Year 1 First Labour Ward Shift

Well I promised bossdog I'd tell you all what happened on my first shift on labour ward!

After much anticipation, waiting, nerves, excitement...and all those other emotions! labour ward placement is finally here. My first week was Thursday and Friday nights, which I was a bit :\ about but at the same time, loved the idea as babies come at night.

Half my cohort are on labour ward as well (other half are community) and most of the girls started earlier in the week, so hearing all the stories drove me insane! I was so desperate to start, but at the same time thankful to have this time to prepare myself.

So Thursday night came, and off I went to the hospital. I was biting my knuckles on the bus with some major butterflies going on, but I knew I'd be fine. Hopefully my mentor would be awesome, and help guide me through this first hands on placement.

I met my mentor in handover, and straight away I knew she was lovely. Throughout these two nights, we've already got a good relationship going - we've had a good few giggles together, as well as plenty of teacher/pupil moments.

Our first woman we were given was a para 1 at 37+5 who'd been struggling all day. She was on syntocinon after SROM two days before without anything happening and had an epidural a few hours before, so she was nice and comfy when we came in to take over care. She was examined about an hour into our care by the doctor, who saw her to be fully. We were dead pleased as we were told she was still 8cm when we took over. She was feeling pretty tired (long few days!) so she slept for about an hour to build up a wee bit of energy before we got going with the main event. She was really keen for as natural a delivery as possible as she'd had a pretty stressful forceps with her little girl.

At around 10pm she woke up, and said she was feeling some pressure, and asked us if she should push. We told her to work with her body and so she gave a few pushes whilst lying on left lateral. After one almighty push, she asked if the head was out yet...cue my mentor having a peak under the sheet - yes the head was just sitting on the perineum! Cue us scrambling with our birth pack and gloves and telling her to hang on a second! It was all very quick after this, after another push or two, head was out. My mentor guided my hand on to baby's head. This was all such a surreal experience as I had played this moment over and over in my head and it was rather different! I think because it was just so fast! Within minutes we had a wriggly baby girl tumble into my mentor's waiting arms. A quick rub and straight up to mummy's tummy and a nice big cry soon followed! Good set of lungs on this one.

3rd stage was managed, so syntometrine went in, and I delivered placenta by CCT with my mentor's hands again guiding me. Dad took baby for skin to skin (so lovely!) whilst we got mum comfy and examined her perineum quickly. She had what looked like a minor 2nd degree tear, so we cleaned up a little and popped a sanitary towel in to assess blood loss whilst we examined placenta before suturing.

All was well with placenta, mum was happy for us to go ahead with suturing, so I watched my mentor as she talked mum and I through what she was doing. We were told by the band 7 in charge that we had another woman waiting for us, so we were against the clock by this point! I helped as much as I could - making tea and toast, tidying up a bit, sorting out bits of paperwork that I could understand and such.
The HCAs were taking over to give mum a bed bath, and another midwife would finish up for us so that we could go to our next woman (the midwife in with her had come up from triage with her so needed to get back downstairs - hence the haste!) and make introductions.
Next woman was also a para 1 39+5, came in via triage at 4-5cm. We took over care at the point where she was about to get an ARM, so my mentor did this. We knew this would really get things cracking on - and boy did it!!

ARM went swimmingly (pun intended here!) as we had loads of clear liquor drain straight away flooding the couch and floor around. Mum definitely felt things going faster after this. As she stood up, she felt real pressure as well as contractions and she was desperate to get into the pool. I started running the bath, looking forward to seeing my first water birth.

About 15 minutes passed and soon she was on all fours, head resting on the couch and screaming that she wanted to push. A quick look showed us that baby again was sitting on the perineum. She asked to get in the pool, but got another contractions and the head started to crown. She didn't want to move after this point, so another mad dash to get birth pack open and gloves on as the head came down beautifully. She was using entonox on and off with contractions, but was coping great.


My mentor gave me a little look, and put my hand on the head as it crowned. I knew this was her telling me to be a bit more involved. So I flexed the head as it came down, guarding the perineum as it looked a bit fragile. Head came out and baby started gurgling and blinking straight away. This wee bub was desperate to meet their mummy! A quick rest and then suddenly the body followed after one almighty push from mum into my waiting hands. I let dad have a peak to see the sex (as per their wishes) and he announced they had a boy. Dad then cut the cord and after a quick rub, we passed him through mum's legs for a cuddle.

Like with the previous woman, this was a managed 3rd stage, so syntometrine was given, and CCT by myself to deliver placenta. This one took a little longer, and I definitely felt the difference of a placenta not fully detached from the uterine wall so was very cautious!

Once everyone was settled, and a wee tear dealt with, I chatted to mum and dad and they asked me how many babies I'd delivered now. They were ecstatic to hear that their wee boy was my first official catch, and demanded pictures! It was really touching to know that they were so happy with the birth...even though she never did get that waterbirth.

EDA - Updates on pages 2,6 and 8.

I didnt want to read and run!
Enjoyed reading every single bit of this. I havent got a place yet but reading this has made me even more excited!
Keep up the good work x

How excciting. Lovely to read thank you. x

Aaaah, it sounds amazing! Congratulations on your first catch

well done on your first catch!!

really enjoyed reading your experience, cant wait til its my turn! keep up the good work

That was a lovely read thankyou. Makes me so impatient for September but congratulations to you xxx

Ah this sounds fab!!! How exciting for you!

auw well done getting your first shifts in labour ward under your belt, cant wait til its my turn!x

What an amazing experience, I really can't wait until it's me! Congrats xxxx

This is just making me more desperate to get in now! Sounds fab, thanks for posting