Expecting a baby? Pregnant, or trying? Delivered recently? Know anybody who is pregnant or had a baby? If so, I want to know what you or they didn’t expect.
Background
With more than thirty years experience as a labor and delivery nurse, I can tell you two things:
- There are more than 6 million pregnant women in the United States alone at any given time.
- Most of them are unprepared for anything other than a normal spontaneous delivery.
What You Don’t Expect
Time and again my patients are surprised by a twist to their fairy tale. For example:
- High blood pressure? Preeclampsia? “But my pressure is always low!” Cue the seizure, stroke, or both.
- Diabetes? Carb counting? Insulin? “But I don’t have real diabetes.” Cue the shoulder dystocia, operative delivery, or diabetic ketoacidocis.
- Low platelets? Thrombocytopenia? HELLP syndrome? Cue the hemorrhage protocol, exclusion from an epidural or spinal anesthesia. “What do you mean I can’t have an epidural?”
- Fetal distress? Cue the c-section for emergency delivery.
These are just a few examples of the many twists in pregnancy and delivery stories. I have hundreds of examples. Most of my patients were not prepared for the change in plan or the outcomes.
My Answer to the Problem
The solution: educate women. They need to understand complications in pregnancy and how to recognize them before they become deadly. For example, a pregnant woman suddenly complaining of the worst headache of her life – she shouldn’t wait until morning, or her scheduled next afternoon appointment to tell her healthcare provider. She should seek emergency evaluation before she blows a gasket.
Each person learns differently. Some prefer written materials, some prefer visual learning, some need to hear it and some need more than one learning modality. Whatever they need, I want to give it to them.
Why (and How) I Need Your Help
I’m developing an educational website for pregnant and recently delivered women (and possibly their partners). The contents and methods of delivery are in the research stage. I need 250 women to answer a few questions about their pregnancy, labor, delivery, and/or postpartum experience. Please share the link with as many women as you can so I can collect and analyze the data. I am not selling anything – no product at this time, and I promise not to send spam email. Responses are confidential and will not be shared.
CLICK HERE to tell me about your experience.
Website link (site under construction) which also has a link to the questions.
Thank you for your help!
A Meatless Mondays Recipe
Calling all labor and delivery nurses: do you have a “list” at your hospital to determine which nurse is “up” for the fetal demise coming to the labor unit? Do you rotate a demise assignment based on seniority, date order of who did it last, or do you assign the patient to somebody you think is good at this sort of thing? Or is it like every other assignment – you get what comes in, regardless of who did what when?
April the giraffe is due to give birth at any moment. I’m hopelessly addicted to watching the live cam, waiting for the big event to happen. Sure, I could watch the video after the fact, but there’s something about witnessing a live birth as it happens. It must be the 
A Meatless Mondays Recipe
How happy are you? When was the last time you thought about it?
“This patient is a VIP.”
Today I am mourning the loss of my best friend. She died nine years ago. I spent the day looking at old photos and reliving our time together. In between, I cried, as I do every year on September 23rd.
Rest in peace, my friend. Don’t forget we have a date in the future at the big tea shop in the sky. We have a lot of catching up to do!
…Or to any health care worker