I was blessed to have an awesome labor nurse and midwife. I prayed that I would have a midwife deliver my baby rather than a doctor. Midwives spend more time with their patients, they have different ways to provide pain relief, and in the case of a tear, take better care stitching it up. It is is more than a job to them; they truly love taking care of pregnant women. Everyone should have a midwife deliver their babies.
Within the first hour, the labor nurse, Carmella, helped me breastfeed him for the first time and it was great. I really enjoyed her as my labor nurse. She was very professional and caring.
Here is Carmella giving Samson his first bath and a little bit of me looking completely exhausted. Video taken 2 hours after birth.
When her shift ended, Carmella told me, “The next nurse coming in, I like her, she is great to talk to.” I thought that was kind of a strange statement.
After spending the first hour with her as my nurse, I realized why the other nurse said that. She did not say, “The next nurse is great, she’ll take good care of you and your son,” because she didn’t believe that to be true.
Looking back, I should have asked for a different nurse. I should have sent my husband to go talk to the charge nurse and ask for a different nurse. If you ever think you have an incompetent nurse, ask for a different one. You are paying money for a service and there is no shame in wanting the best. This nurse was either forgetful or just did not care.
Because I had an epidural, my legs were fairly numb and I needed help walking to the bathroom. I hit the call button for the nurse and she came and helped me walk there. We realized we needed more pads because I was bleeding quite heavily.
She left to go grab some and after I was done, she wasn’t in the room anymore to help me walk back. My husband hit the call button, but it still took her 20 minutes to come. I was just sitting on the toilet waiting.
Later that day, I told her that I was in pain and wanted some ibuprofen. She left to go get it, but didn’t come back for an hour.
She also had no idea how to help me breastfeed my son. In her defense, she was a labor and delivery nurse and not a postpartum nurse. Everyone decided to have babies that week and the mommy/baby unit was full. We had to stay in the delivery room for an extra 10 hours.
When we finally got to the mommy/baby unit, the hospital stay was a lot more comfortable.
Anyone else have a bad experience in the hospital? Or who had an exceptional nurse? Tell me about in the comment section below.
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