above-mentioned 1%. I wont go into detail because I wish no one ever had to think of these things, but the next time you say a prayer, or light a candle, do one in honor of these people.
Tuesday: (ok most of this day was very nurse specific, but some things for parents to be aware of)
We learned of a great program for NICU graduates. A hospital in California has implemented a 10 week program that assist parents of neonates who were in the NICU and have special needs once they get home. The program incorporates diet and nutrition, breast feeding, postpartum depression, occupational therapy (OT) to aid development of the neonate. The OT teaches parents how to massage and stretch babies to allow for comfy tummy time, which aids in development. This is a comprehensive support program that I am in awe of. My friend and I are very excited to begin our own program like this at our hospital.
We learned of a great program for NICU graduates. A hospital in California has implemented a 10 week program that assist parents of neonates who were in the NICU and have special needs once they get home. The program incorporates diet and nutrition, breast feeding, postpartum depression, occupational therapy (OT) to aid development of the neonate. The OT teaches parents how to massage and stretch babies to allow for comfy tummy time, which aids in development. This is a comprehensive support program that I am in awe of. My friend and I are very excited to begin our own program like this at our hospital.
Endocrine Disprutors effect the development of all babies. These are chemicals in products we all use every day, and NANN is working with others to get rid of these harmful chemicals. For more info go to endocrinedisruption.com and if you feel so inclined write a letter!
www.cdc.gov/getsmart information on antibiotics that YOU NEED to know!
There were not any specific education offering related to breastfeeding, however, EVERY thing we learned reinforced how important it is for babies to have their mothers milk, especially the most fragile babies.
Now its time for me to go pick up my kids off the bus, I’m glad I took the time away from them to gain more insight on such a sweet population, but for today, I’m just thrilled to spend some time with my contribution to the population!
