I experienced my first of five rotations on the obstetrics (OB) floor, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my first two shifts in the newborn nursery unit.
The other three shifts of the rotation take place in the labor and delivery unit and in the postpartum unit.
This past week we spent almost all of our time in the newborn nursery.
I have never taken care of a baby or even held one for more than a few minutes, so I did not have a clear set of expectations aside from concepts that we have covered in lecture.
To my surprise, I felt particularly connected to the infants. It felt natural to hold them and to take care of them. I gave one of the babies the first bath of his life, and I gave another his first round of the hepatitis B vaccine.
Vanderbilt Hospital is home to multiple providers who specialize in treating pregnant mothers suffering from substance abuse, as well as their newborn babies. In the clinical setting these babies are referred to as "NAS babies," for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Being around day-old infants experiencing withdrawals was eye-opening for me. Typical signs of NAS include tremors, high-pitched crying, frequent sneezing, hyperactive Moro reflex, tight muscle tone, and more. It is very easy to differentiate the NAS babies from the others.
I found it difficult to remain nonjudgmental when I saw the mothers of these babies. At first, I felt disappointed in them. But after some group discussion and individual reflection I was able to shift my mindset. I remembered that for these mothers, addiction was not a choice but, rather, a true disease.
This is one reason why education and prevention of substance abuse is of the utmost importance.
For the third week of the OB rotation I was placed on the labor and delivery unit with one other girl in my clinical group. Our instructor spent the day on the postpartum unit with the other four students in our group, so we had to be aggressive and advocate for ourselves if we wanted to watch deliveries first hand.
At the beginning of the day I heard that there was only one scheduled C-section and made sure that I would get the chance to see it. I was truly amazed at how calmly and confidently the doctors and nurses in the operating room handled themselves.
They successfully delivered a healthy baby.
It was remarkable to me that at 11:30 a.m. I was watching the physicians sew back together the mother's uterus, which was exposed on top of her abdomen, and then by noon, I could only see a thin scar on her stomach after the procedure's completion.
After lunch, the other student and I asked the charge nurse if she could make us aware of any mothers going into active labor so that we could try to observe a vaginal delivery. Within the next 20 minutes we heard her yell to us from down the hall, "Nursing students! Where are you?!"
We ran to the room, which we received permission to enter, and had the experience of witnessing a vaginal delivery. The doctor delivered a healthy baby.
The whole shift was memorable for me. It worked out well, and I did not get discouraged after two mothers denied my request to observe because of my student status. I have learned not to take this personally over the past few months.
Having the opportunity to watch life enter the world was a remarkable experience for me, and one that I will never forget.
Gloria Rothenberg, a native of Livingston, N.J., completed a summer internship with 51˶ in 2016 and is now a nursing student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Her accounts of the program and her experiences appear in this space from time to time.
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