Labor and Delivery

I graduated from nursing school in the spring of 2003, I had worked as a student nurse at Franklin Medical Center, our community hospital, during the summer prior to finishing school. I knew the floor well, from my own birth experiences, the nurses, and practitioners. I landed the job there as a new grad, which it turns out is nothing short of a miracle in nursing. Your silently requirered to do atleast a year of medical surgical nursing before moving on to a specialty, but as fate would have it that wasn't in my cards.
 Labor, birth, post partum..I couldn't get enough of the process. I felt honored to be a part of every birth I was privledged to attend. I soon found out that every nurse on the floor had the exact same feelings. Most had wanted to be a midwife prior to working in L&D, but soon found out that being an RN didn't require the 24hr on call hours that midwives were forced to adhere to.
I received an overnight 24hr. position. Now you may think, no position is worth working over night, well I can tell you this one is. It did take a while to get used to. I would go to sleep as soon as I got home, fall into bed not even looking to make sure I was hitting the correct surface. Wake up at 2pm and feel so disoriented that I wasn't even sure what time, day, or even where I was. Then I would go back to sleep for a few hours, wake up, spend time with the family, then head back to work. Where I would hold my head high walking by the visitors in the hallway, thinking, "that's right I work here.", I literally could not have been more proud.
Labor and delivery in a small community hospital means that you wear a lot of hats. You need to be trained in labor, delivery, post partum, infant care, neonatal resusitation, well nursery, preterm labor, GYN, some medical surgical, and work in the OR usually for a cesarean section but sometimes for other things like repairs or retained placentas, but not only that you have to be a labor support, and sometimes feel like a social worker.
 Orientation to L&D generally takes around 4 months officially, unofficially it can take much longer to feel completely comfortable. That being said, this is a position you never want to be completely comfortable in, you always have to be on guard. Never knowing what could come off the elevator. I can say I work with the most amazing team of women, everyone here is dedicated to giving the best care to women and their babies. When I was a fresh nurse I knew I could ask any question without feeling foolish, the same applys now to new nurses that come on our floor. We don't have a lot of turn over here due to the fact that it is such an incrediable place to work, some may even think magical.
Working in L&D didn't stop my desire to have more children, it fueled the desire. I had never dreamed of being a tradtional surrogate for anyone but Clay and Edward, my plan to give Grace a brother or sister in about a years time.  Although, a horrible life event would change all of our plans.