What Happens After Delivery with Nurse Jess — Episode 177
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What happens in those minutes right after delivery? Today I'm chatting with an experienced nurse about what you should expect!
Today's guest is labor nurse Jess.
Jess is a labor and delivery nurse in a community hospital in the middle of the country. She works in an LDRP unit, and has been at the same job for 15 years.
She has experience as a charge RN, labor and delivery and is certified in EFM and inpatient OB. She also recovers newborns and does postpartum care.
This episode was inspired by my post about what happens after delivery.
Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples -- if you're looking to know more about what happens in the labor room, that is the class for you!
More information:
My episode on what happens right before delivery
Producer: Drew Erickson
Transcript
[00:00:00.170] - Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today, in episode 177, we are going to talk about what happens right after delivery. Let's untangle it.
[00:00:18.930] - Hilary Erickson
Hi, I'm Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls Podcast: pregnancy and parenting untangled. There's no right answer for every family, but on this show, we hope to give you some ideas to make life simpler at your house. Life's tangled, just like my hair.
[00:00:40.350] - Hilary Erickson
Okay. Today's guest is a nurse with 15 years of experience in the middle of the country, and she works at an LDRP there. I want to introduce Labor Nurse Jess.
[00:00:54.530] - Hilary Erickson
Do you feel prepared for your delivery? In just three short hours, you can be prepared for the competent, collaborative delivery you want. You'll know what to expect and how to talk with your healthcare team. And there are no boring lessons in this class. I'll use humor stories from my 20 years in the delivery room to engage both of you. I love how Alyssa told me that she found herself laughing at things that used to sound scary. Most of all, you guys are going to be on the same page. From bump to bassinet, join the online prenatal class for couples today. You can save 15% with coupon code UNTANGLED. You can find the link in the show notes.
[00:01:28.890] - Hilary Erickson
Hey, Jess. Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast.
[00:01:31.330] - Nurse Jess
Hi. How are you?
[00:01:32.640] - Hilary Erickson
I'm so good. I'm excited to be here. Jess has been the labor nurse for 15 years. We've got lots of experience on this podcast.
[00:01:39.160] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, yeah. 15 years. It's been a really long time, so I love it.
[00:01:43.080] - Hilary Erickson
What's the longest anyone out of your unit has worked labor and delivery?
[00:01:46.380] - Nurse Jess
Well, we just had a gal retire in June, and she started in 1978, so, I mean, that's the year I was born, so 44 years.
[00:01:56.390] - Hilary Erickson
Wow. Did she leave labor and delivery?
[00:01:58.460] - Nurse Jess
She worked that's where she started, and that's where she she worked the same job the entire because you guys recover.
[00:02:05.490] - Hilary Erickson
Also because I was going to say all of our labor nurses, when they get to a certain age to switch to postpartum. Good for her.
[00:02:10.320] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, and she did labor.
[00:02:15.210] - Hilary Erickson
Or bad for her, depending.
[00:02:16.800] - Nurse Jess
No, she loved it.
[00:02:17.930] - Hilary Erickson
That's good.
[00:02:19.610] - Nurse Jess
I mean, she was, like, PRN, kind of, like, towards the end.
[00:02:22.130] - Hilary Erickson
Awesome. Okay, so before we started talking, Jess and I noted a difference. So Jess works at an LDRP hospital. So explain what that is, Jess.
[00:02:30.340] - Nurse Jess
They come in, they labor, they deliver, they recover, they postpartum all in the same room. They never have to switch to a partum unit. So it's really nice because they don't ever have to leave. But we were kind of talking about, like, the recovery process is maybe, like, a little bit more relaxed at my hospital as long as our census is not super high. So some of the stuff that I might talk about might be a little bit different, or there might be time constraints, like in a busier hospital or somewhere where you have to switch rooms.
[00:02:57.970] - Hilary Erickson
Is that normal in your area? Do a lot of the hospitals do that?
[00:03:01.020] - Nurse Jess
No, not really. There's another hospital in town that they have a labor and delivery and then a postpartum unit. I think most of Lincoln and Omaha is probably labor and delivery and then postpartum.
[00:03:12.010] - Hilary Erickson
Okay.
[00:03:12.460] - Nurse Jess
So it kind of just depends on the hospital.
[00:03:14.790] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:03:15.070] - Hilary Erickson
I've never worked at one, but when I started, when I was going to nursing school, the smallest hospital in the area was LDRP.
[00:03:22.230] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, they remodeled it in 2008, and I think that at that time, there was, like, a big push for the Ldrps. And so we're a town of about 60,000, and we have two hospitals that do deliveries, and so it works for us because we are a smaller hospital.
[00:03:38.760] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:03:39.090] - Hilary Erickson
So you got to think, if a hospital has a lot of deliveries, if they need, like, 20 labor suites, they'll those suites have to have a lot more equipment in them for labor and delivery than they do for postpartum. So they're trying to get a lot of people through. So if you're looking for an LDRP, you're going to want to look for probably a smaller hospital in your area just to give you guys a heads up. That's what I think. Smaller ones tend to be LDRP.
[00:03:59.110] - Nurse Jess
Right. We just don't have the volume, so we don't have to turn the rooms over like they live in a higher volume hospital.
[00:04:07.000] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:04:07.380] - Hilary Erickson
All right. So, guys, you might want to take a listen to a previous podcast that I did in the minutes right before delivery, and we stopped there with Skin to Skin. So baby comes up and does Skin to Skin with mom if mom wants. Jess, do you think all patients love Skin to Skin?
[00:04:21.230] - Nurse Jess
I feel like even the ones that are kind of a little bit iffy about it, like, during their labor, once the baby comes out, they're almost always totally fine with us. In my career, I've probably had just a handful of them that were, like, adamant that we take the baby right away and clean the baby off before we give the baby to them.
[00:04:36.220] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:04:36.940] - Hilary Erickson
A lot of times they'll do, like, two or three minutes of Skin to skin, and then sometimes I've had patients that start to look really anxious just because they're, like, getting sewn up, where if they're bleeding, all these kind of different things, and they'll be like, can dad take her for a little bit? So what I want to encourage you guys is to just let us know if that's you because we don't care if you don't want to do Skin to Skin. We want to encourage it. But I can also see that if I was getting sewn up, maybe with feeling a lot of cramped being maybe I wouldn't want the baby on my chest right then.
[00:05:02.740] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:05:03.080] - Nurse Jess
Right. If somebody is, like, bleeding or just not feeling really well or something, I mean, we're going to see that and we're going to ask if somebody wants to hold the baby, if we should take the baby to the warmer. But most of the time yeah. They just want to snuggle with their baby.
[00:05:15.190] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:05:15.640] - Hilary Erickson
And like I talked about before, it is delayed cord clamping is a standard. Just how long do most of the doctors wait at your hospital?
[00:05:22.930] - Nurse Jess
Most of ours do 1 minute, but we do have one that does three minutes.
[00:05:26.760] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, okay. Is that a doctor or midwife?
[00:05:28.880] - Nurse Jess
No, it's a doctor.
[00:05:29.810] - Hilary Erickson
Wow. I know a lot of people want to wait till it stops pulsating, but that I don't know, three minutes almost seems stops pulsating for me when I've delivered.
[00:05:37.510] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, three minutes sometimes is, like, a really long time, especially when you're like, I think we need to do something more with this baby than just have it laying on mom. But yeah, sometimes sometimes three minutes is a really long time, but yeah.
[00:05:48.830] - Hilary Erickson
So it's a standard of care. I think a lot of people are like, well, my doctor needs to do delayed cord clamping, but it's part of NRP, which is how we resuscitate newborns, so don't worry about that. Everyone should be delayed cord clamping at this point.
[00:06:00.740] - Nurse Jess
I started in, I don't know, 2007, 2008, and I feel like we've always been doing, like, at least a minute, so I feel like people have had that in their birthplace, and it's, I think, been the standard of care where I've worked forever.
[00:06:13.470] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, no. It was like pulling teeth. At my hospital, they were adamant that the baby was losing blood if it was above the placena. We still have one who just holds the baby at the level of the placenta until he clamps it.
[00:06:27.050] - Nurse Jess
Our providers have been really good about that.
[00:06:29.850] - Hilary Erickson
Okay. So I think a lot of times people get worried that they're just, like, stuck alone with this baby on their chest. But at least in every hospital I've ever worked at, there's a nurse for a baby and there's a nurse for mom, and that first. It depends on how tight staffing is, but at least in the first till baby stable, there's a nurse for mom and a nurse for baby. Is that true at your hospital, too?
[00:06:48.200] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, it's usually like the charge nurse, if we have Nicky nurse on the floor or something, that will come in and recover baby. And if we're not super busy, usually that the baby nurse is going to take care of that baby and fully recover and do the beds and everything like that. So, like a couple of hours. But if it's busy, then they might have to turn the baby over to the mom's nurse. But usually it's not going to be until after probably like, maybe after the first set of vitals, I guess, like, 30 to 40 minutes.
[00:07:15.160] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:07:15.660] - Hilary Erickson
I mean, it's just staffing. Staffing.
[00:07:17.990] - Nurse Jess
Right. And it's either like we're not that busy or we're like swamped. There's really no in between. But yeah, we're never going to leave you just alone. Alone.
[00:07:28.590] - Hilary Erickson
So most labor nurses know how to do baby. So if you have any questions about baby, you're always good to ask the labor nurse. But if you have questions about yourself, sometimes the NICU nurses are not comfortable answering those. Sometimes they are just depends on where they work and all that kind of different things. But they can always get the answer for you. So you can ask either of those nurses about any question about either of you. Wouldn't you agree?
[00:07:49.560] - Nurse Jess
Right. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of crossover, at least where I work. But like I said, we're an LDRP, so I don't know. We just do a lot, I think.
[00:07:58.730] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:07:59.260] - Hilary Erickson
Well, especially that first hour. I think most people well, I should say so if you are just a baby nurse, you're really just not comfortable with adults. But they can still find your labor nurse too, right?
[00:08:10.890] - Nurse Jess
And the labor nurse is probably going to be pretty close by. She's going to be doing pretty frequent checks on mom and stuff. Yeah, I don't know. We do funnel checks every 15 minutes. You don't really ever get to get out of the room too much, but.
[00:08:25.320] - Hilary Erickson
Cleaning instruments is usually the only thing I'm gone for much. Sometimes I have to eat if we push for 3 hours.
[00:08:31.250] - Nurse Jess
But yes, that is like you walk out and you shove your food in your face for like five minutes, but you're not really out of the room for very long.
[00:08:38.860] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:08:39.260] - Hilary Erickson
So baby comes to your chest and then your doctor or midwife, whoever, is just going to take a peek at your lady bits to see if there needs to be sewing. I think a lot of people think that there is just like one type of tear, but there are really a lot of different ones. Wouldn't you agree, Jess?
[00:08:52.160] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, they can be like inside, they can be cervical, they can be like a nephroineum. They're kind of up by your urethra. Most of them are really not very it sounds bad to say that they're not very bad because I'm sure that they are to the patient, but most of them are pretty simple.
[00:09:09.340] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:09:09.630] - Hilary Erickson
And I've actually had skid marks. Do you guys ever call them at your hospital?
[00:09:12.630] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, I mean, I hate the term, but yeah, I feel like especially on the people that have had multiple babies.
[00:09:18.710] - Hilary Erickson
But that's kind of what it looks like if you fall off if you're eight and you fall off your bike.
[00:09:21.900] - Nurse Jess
Like an abrasion, just like.
[00:09:25.110] - Hilary Erickson
I will.
[00:09:25.610] - Nurse Jess
Say that they burn when you pee.
[00:09:27.950] - Hilary Erickson
That is alarming.
[00:09:29.630] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, they definitely burn, but they heal really fast.
[00:09:33.320] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:09:33.610] - Hilary Erickson
And there's nothing to sew up, so they just take a peek to make sure it's not bleeding, that they don't need to do anything sewing. So yeah, that's part of their job is to check that out and then at some point in time the placenta comes out.
[00:09:43.690] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:09:44.190] - Nurse Jess
Which most people have that feels like so good. Once that's out, they just feel like complete relief after. I feel like everybody is like, oh, my gosh, when that happens.
[00:09:54.030] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:09:54.420] - Hilary Erickson
Because you are basically still pregnant until that baby comes out or that placenta.
[00:09:58.920] - Nurse Jess
Right. Yeah. All that pressure and everything. It's all over at that point.
[00:10:04.370] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:10:04.620] - Hilary Erickson
And if you're going naturally, when you.
[00:10:05.840] - Nurse Jess
Start shaking like you're shaking, I feel like everybody starts shaking. Really, at that point, though.
[00:10:10.360] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:10:10.610] - Hilary Erickson
Because their heater is gone. You have to create their own warmth. Do you have a lot of patients who keep their placentas, use them for different things?
[00:10:19.210] - Nurse Jess
I feel like maybe like four or five years ago it was kind of more of a thing, but I don't think I've had anybody ask me in over a year.
[00:10:30.040] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:10:30.840] - Hilary Erickson
ACOG, I think it was, or it could have been the American Catwattrics came out saying that placenta encapsulation if you are GBS positive or have different bacteria on your placenta, or if the lady before you, because who knows how well they're sterilizing their placenta. Dehydrator it can get past to the baby through that. So I think since then a lot of practitioners have been telling people to kind of avoid it.
[00:10:51.760] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:10:52.030] - Nurse Jess
And I feel like that practice bulletin came out probably about two or three years ago. That sounds about right.
[00:10:58.100] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:10:58.370] - Hilary Erickson
But I have had patients who wanted to put it in the ground and plant a tree on it. Some cultures like to do something with a placenta similar to that, as far as I know. So that's something that you're thinking about. A couple of my hospitals had a boatload of paperwork if you took that placenta home. So that's just something to be aware of, to let your care team know in advance.
[00:11:15.000] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, definitely. I think because we do have a consent form or something that we have to fill out, it's not like a ton of paperwork, but I know that we have to go over the risks. I think if there's a reason that we need to keep the placenta for pathology, then they won't let you take it if there's some sort of a complication where the doctor wants to do pathology on it. But otherwise most of the doctors don't really care that much.
[00:11:39.650] - Hilary Erickson
No. My first hospital that I worked at, we donated all the placentas to a makeup company, which I thought was super weird. I mean, this was back in like 2001. I don't think they do that anymore.
[00:11:48.990] - Nurse Jess
No, that is I've never even heard of that.
[00:11:51.250] - Hilary Erickson
Hilary, the Stone Age nurse. And then after the placenta comes out, they are going to start pitocin. And I think a lot of people were like, I didn't get Pitocin, I didn't get induced. And I'm like, oh, you probably did.
[00:12:01.420] - Nurse Jess
I can count on less than three fingers, like, the amount of people who have not gotten Pitocin, like, post delivery, and it's just because they straight up refuse, but with the agreement that they would take it if they needed it.
[00:12:12.280] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:12:12.640] - Hilary Erickson
And if you don't have an IV, we can give Pitocin as a shot, but it really is a standard of care just to make sure you don't bleed right, really?
[00:12:19.920] - Nurse Jess
To help prevent that hemorrhage, which we absolutely don't want, because once you start the hemorrhage, then it's just a bigger process.
[00:12:25.020] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:12:25.380] - Hilary Erickson
And I think even midwives give pitocin at home, I think, don't they?
[00:12:29.780] - Nurse Jess
I think so. Home deliveries are not allowed in Nebraska, so I really don't have a whole lot of experience with home deliveries. Occasionally, like, somebody will come in that has tried a home delivery, but we don't like certified midwives cannot deliver babies at home here.
[00:12:46.230] - Hilary Erickson
Okay. So they can only work in a birthing center. Okay. Interesting. I think that may be the rule in Arizona, too. I honestly don't know. But we've definitely had patients who the home delivery didn't work out and have come seen us, so I don't know.
[00:12:57.130] - Nurse Jess
Anyway, I'm guessing the lay midwife, I don't think that they would have access to Stochin to be able to give it because they're not like an actual parameter.
[00:13:07.510] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:13:07.770] - Hilary Erickson
So Pitocin is given just to clamp down that Uterus, make sure that you don't bleed, and we just give a little bit to everybody. Usually we give it in the first hour after the delivery, and then you're done.
[00:13:17.540] - Nurse Jess
Hopefully we do like, a bullet for 15 minutes and then it runs the rest of the bag, like over 2 hours. So usually by 2 hours push harder than it's done and we don't need to do it anymore. That's if their vaginal delivery or C section, it's the same.
[00:13:31.120] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:13:31.480] - Hilary Erickson
Okay, so they've done your repair. You're all ready. We'll put the bed back together because even if you wanted to deliver in a different way, usually your doctor is going to want you to have you be in the stirrups to take a peek at your lady bits to make sure everything's intact. It's hard for them to do that if you're just like, squatting, right?
[00:13:48.140] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:13:48.460] - Hilary Erickson
You're going to end up in the stirrups or them to just make sure everything looks okay, which would be important because you want to make sure there is always a chance that you ripped to your rectum or you've ripped other places. So they just need to look at it really good. Wouldn't you agree, Jess?
[00:14:02.710] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. Especially I don't know if you've got like a cervical tear or something. Like, there's no way that they're going to be able to see that. Like just like a quick squatting look. They really got to look in there. You don't want that going unrepaired.
[00:14:14.650] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:14:14.990] - Hilary Erickson
And frankly, after delivery, you're tired, you want to lay down. It's a great position to have baby on your chest.
[00:14:19.640] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, absolutely. I think at that point, most people want to be in the bed because.
[00:14:23.750] - Hilary Erickson
The baby is out. They don't need to. Everything is good. And I think a lot of people think I'm going to have pain, like labor pain after delivery. But I want to assure you that if you're going natural, once the baby is out, you are fairly pain free and then you get like a big contraction with the placenta and then it is done. That's the beauty of it.
[00:14:41.610] - Nurse Jess
Right. You might be kind of I don't even really feel I didn't have epurnals with my kids, and I don't even really remember feeling even, like tender or anything. Just like when they were looking to see if I tore. But I don't even really remember feeling like, much of any pain. But I mean, you're also jacked up on adrenaline and stuff.
[00:14:58.770] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:14:59.280] - Hilary Erickson
A lot of endorphins going on for everyone, epidural or not a lot of endorphins at that point, so it's great. And then we try and clean up your downtown area, your lady bits. We'll take clean things off and then some places put pads on you. I usually just put my patients on a towel at that point because it's hard to like the pad doesn't stay in place. I don't know. What do you guys do?
[00:15:18.810] - Nurse Jess
Jess yeah, we've got the cloth chucks pad underneath, and then we have like an ice pack that's like a pad sort of that we tuck up by the vagina that's kind of nice and cooling on the perineum. And then we usually just keep that there during the recovery period when we're doing our funnel checks. And then we've got to weigh all that stuff.
[00:15:37.280] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, so you weigh everything too, after delivery?
[00:15:39.440] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, we put a new pad underneath mom and then the ice pack, and then we've got to weigh all that for or QBL.
[00:15:44.230] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, goodness gracious. So there is a chance after you have a baby of losing a lot of blood. What she's saying is after delivery, they want us to weigh everything to see how much blood you've lost.
[00:15:55.090] - Nurse Jess
We do our QBL with the physician for what they had at the delivery and then like our two hour postpartum period, then we weigh everything that would have blood on it and then come up with our final QBL. And then if it's over, I think 1000, then we have to weigh everything for 24 hours.
[00:16:11.340] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, wow. That's a lot. So anyway, that's just something to be aware of. A lot of hospitals do that. My hospital keeps trying to do that. It was like a little bit of.
[00:16:20.750] - Nurse Jess
An adjustment, but it went pretty smoothly once I don't know, once we got used to it, but it was after some years of doing it one way, it's kind of hard to shift your way, but it's true. It is kind of amazing to see what you thought things were doing and then really actually realizing what the actual numbers are.
[00:16:39.200] - Hilary Erickson
Yes, I agree. That's good. Good to have the knowledge. So then we put the bottom of the bed back together. If you guys don't know the bottom of the bed comes off for delivery or whatever to use the stirrups, and then we can put the bottom of the bed back on. There's handles on the bed. The beds are multifunctional. So that's the good news about labor beds.
[00:16:54.360] - Nurse Jess
And while that's happening, your baby's still on your chest. You know, the baby nurse is doing vitals, and, you know, we've done, you know, the one in five minute Apgars. And I don't know how you guys do your vitals, but ours are, like, every 30 minutes for 2 hours for your baby.
[00:17:08.210] - Hilary Erickson
Every 15 here? Yeah, it's like every 15 for, like, an hour, and then it's every 30 for, like I don't know, it seems.
[00:17:14.010] - Nurse Jess
Like forever, but it's not. Yeah, so ours were every 15 for an hour, and then that was it. But now they're every 30 for 2 hours.
[00:17:22.410] - Hilary Erickson
We especially want to take baby's temperature, make sure that baby is adjusting to living in air and is regulating its temperature. Okay. Listening to the his heart and lungs, make sure there isn't, like, a lot of fluid in there. That's mostly what you're doing. And then just do you have a problem if they stay skin to skin, or do you have nurses that like to bring the baby to the warmer quickly? What do you guys do?
[00:17:41.160] - Nurse Jess
No, most of the time we just keep the baby skin to skin. Sometimes the moms and parents are really anxious to get a weight, and so sometimes we'll take the baby over quick and get a quick wait and then maybe put a diaper on them so that if they decide to go to the bathroom or something, they're not all of her mom. And then take baby back over and then tuck baby back in. But we don't usually do the measurements and all that stuff over there until, like, way after the rest of the measurements. Like the head.
[00:18:09.000] - Hilary Erickson
I love it when they ask me how much the baby weighs when it's only been on their skin to skin. I'm like, I don't know.
[00:18:14.410] - Nurse Jess
Right? I don't know. What do you think?
[00:18:18.170] - Hilary Erickson
So I actually do think if they wanted to know the weight, not everybody does, but if they want to know the weight, it's a great time to do it. Once we put the bed back together and we're kind of just scooching them up in bed, and then they can kind of get themselves comfortable, baby can be at weight and then come back. So up to mom, though. Whatever you're comfortable with.
[00:18:33.010] - Nurse Jess
If mom's had an epidural. Then a lot of times the doctor gets the drill out, too. So they're really fiddling a lot with moms. That is a really good time to take the baby for its weight and maybe put a diaper on.
[00:18:43.590] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:18:44.060] - Hilary Erickson
And then you just stay happily ever after. I love to do my newborn assessment on the chest as long as the baby looks good. I'll even do shops on mom's chest if mom is comfortable with that.
[00:18:52.540] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:18:52.810] - Nurse Jess
And I love that when they are because I feel like babies settle down so much sooner. They're like right next to mom and they can just go right back to breast if they have a breastfeeding.
[00:19:03.370] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:19:03.900] - Hilary Erickson
I would caution you to make sure that you're okay watching the baby get the shots because sometimes a lot of moms freak out because they've have shot issues. So you can have us take it to the warmer for the shot or we can do it on your skin to skin, just whatever you want. Just communicate your needs to us. I think that's so important.
[00:19:18.210] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, I know we've had some moms that like the best time that we can do the shots is when mom's up in the bathroom or shower after they've delivered because mom does not want to be anywhere near the first set of shots. We're pretty flexible. I feel like we're going to do pretty much what you want as long as it fits in what we kind of have to do with the baby.
[00:19:37.350] - Hilary Erickson
And then, of course, if anything looks funky with a baby, I take the baby over to the warmer. So we're not going to be assessing a real difficult problem while baby is on your skin to skin.
[00:19:46.720] - Nurse Jess
Right. If baby is really aggrunging loud when they're having, I don't know, some symptoms of respiratory distress or are not as pink as they should be, if they're kind of looking a little bit dusty, I'm definitely taking them over to the warmer and getting a good look at them and making sure that their oxygen is doing okay. If they're kind of a little bit grunty, kind of intermittently, I'll probably leave them on mom's chest because I feel like sometimes they just acclimate better when.
[00:20:10.480] - Hilary Erickson
They'Re close to mom.
[00:20:11.240] - Nurse Jess
But if they're really grumpy hard, being.
[00:20:13.330] - Hilary Erickson
Prone, which is mean when you're on your belly, I think sometimes helps them get that fluid out of their lungs a little bit more too.
[00:20:18.520] - Nurse Jess
Yeah.
[00:20:18.900] - Hilary Erickson
So I think a lot of people are like, oh, is the warmer in the nursery? So usually in the labor and delivery rooms, there should be a warmer in every room home and there's kind of like levels of care. So I am good to take care of a normal baby newborn and just a little bit past that. And then if it's anything like that, I call in one of the nursery nurses because I just want a second opinion.
[00:20:39.110] - Nurse Jess
Right. I agree with you if they really are acting funny or if they're like especially if they're kind of, like, maybe, like 36 weeks and, like, grunting. I'm definitely going to break into nursery nurse pretty quickly, probably because I am starting to kind of think, like, maybe the baby is not going to hang out in mom's room all night.
[00:21:00.480] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, but sometimes nursery nurse comes in, she's like she just does, like, a little oxygen, and then she's like, there, he's good. Okay, great.
[00:21:07.020] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. Sometimes they just need to come over and do a little CPAP, which is kind of like when it's a little bask that goes on their face and kind of helps hold those lungs open, and they usually don't need it for very long, and then they can come right back over to mom and stay in the room.
[00:21:22.810] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:21:23.280] - Hilary Erickson
So what I want to caution you guys, it's really not unusual for a baby to, like, where we're like, what's going on over here? I just want to take a peek of them at the warmer because what is it, like 10% of babies need a little bit of help at delivery? That's what they say in NRP. Or is it 1%?
[00:21:38.270] - Nurse Jess
I feel like it's probably more like 10%, but I don't know the actual.
[00:21:41.180] - Hilary Erickson
I think 1% needs just, like, a little bit of help, and then 1% needs, like, a little bit more help.
[00:21:46.530] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. I mean, there's not very often that we, you know, like, I feel like we don't do much more than CPAP on, like, most babies. And even most babies, we don't even do CPAP. So, I mean, most of the time, like, your baby is going to be able to hang out with you, but don't freak out.
[00:21:58.610] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:21:58.790] - Hilary Erickson
It's not unusual at all. Not unusual.
[00:22:00.890] - Nurse Jess
No, especially if it's like if the baby is, like, a little bit like 36, 37 weeks or, like, your C section, I feel like you're more likely to end up with a little bit of CPAP after delivery.
[00:22:09.840] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:22:10.160] - Hilary Erickson
And all that's very normal. It's a normal thing for us to do. I know it's unusual for you to see that the baby needs a little bit of help, but nobody really talks about, oh, my baby went to the warmer for two minutes after delivery. It's just very normal.
[00:22:22.480] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:22:22.670] - Nurse Jess
And if they do have to give that CPAP, you're not going to hear your baby crying because that mask is, like, over kind of tight, and so don't be freaking out. It's like your baby, he was crying, and then you don't really hear it because the problem is kind of crying, but it's really muffled astounding. And so a lot of times they're like, oh, my gosh, my gosh, maybe he's not crying. What's going on? And so ask those questions, but don't panic, I don't think, because and then.
[00:22:44.450] - Hilary Erickson
Usually about an hour, hour and a half in, we try and get our ladies up to. The restroom. What are you about you, Jess?
[00:22:49.770] - Nurse Jess
I would say we aim for about 2 hours, especially if they were straight caps. Sometimes the doctor will cap them at the delivery or right around the time of delivery. And so sometimes those ones, we can kind of stretch out a little bit longer. They've had a really heavy epidural and they just don't have their legs back yet. But I'd say probably about 2 hours is what we aim for.
[00:23:10.940] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, that would be a huge benefit for you guys. Most hospitals, I think, really aim to get them up to postpartum within 2 hours because they want the labor nurse to take another patient. It's really why we're trying to do that. But also the other benefit is baby usually super tired at that point, so it's a good time for everybody to nap in the new room. So I'm not saying that it's horrible, but we do kind of sometimes rush it more than I wish we did.
[00:23:32.900] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:23:33.170] - Nurse Jess
And sometimes I wish that we could rush it a little bit more.
[00:23:37.410] - Hilary Erickson
The grass is always greener. So your first trip to the restroom, especially that your first baby, is going to be kind of a big surprise. The nurse is going to go with you totally normal. That's her job. There's always a chance you could faint. What about you, Jess?
[00:23:49.930] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, I do feel like if somebody's going to faint, it's going to be on that first trip, usually, and there's going to be so much more blood than you were expecting. And we're ready for it, and we're prepared for it, but you probably won't be like you're just going to be like, oh, my gosh, there's no way that's normal. And it most likely is, or we wouldn't be getting up to the bathroom.
[00:24:07.590] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:24:08.020] - Hilary Erickson
We use a device called Sarah Steady. Have you ever heard of this?
[00:24:10.660] - Nurse Jess
I've seen it, like on Instagram and stuff, but we don't have it. We walk you there.
[00:24:15.380] - Hilary Erickson
It's like a wheelchair with lifting butt flaps. So we just like, scoot it in. You stand up, you get on it. We wheel you into the restroom. You stand up, we plop you in the toilet. We get it out of the way anyway. It's like a wheelchair that's more easy to use with the restroom, basically. But even with that, I use a chuck, like a diaper, because when you get up because of gravity, it just pulls all those clots and all the blood that's just been hanging out. It's good times. Good times.
[00:24:40.540] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:24:41.000] - Nurse Jess
The first time you stand up, it's just going to like anything that's just hanging out in there, it's just going to come out and it's going to look like so much more blood than what you were expecting, probably.
[00:24:48.350] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:24:48.650] - Hilary Erickson
And your legs are going to be dirty. Like, you are going to be dirty.
[00:24:52.490] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. That shower is going to feel like the greatest shower ever. I always felt like.
[00:24:56.800] - Hilary Erickson
How long do most of your moms wait to shower? Jess since you're in the same room?
[00:25:00.000] - Nurse Jess
Room. Usually we try to get them up and shower at that same time. Like we get them up, we empty their bladder, and then we try to get them into the shower, unless there's a C section and then it's over hours.
[00:25:09.170] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:25:09.620] - Hilary Erickson
So even an Epidural mom, 2 hours later you're trying to shower them.
[00:25:12.850] - Nurse Jess
If they got their legs back, we'll put a shower chair in.
[00:25:15.110] - Hilary Erickson
Oh, that's nice. Okay. So at my hospital, I would say we aim for twelve showers or the next morning. Obviously we're not going to wake you up at 04:00 A.m..
[00:25:23.750] - Nurse Jess
I cannot even imagine having waited that long. Yeah.
[00:25:25.990] - Hilary Erickson
Although I basically do a bed bath while they're on the toilet. Like I wipe off their back, I get all the Epidural schmutz off of them. I do their legs, I don't do their hair.
[00:25:35.990] - Nurse Jess
If I have somebody who doesn't want to take a shower yet or is still pretty, I don't know, is like kind of faithy. I'm not going to put them in the shower because the hot water is definitely going to make them faint or if they haven't eaten or something like that. Or their C section. I definitely would really try to scrub them, especially their back. Really good because I feel like they get really sweaty on their back and it makes them feel really gross and.
[00:25:59.200] - Hilary Erickson
Itchy and then in my hospital, we take you up to a different floor and then you would have postpartum nurses, which are separate from labor and delivery. I mean, labor and delivery sometimes works postpartum, but postpartum do nurses do not work labor and delivery. So it is separate in that way, I guess. And then you hang out there. So do you take all those patients or do you normally take labor patients? What do you do, Jess?
[00:26:17.760] - Nurse Jess
Well, I'm usually charged.
[00:26:19.770] - Hilary Erickson
Okay.
[00:26:20.360] - Nurse Jess
But before I was charged all the time, I preferred labor, so I often would take the next labor that would come in. I a million times would rather take labors than post partum. That's my preference.
[00:26:33.380] - Hilary Erickson
But amen oh, we didn't even talk about breastfeeding. Well, this occurred to me. So I think a lot of people expect this baby to just chug on your breast like a bottle at that point in time and that's just not what it looks like.
[00:26:44.980] - Nurse Jess
No. Or also they expect to just lay the baby on the chest and the baby is just going to latch on with any sort of help or support or holding or anything like that. Sometimes you'll have a baby that you lay it on there and then just all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, look at that. But I feel like that's not really the norm, even though there's lots of YouTube videos out there saying that this is what babies do.
[00:27:07.680] - Hilary Erickson
I know the Lamas one about like, if you don't have an epidural, that baby's going to army crawl up to you and it'll find your nipple just like a kangaroo.
[00:27:14.270] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, I have seen it happen that way, but it is definitely, I don't think, the norm.
[00:27:19.310] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I agree. And I caution moms, especially because a lot of times will go skin to skin. They cut the cord and then they're like, oh, should I breastfeed right now? And I'm like, just love your baby for a little bit. You don't need the pressure of breastfeeding until I've gotten you set up in your bed.
[00:27:32.320] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. Most of the time the baby is not even really that interested in breastfeeding right away. I mean, they've just been born. They're still like acclimating to life.
[00:27:41.220] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:27:41.680] - Hilary Erickson
Breathing. Breathing is a big deal for them. I agree. And I will always caution moms that having the baby skin to skin is such a turn on for your breath because it tells the breast baby's here, you're smelling the baby, you're loving the baby. Like all of that gets your hormones going to say, make milk.
[00:27:57.830] - Nurse Jess
Yeah. Like the vernix and all that stuff. Just having the baby is going to help. But babies are going to like I feel like most babies are going to start acting hungry within maybe 30, 40 minutes.
[00:28:11.390] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:28:11.820] - Hilary Erickson
And then they're going to eat and they're going to think about life. Like they're going to do two sucks and then they're going to be like, rough day here, mom? And then they'll take a suck. And then they'll go to sleep. And then they'll take a suck.
[00:28:21.960] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, or you'll have one. They just literally eat non fat for like 2 hours too. I just feel like all of that is normal. All of that is normal. Sometimes I don't know what you guys do for your blood sugars because I feel like that's kind of important too, that parents know that we may be having to poke their baby for blood sugars.
[00:28:43.830] - Hilary Erickson
Usually we do that if mom's diabetic or baby's big or baby's small.
[00:28:47.930] - Nurse Jess
I'm trying to think, like if you haven't had any prenatal care, which I'm assuming if you're watching this podcast, you probably have prenatal care, but there are certain risk factors that will do blood sugars on them. But usually we wait. I'm trying to think it's like 90 minutes after birth or like 30 minutes after the feeding is when we would do our blood sugars.
[00:29:07.230] - Hilary Erickson
And we have to do like three. What do you guys have to do once you start it's?
[00:29:11.900] - Nurse Jess
Three. It depends on their risk category. So if they're like a high risk newborn, which is like a small baby or I think a less than term baby, or I'm trying to think and it's for 24 hours actually, that they'll get blood sugar and they have to have at least three good ones before we can test them. So it could even be longer than 24 hours, but at that point, they'd probably going to be in the NICU.
[00:29:37.730] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:29:38.060] - Nurse Jess
And then for a diabetic mom or like a big baby, those ones are 12 hours, so it usually ends up being about three. But again, it has to have, like, three consecutive good ones.
[00:29:48.490] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:29:48.940] - Hilary Erickson
And baby blood sugars are different than moms. We're just looking for what's the number you guys are looking for?
[00:29:54.210] - Nurse Jess
Jess our first one has to be above 40, and then the consecutive ones have to be above 45.
[00:29:58.590] - Hilary Erickson
Okay. Ours is just 40. If we want three above 40, basically is what we're aiming for. So blood sugar is not unusual. And also sometimes that the baby just looks kind of jittery or something, we'll just be like, I'm just going to take a blood sugar just to make sure, right?
[00:30:11.440] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, we do, too, even if they don't have any other, like, risk factors. And usually it's fine because usually it's just like, they're, you know, have an immature nervous system and they just sometimes have these newborn jitters. But we want to make sure that their blood sugar is not poured, like, below 40.
[00:30:24.760] - Hilary Erickson
That's a simple thing to fix.
[00:30:26.920] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:30:27.400] - Nurse Jess
Right. Which we fix it by feeding them. And then I don't know if you guys have the glucose gel.
[00:30:32.750] - Hilary Erickson
I love it. It's all so confusing. I miss just putting a sugar bottle in the baby's mouth from back in the day.
[00:30:41.950] - Nurse Jess
And then we've got, like, donor milk that we can use, too, if mom's.
[00:30:46.930] - Hilary Erickson
Not up to breastfeeding.
[00:30:47.930] - Nurse Jess
If they are really wanting yeah, if they're really wanting to breastfeed and only want their baby to have breast milk. I know a lot of hospitals will have donor milk. That that's an option.
[00:30:55.400] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, donor milk. FYI, super expensive. Although I think a lot of hospitals end up kind of getting it donated to the hospital. But if you were to buy donations.
[00:31:02.790] - Nurse Jess
I think our foundation covers it or something. And so I don't think it's like it's a cost to the patient for us, but I don't know. It probably depends on the facility.
[00:31:13.100] - Hilary Erickson
I'm sure we try and build your insurance because we will.
[00:31:17.260] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:31:17.510] - Hilary Erickson
But if you want a formula feed, then we would just pop a bottle in the baby's mouth, too. There's lots of options and you guys just right. So my number one tip would just be to communicate what you're feeling, questions you have. We'd love to answer questions. What are your tips for after babies born? Chest right after?
[00:31:33.100] - Nurse Jess
Well, just enjoy your baby. Just enjoy your baby. Don't feel like you have to do this or this or because you read on some, I don't know, like, webpage or that you need to have the baby eating by this time or you're not going to make any milk, because that's not true. As long as you get the baby eating at some point within an hour or two, you're going to be fine.
[00:31:52.020] - Hilary Erickson
Or four. If baby ends up going to the NICU, like, you're going to be fine. We can always hook you up with a pump. There's other things we can do. There are no hard and fast rules.
[00:32:00.450] - Nurse Jess
No. I feel like probably most of the nurses that I work with and that I've encountered are super flexible and are going to do whatever we can with reason to help the mom and that baby have the best experience that they can, whatever that looks like for them.
[00:32:17.440] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:32:17.820] - Hilary Erickson
I do think a lot of moms feel a lot of pressure. Like they need to learn everything about the baby right. Then they need to do everything for the baby.
[00:32:25.080] - Nurse Jess
Right.
[00:32:25.310] - Hilary Erickson
Then they're just feeling like, I need to feed. I need to do all these different things.
[00:32:29.490] - Nurse Jess
Right.
[00:32:29.790] - Hilary Erickson
And I feel like a lot of.
[00:32:30.860] - Nurse Jess
Them feel like if that baby I feel like the first meeting either goes really, really well and then the second feeding doesn't go as well, or else the first feeding doesn't go that well, but then baby kind of figures it out. I feel like it's kind of one of those two options. And when that happens and the baby has that beating where the baby doesn't eat that well, they feel like, oh, my gosh, I thought this was going to be something different. And then they put all this pressure on themselves and it's going to go up and down, on and up and down. If you're breastfeeding, if you're bottle feeding, even. Sometimes they do weird things.
[00:33:00.440] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:33:01.240] - Hilary Erickson
Just love them. The love you have is actually one of the best things to turn on the milk versus freaking out is not one of the best ways to turn on the milk.
[00:33:08.880] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, I feel like the same thing. Like when you're in labor, just like when you start freaking out, things shut down. It's kind of the same way, like postpartum, too, when you start which you're going to freak out like everybody does. I remember being in tears at that 48 hours mark with all of my kids. It's like, oh, my gosh, that's normal. But try really hard just to relax and just take things as they go.
[00:33:32.480] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, that's great advice. And if you're feeling something weird, let us know. If you feel a gush of blood, if you feel light headed, if you feel anything. And we can either say, yes, totally normal, we'll check, make sure everything's fine. We didn't even talk about bundle checks. I'm a mess today.
[00:33:47.990] - Nurse Jess
I think we briefly touched on that. You're going to get them every 15 minutes, but I think that's all we talked about. But yeah, the funnel checks are fun. I feel like people hate them, but they're pretty important.
[00:34:00.350] - Hilary Erickson
So it's where we push on the top of your uterus, we stabilize the bottom of your uterus, and we just gently make sure that the uterus is firm. And then usually I got to say in that first hour, I do push down just a little bit every single time.
[00:34:12.290] - Nurse Jess
I know that they say we're just supposed to kind of check for firmness, but I feel like if you don't really I don't do, like, a super vigorous massage unless I have to, but I do, like, a little massage every time that first hour, because otherwise you end up with those clots that all of a sudden you've got a really boggy uterus.
[00:34:26.330] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:34:27.010] - Hilary Erickson
And we're just doing that because your uterus is like a popped balloon and it's got to fold in all its sides on itself, put direct pressure on the placenta area, and then just go back to the way it used to be. It's slowly going that way. It's still really big though, right.
[00:34:43.320] - Nurse Jess
You're going to look still like you're still going to have a belly after you have your baby for a while, probably.
[00:34:49.630] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:34:49.930] - Hilary Erickson
And we do that about every 15 minutes we'll push on your uterus, I think for the first 2 hours at most hospitals and then every shift after that for us.
[00:34:58.770] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:34:59.010] - Nurse Jess
After that, I think it's like every four for 24 hours and then probably once a shift until discharge after that.
[00:35:05.620] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:35:06.100] - Hilary Erickson
But at any point you start having gushing or anything like that, you always want to let your nurse know because there is a real decent chance of a hemorrhage at any point in time there, right?
[00:35:14.360] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:35:14.610] - Nurse Jess
I've seen it happen like a day of discharge or people have gone home and then that's when they start hammering. If you start passing really big clots at any point or even when you go home, you need to tell somebody.
[00:35:25.370] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:35:25.740] - Hilary Erickson
All right. So that's life after delivery. And honestly, you don't need to know to do anything because your nurse is going to do absolutely everything for you. She is going to spray off your bottom. She is going to help you get up. She's going to help position the baby to breastfeed. She's going to check your uterus. You just lay there and love your baby.
[00:35:43.290] - Nurse Jess
The mom's nurse and the baby's nurse for probably the first I don't know at our place for the first 2 hours. They're going to love on you, they're going to take care of you, and you're going to have probably the most attention that you're going to have in the entire hospital those couple of hours. I feel like afterwards.
[00:35:58.330] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:35:58.550] - Hilary Erickson
Because essentially you're supposed to have two nurses in that room for those 2 hours, just making sure that everything's okay. Just because it's a high risk time for both of you, baby or mom. And if one of you has an issue, the other nurse needs to take the other patient.
[00:36:10.730] - Nurse Jess
Right? Yeah. You're not going to have that much attention on you for the rest of the time. After that, it's completely different. But yeah, this first couple of hours, just really, that is probably the best time to ask a lot of questions because you're going to have your nurse at your bedside there not maybe the whole time, but like they're going to be really readily available.
[00:36:28.570] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:36:28.830] - Hilary Erickson
And a lot of times we're doing like mindless work, like cleaning things up. So if you have questions, we are happy to answer those while we're just like doing housekeeping's job, really, right?
[00:36:37.980] - Nurse Jess
Yes.
[00:36:39.310] - Hilary Erickson
Lots of clean, I bet, in the LGRP. Does Housekeeping come in then at some point and clean up the room?
[00:36:45.620] - Nurse Jess
Not usually. Not unless there's a real big mess or something. And then sometimes usually it's all on us.
[00:36:51.650] - Hilary Erickson
I'm not sad to leave the mess behind. I think that's my favorite part of leaving the room is that they get a nice clean room, clean bed, all that kind of different things. I should also mention that you are allowed to eat once baby is out. So some people are super hungry, some people aren't. Would you guys feed them at your hospital? What do you do, Jess?
[00:37:07.730] - Nurse Jess
Well, I work sometimes days and I work sometimes nights. And so night time we're pretty limited. Like we don't have a cafeteria that's open or any way to get like cafeteria type food. But our galley usually has some sandwiches and some kind of simple stuff. You can make toast and we'll get you like a little juice cocktail and set you up like you're not going to starve if you deliver overnight. But during the day, then yeah, we'll get that diet order put in. And they can either order food for themselves and their support person, or else they can run out and get food or have it delivered. They're on an unrestricted diet unless there's some reason that they're not at that point. So they can eat pretty much anything that they want at that point.
[00:37:47.900] - Hilary Erickson
I do like to start small. I'm like, let's have a cracker before you eat this mondo burrito. Let's just make sure that stomach is going to tolerate you.
[00:37:55.980] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:37:56.300] - Nurse Jess
Especially if there were a C section.
[00:37:57.900] - Hilary Erickson
Well, yeah, for sure.
[00:37:59.160] - Nurse Jess
I do really try to have them. We don't have any restrictions. We can feed them whatever they want after their C section, after they come back. But I do try to have them. Let's maybe start with some toast or crackers before we order a cheeseburger.
[00:38:14.130] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, but I feel like most of.
[00:38:15.250] - Nurse Jess
The time they're not even with defections. I feel like they know most people tolerate their diet afterwards.
[00:38:20.230] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, ours really depends on the doctor. So we had some that were like whatever, and some that were like, clears for twelve, then soft. And I was like, oh my gosh.
[00:38:28.150] - Nurse Jess
Oh no. Our orders are just pretty much just they are all the same for everybody. So that's super nice because that would be a lot to keep track of and it's annoying.
[00:38:37.980] - Hilary Erickson
All right, so that's life after delivery. This is just to give you an idea of what goes on. I'm not saying there's absolutely anything. There's nothing you have to do besides be the princess of the labor room. That's all we want from you. Yeah.
[00:38:50.120] - Nurse Jess
I love recoveries. I don't know. And I love going for babies. I love being the baby nurse, too. That's probably one of my favorite things. I love going for babies.
[00:38:56.800] - Hilary Erickson
I love everything till we have to get them up to the restroom because I had so many patients faint at my first hospital, I'm always like, oh, please don't faint on me. But with a serraceti, if they feign, I just will them back to their bed. So it's fine.
[00:39:07.860] - Nurse Jess
We've had, like a group of Fayers recently, so yeah. When you're talking about that, I'm like, that would be really nice to have.
[00:39:14.380] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah, it's not unusual. And if you feel like you're going to faint, say something.
[00:39:18.550] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:39:18.790] - Nurse Jess
If you start seeing stars or anything weird, like if you feel fuzzy caught me in your head, definitely say something.
[00:39:25.570] - Hilary Erickson
And take it slow because some people get up like I was a marathon runner until I got pregnant. So I'm just going to run to this bathroom right now and I'm like, oh, no. We're going to test each leg. We're going to take some deep breaths.
[00:39:37.020] - Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:39:37.350] - Nurse Jess
And so I work at a place where we don't have the serra study and you walk to the bathroom. If you have any of that epidural left in your leg, it's going to be your knees. And so don't bend your knees that first time up. We're going to help you get there. Don't try to get up on your own. No, ever. Or that first time. Don't be like, oh, I really got just don't just be patient. Wait for your nurse. But if you make a mess, whatever. We have seen masters before, so we'll clean that up. But do not get out of bed on your own. Yeah.
[00:40:10.790] - Hilary Erickson
Amen. All right. That's life. After delivery. If you guys have any questions, come find us over on Instagram. I'd be happy to answer some. Maybe we could even do a more in depth one if you guys have questions about something specific. Thanks for coming on, Jess. I appreciate it.
[00:40:21.430] - Nurse Jess
Yeah, thanks for having me.
[00:40:22.500] - Hilary Erickson
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Jess has so, so much experience. It was fun to have her on. And it's interesting to see how different hospitals do different things. I, like I said, have never worked in a hospital where you labor and deliver in the same room. It seems like most hospitals are finding it's more economic to have post partum rooms separate from labor rooms because labor rooms need to be bigger. Yada, yada. The whole finances of the thing. But just interesting. And like I said, this isn't giving you information for anything that you need to do. You really are just the princess at that point and just love that baby what an exciting time. I cannot wait for you to have your baby.
[00:40:56.510] - Hilary Erickson
And stay tuned. We've got some fun episodes coming up. Next week, I am going to talk about all the things I did as a mom that everyone else hated. So stay tuned for that one. And then after that, we're going to talk about what to do if you are afraid of c-sections. So don't miss those episodes coming up.
[00:41:11.400] - Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us on today's episode. The Pulling Curls Podcast grows when you share us on social media or leave a review. If you do, please tag us so that we can share and send you a virtual hug, which, frankly, is my favorite kind of hugging. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
The post What Happens After Delivery with Nurse Jess — Episode 177 appeared first on Pulling Curls.