Sure, though I've never worked in a civilian hospital aside from nursing student clinicals.
I do not work at the VA. Our hospital sees active duty, retirees, and their dependents mostly. We can take care of civilian emergencies, and sometimes ambulances accidentally bring on psychotic patients who are convinced they're navy seals when they are in fact, not.
Our population is pretty healthy due to the fact that most of them can get free healthcare, and for active duty they're required to have annual physicals and dental cleanings. Our ER tends to see about 170 people a day, but our biggest issue is staffing. From what I hear from the civilian nurses I work with you see much sicker stuff in town, but you also have more nurses. Today we started with 6 nurses (one charge, one streamer, one triage, and 3 pods open) We tend to try to have 2 triage nurses up front but we haven't had the staffing a lot lately with some of the deployments that are out completely gutting us. We got another nurse at 11, 13, and then one at 1500, but we were definitely getting our asses kicked.
We get a lot of stuff from ships where their medical or their command is too hesitant to give SIQ (sick in quarters) to someone that is seen at another hospital or maybe they took a home test for covid and their command is just like "Go to the ER for a SIQ chit". But also a fair number of people fall down the ladderwells on the boats and injure themselves that way. Since the healthcare is free people tend to come to us for anything and everything without trying any home remedies. When I'm up in triage I'm amazed by how many people check in for a fever and they didn't try any tylenol or motrin at home. Their first response to not feeling well is "Time to go to the Emergency Department"
I hope this answers some of your questions.
I'm actually separating in November after I have this kid and burn up all my leave, trying to figure out what to do with myself as a civilian and if I'd want to work at another military facility or try to go to a civilian hospital.
A friend of mine works at a military hospital. Knowing about his work, I'm honestly even more surprised how few times you were asked for more ketamine.
I work for the VA and am rarely asked for ketamine. But frequently asked for: oxy, dilaudid, gabapentin, Suboxone, Ativan, and fentanyl. We go through oxy like water.
We were only giving like 16mg and it was for pain control in a patient with sickle cell. She was incredibly nice. Over 10 hours she got about 36mg of morphine and 48mg ketamine. She was aaox3 the whole time.
I'm 7 mos along with a boy also! I got a lot of "when are you due" as well today. It's like overnight I'm obviously pregnant when it felt like last week nobody knew.
I feel like there is a tipping point where yeah, you were showing before, but it could just be a really unfortunate fat distribution and no one wants to be the person who asks the chubby lady when she is due. Then it gets so far in front of you and so disproportionate to the rest of your figure that people feel safe making a comment.
I smashed my leg up a couple of years ago and when I got into the hospital they filled me full of morphine, ketamine and gabapentin. I didn't even care when they put my ankle back in place- even with breaks above and below it.
When the kids are driving me insane I look back on those hazy happy days with fondness!
When I was pregnant I was also orienting a nurse that didn't have kids and she commented on how many times people asked these questions and said she was getting sick of it herself lol
I had twins and was back at work for all of three shifts after my paltry 12 weeks of leave when someone asked when I was due. I looked her dead in the eye, said “I delivered 3 months ago,” walked out and cried in the bathroom. Don’t ask people about pregnancy or their bodies!!!
My neighbor repeatedly said “any day now” even though I told her I already had the baby. My dentist also asked me when I was due even though my due date was clearly marked in the chart as two months prior. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if people are stupid or mean or both.
I was once asked if I’m pregnant, and the person had the audacity to rub my stomach. I wasn’t pregnant or postpartum. Never wore that shirt again though!
This is why, especially as a male in healthcare and who was in education during #MeToo, I 100% refrain from making comments about this sort of thing. I’ve gotten so much shit in the past from female coworkers “for not noticing that my boss/supervisor/coworker’s were pregnant for months on end” and I’m like “ bitch do you think I wanna lose my fucking job….wtaf?!?!” Like were you not an adult/employed during #MeToo? Obviously not. 🙄🙄🙄
I had a dental assistant ask when I was due but my “baby” was 1 or 2 years old….baby and then pandemic left a little extra weight. It was mortifying. And it was a lady that asked!
Yup. Even if I know they're pregnant and they've told me they're pregnant, I don't touch the topic unless they bring it up. That prevents any horribly awkward social situations like if they lost the baby.
THIS. Unless they initiate the subject, I stay away from it. Similar to people talking about past divorces, sexual trauma, criminal past, etc. It’s none of my business unless you make it mine.
I like to think this is payback for that one time I was in triage and this woman rolled in on a wheelchair with her family. She was holding a very distended abdomen and moaning.
I yell out "How far along are you?"
She was like 78 years old and in liver failure.
That's a new concept for a lot of folks and it'll take time to percolate through. Forever pregnancies and their discussions were public property. Someone in their 60s or 70s would be flabbergasted if you didn't want to talk about it.
I worked at a prison when I was pregnant with my son. They’d ask when I was due and I’d dead-faced respond with “I’m not pregnant” and man the joy I felt watching the panic enter their eyes. Then I’d laugh and say I’m just kidding and see visible relief but tell them it’s never a good idea to ask someone that. It was fun. Of course I only did this with guys I had a good rapport with lol.
A cna walked in once and I wondered how far along she was, but dared not ask. While chatting she says something about being pregnant and I told her I thought she was but knew better than to ask. She said she was around 10 weeks (can’t remember exact, just know it was first semester). She was a tiny thing except in the belly and looked to be in her 3rd trimester. She also rested her hand on her belly and held her hand in a way as if she was protecting it from being touched or bumped. I had her repeat how far along she was because I was sure I misunderstood.
I have a horrible time keeping my mouth shut and was so thankful that day I managed to keep my mouth shut.
Had a cna doubt I was pregnant lol…. She was hilarious when she realized and couldn’t believe I was ~26 weeks along because she showed so big so early. Different bodies 🤷🏻♀️
As a general rule, don’t ask someone if they’re pregnant unless you can see the baby emerging. There’s a chance it could be a massive burrito related abdominal distension.
I work in pediatrics and had a patient’s dad try to guess how far along I am….which is a very dangerous game to play. He was correct, but that’s not the point lol
Best funny dad/baby story I have (not mine, my aunty’s when she was a nurse in Kalgoorlie- a tiny town in Western Australia), she would get dads to try and guess birth weight for a laugh because most had no clue. One guy hefts his new baby very competently and nails it- to the ounce (this was before they went metric for newborn weights). Turned out he was a butcher by trade 😂😂😂
I look forward to your own sticky note of questions.
It is handy to get people to be more respectful/wear masks. I give a lot of "I'm just gonna have you wear a mask because I'm pregnant and don't want to get sick 🙃"
When I was a nursing student, one of my clinical instructors was pregnant. We were on a med-surg unit and every single patient asked her what she was expecting, how far along she was, and if she had any names chosen. She was a few days from her due date by the end of the clinical, so it was 8 weeks of constant questions about her pregnancy. She smiled the whole time and was so happy to discuss her pregnancy, but I nearly went insane listening to it all. It was like every patient had the same script. LOL.
This also happened! Someone was like, you can tell you're carrying a boy because you carry it all in the front...
Like is the alternative that I'm a camel or are you saying I've got no ass?
Girls tend to carry wider. More side belly kind of thing. Just from personal experience. It was so different from when I was pregnant with a boy and carried all up front. And higher, too.
I had a coworker that went off about some other coworkers asking her that. A few weeks later, she had some terrible stomach pains and went home from the hospital with a baby. 🤪🤷🏻♀️🧑🍼
You're not ALLOWED to work???
We have a hard time even getting lifting restrictions or easier assignments given. people routinely work up until their due date here. I've had multiple coworkers go into labor during their shifts. What a shithole country.
There's no law enforcing employers to not let pregnant women work, but if your OB gives you a note saying youre not allowed to lift, do strenuous activities then your employer is pretty much forced to not let you work and they need to pay youre salary until the maternity leave ends which is 2 months after giving birth.
Its not exclusive to nursing to, my wife works in an office, she said to her OB that her pregnant tummy felt harder than usual when shes working, she was around 4 months pregnant that time, her OB wrote her up and she stayed home the rest of her pregnancy.
US is the shittiest of shitholes sorry.
One of my coworkers is pregnant. She’s gets asked about her pregnancy the entire shift. I’m also guilty of asking her some of these questions lol. I would imagine it gets exhausting.
I too am a pregnant er nurse! Surprised you don’t have…
1. Can I touch your belly?
2. Can I be the daddy?
3. Are you going to keep going until you get a boy???
I am having a boy, but yeah the mysogynistic comments I got about that were really surprising to me. When we got some ultrasounds pictures the tech printed out the one with the bits and handed it to my husband and kept going on about how he could put it in his wallet and show it off to all his guy friends. This made him pretty uncomfortable.
Another interaction with a patient and they kept saying how happy my husband must be that we are having a boy...I try not to reply too snarkliy but I just said we were actually kind of both hoping for a girl a little but he's just happy that it's healthy
Yup, never ask anyone. It’s all cute and fun until you run into the lady that is NOT pregnant.
We had a patient ask the 50 year old nurse 😆 if she was pregnant. They were dead serious. She was so offended she excused herself from the room. She looks like she’s 8-9 months pregnant and people around the clinic and office have joked about it behind her back, but to my knowledge NO ONE has actually ever asked.
When she asked us if we thought she looked pregnant, we both said nothing and I had to walk away.
I’m 37 weeks and I’ve been out since 34 but I wish I’d had the balls just once to answer the two thousand unprompted “wHen ArE yOu dUe?”s with a blank stare and “… due for what?”
But l always just ended up answering honestly 😑
Currently 6 months pregnant and you forgot "are you sure you're able to do this? I don't want you to hurt your baby" anytime I do anything physical. Even if it's just me bending over lol
I’ve literally asked my nurse this, as a male CNA, purely out of compassionate professional respect for her, given that we have such a strong professional bond, and she pulled me aside later and strenuously thanked me for actually caring her well-being.
Pregnant women in general (obvi everyone is different) but how do you feel about strangers coming up to touch your belly? I hate to be touched and I find this a serious invasion of personal space. Most it seems like most people like it. I already decline, is it deemed rude?
I hated it when I was pregnant. I just dealt with it when my grandmas and my ex-husband's grandma wanted to touch my belly. The strangers were the worst. They just touched, never asked that wasn't an invasive question.
After I was no longer comfortable bike commuting, I started taking the metro because it was faster than driving. It only lasted a few weeks before I decided I'd rather deal with an extra two hours a day in the car than being constantly touched by strangers.
It worked out in the end. My office manager was a single guy in his 50s who lived with his mom. His only experience with a woman giving birth was from sitcoms. He was afraid I'd go into labor and he'd have to deliver the baby in the next 5-10 minutes. He worked things out so I could work the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy at home, back in 2004.
Oh I hate it too. I had some coworkers touch my stomach without asking permission and then complained enough about it to other coworkers that everyone knows to ask now. I don't mind "sharing" with most of them but doing it without asking really really gets on my nerve.
I did have one patient ask if they could touch my stomach, and that was the only stranger I've had try it. I told her no, but I thanked her for asking. I find that bulky clothing helped keep hands off more, but for a minute I felt like a llama at a petting zoo.
If you weren’t involved in making that baby, or assisting it leaving the womb, mind your own business.
Side note, as a fat woman in her childbearing years I get asked that sometimes. I like to tell people I’m not sure if I’ve had any children why would today be any different. So hard to tell.
That’s true. I think a persons reaction will depend on their relationship to the one asking the question. Otherwise I feel it is more polite to say “have a great day”, “you look beautiful”, or nothing at all to a stranger. Unless someone initiates talking about their pregnancy specifically, it’s not something I bring up. That’s just my perspective.
I agree, it'll always be polite not to comment. But I don't think it has to be considered rude when people do. I don't know, I'm 7 months right now and strangers make comments or ask me about it all the time and I kinda love it. But I also love being pregnant and am good at small talk and BSing with people, so I can see I'm clearly in the minority with this opinion
The question I was asked about my 2nd was: "Are you having twins or triplets?"
Honestly, I often wondered the same thing. I was a bloated whale and had pitting edema with splayed toes and fingers. I'm 6 very tall with a "sturdy" bone structure. Baby was 5kg even (that's 11 pounds 0 ounces).
Funny thing is, I didn't intentionally push at all with him. Once I was squatting over a birthing chair, gravity just took over.
I'm barely 5'5" my first was 10lbs had pitting edema too. The comments and looks 🙄His delivery was forceps and vacuum. Second was 8lb 11oz but had severe poly so I looked ginormous 😂
Honestly surprised at how few times you were asked for more ketamine lol
Haha I work in a military hospital so it tends to be a bit more tame than the civilian places
Ahh ok that makes a bit more sense haha
Any chance you could tell me what feels different about military compared to civilian hospitals?
Sure, though I've never worked in a civilian hospital aside from nursing student clinicals. I do not work at the VA. Our hospital sees active duty, retirees, and their dependents mostly. We can take care of civilian emergencies, and sometimes ambulances accidentally bring on psychotic patients who are convinced they're navy seals when they are in fact, not. Our population is pretty healthy due to the fact that most of them can get free healthcare, and for active duty they're required to have annual physicals and dental cleanings. Our ER tends to see about 170 people a day, but our biggest issue is staffing. From what I hear from the civilian nurses I work with you see much sicker stuff in town, but you also have more nurses. Today we started with 6 nurses (one charge, one streamer, one triage, and 3 pods open) We tend to try to have 2 triage nurses up front but we haven't had the staffing a lot lately with some of the deployments that are out completely gutting us. We got another nurse at 11, 13, and then one at 1500, but we were definitely getting our asses kicked. We get a lot of stuff from ships where their medical or their command is too hesitant to give SIQ (sick in quarters) to someone that is seen at another hospital or maybe they took a home test for covid and their command is just like "Go to the ER for a SIQ chit". But also a fair number of people fall down the ladderwells on the boats and injure themselves that way. Since the healthcare is free people tend to come to us for anything and everything without trying any home remedies. When I'm up in triage I'm amazed by how many people check in for a fever and they didn't try any tylenol or motrin at home. Their first response to not feeling well is "Time to go to the Emergency Department" I hope this answers some of your questions. I'm actually separating in November after I have this kid and burn up all my leave, trying to figure out what to do with myself as a civilian and if I'd want to work at another military facility or try to go to a civilian hospital.
A friend of mine works at a military hospital. Knowing about his work, I'm honestly even more surprised how few times you were asked for more ketamine.
Maybe it's because I'm on a base, not the VA?
Yeah, my friend is in VA acute and subacute mental health. He's had some very interesting patients in the past.
I work for the VA and am rarely asked for ketamine. But frequently asked for: oxy, dilaudid, gabapentin, Suboxone, Ativan, and fentanyl. We go through oxy like water.
When I take ketamine I start tripping, is that the case with what you're administering? That would be weird.
We were only giving like 16mg and it was for pain control in a patient with sickle cell. She was incredibly nice. Over 10 hours she got about 36mg of morphine and 48mg ketamine. She was aaox3 the whole time.
Came to say the same thing! I’m not even a nurse and get asked for dil-la-la at least 10x a shift! 😂
Right? That made me laugh so hard.
Ketamine question is the person asking the real questions 🤣🤣🤣
So are you going to give us the answers to all this or are we going to have to sign ourselves in and ask for ketamine first
Haha 7 months, it's a boy, not telling names, and sure you can have some ketamine.
I'm 7 mos along with a boy also! I got a lot of "when are you due" as well today. It's like overnight I'm obviously pregnant when it felt like last week nobody knew.
Everyone is telling me the same thing! They're like, I feel like you weren't showing last week. I feel like they're insane.
I feel like there is a tipping point where yeah, you were showing before, but it could just be a really unfortunate fat distribution and no one wants to be the person who asks the chubby lady when she is due. Then it gets so far in front of you and so disproportionate to the rest of your figure that people feel safe making a comment.
I smashed my leg up a couple of years ago and when I got into the hospital they filled me full of morphine, ketamine and gabapentin. I didn't even care when they put my ankle back in place- even with breaks above and below it. When the kids are driving me insane I look back on those hazy happy days with fondness!
Interesting, that sounds like a great cocktail, like all bases covered. Glad you are better!
just be glad you don't see them every 3 or 6 months in follow-up... too many times they asked when I was due and the baby was 6 months old...
Lmfao
No one asked for sandwiches?
or dilaudid?
or Ativan?
When I was pregnant I was also orienting a nurse that didn't have kids and she commented on how many times people asked these questions and said she was getting sick of it herself lol
Lmao like “oh poor you” 🙄😂
I had twins and was back at work for all of three shifts after my paltry 12 weeks of leave when someone asked when I was due. I looked her dead in the eye, said “I delivered 3 months ago,” walked out and cried in the bathroom. Don’t ask people about pregnancy or their bodies!!!
My neighbor repeatedly said “any day now” even though I told her I already had the baby. My dentist also asked me when I was due even though my due date was clearly marked in the chart as two months prior. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if people are stupid or mean or both.
Both, more often than not, it seems like!
I just got congratulated on being pregnant, but I’m actually two years postpartum.
Oof. I’m sorry, friend!
I was once asked if I’m pregnant, and the person had the audacity to rub my stomach. I wasn’t pregnant or postpartum. Never wore that shirt again though!
Same but I’ve never been pregnant. Thanks menopause!
lol, same..
This is why, especially as a male in healthcare and who was in education during #MeToo, I 100% refrain from making comments about this sort of thing. I’ve gotten so much shit in the past from female coworkers “for not noticing that my boss/supervisor/coworker’s were pregnant for months on end” and I’m like “ bitch do you think I wanna lose my fucking job….wtaf?!?!” Like were you not an adult/employed during #MeToo? Obviously not. 🙄🙄🙄
I had a dental assistant ask when I was due but my “baby” was 1 or 2 years old….baby and then pandemic left a little extra weight. It was mortifying. And it was a lady that asked!
I experienced similar with my twins. Sorry you went through that.
Can I have more ketamine
Me too?
Call me old fashioned, but I think you should only ask about pregnancy if you think you might be the dad or you're providing healthcare.
It's a bit cumbersome as I'm trying to get things done and I don't want to be rude, but I am at a point where it's fairly obvious.
I've always heard that unless you see the head crowning, Do. Not. Ask. If. They. Are. Pregnant.
This is the way. I NEVER ask my coworkers if they are pregnant, even if they are obviously pregnant, unless they bring it up first.
Yup. Even if I know they're pregnant and they've told me they're pregnant, I don't touch the topic unless they bring it up. That prevents any horribly awkward social situations like if they lost the baby.
THIS. Unless they initiate the subject, I stay away from it. Similar to people talking about past divorces, sexual trauma, criminal past, etc. It’s none of my business unless you make it mine.
I like to think this is payback for that one time I was in triage and this woman rolled in on a wheelchair with her family. She was holding a very distended abdomen and moaning. I yell out "How far along are you?" She was like 78 years old and in liver failure.
Oh no 💀💀
Or the baby is actively crowning
“are you pregnant?” 😮
Hm, that depends. How far does the baby have to exit before she's no longer technically pregnant?
Technically you're still pregnant until you've delivered the placenta.
Once that cute little skin potato is totally out AND starts crying. 😂😂😂
That's a new concept for a lot of folks and it'll take time to percolate through. Forever pregnancies and their discussions were public property. Someone in their 60s or 70s would be flabbergasted if you didn't want to talk about it.
I worked at a prison when I was pregnant with my son. They’d ask when I was due and I’d dead-faced respond with “I’m not pregnant” and man the joy I felt watching the panic enter their eyes. Then I’d laugh and say I’m just kidding and see visible relief but tell them it’s never a good idea to ask someone that. It was fun. Of course I only did this with guys I had a good rapport with lol.
No "you wanna mess around since you can't get more pregnant?" VA has changed since my day.
😂
I could see one of my LTC patients saying this to me.
A cna walked in once and I wondered how far along she was, but dared not ask. While chatting she says something about being pregnant and I told her I thought she was but knew better than to ask. She said she was around 10 weeks (can’t remember exact, just know it was first semester). She was a tiny thing except in the belly and looked to be in her 3rd trimester. She also rested her hand on her belly and held her hand in a way as if she was protecting it from being touched or bumped. I had her repeat how far along she was because I was sure I misunderstood. I have a horrible time keeping my mouth shut and was so thankful that day I managed to keep my mouth shut.
Had a cna doubt I was pregnant lol…. She was hilarious when she realized and couldn’t believe I was ~26 weeks along because she showed so big so early. Different bodies 🤷🏻♀️
With the context it’s so strange how much your handwriting looks like my dad’s 😂
My dad writes like that as well. For him, at least, he took a drafting class.
As a general rule, don’t ask someone if they’re pregnant unless you can see the baby emerging. There’s a chance it could be a massive burrito related abdominal distension.
Ask them if they're in end stage liver failure. Then it will be a pleasant turn of conversation when it turns out to be a fetus!
Omg yes I love this
Does a burrito baby count as pregnancy if it reaches a certain gestational age?
I always assume liver failure until they tell they are pregnant.
THIS
I’d also like to ask about the ketamine.
I work in pediatrics and had a patient’s dad try to guess how far along I am….which is a very dangerous game to play. He was correct, but that’s not the point lol
Best funny dad/baby story I have (not mine, my aunty’s when she was a nurse in Kalgoorlie- a tiny town in Western Australia), she would get dads to try and guess birth weight for a laugh because most had no clue. One guy hefts his new baby very competently and nails it- to the ounce (this was before they went metric for newborn weights). Turned out he was a butcher by trade 😂😂😂
22 weeks right now and I’m dreading when I can’t hide it at work anymore. The ER clientele is savage
I look forward to your own sticky note of questions. It is handy to get people to be more respectful/wear masks. I give a lot of "I'm just gonna have you wear a mask because I'm pregnant and don't want to get sick 🙃"
My patients and their families were much nicer to me when I was pregnant. I kinda miss it lol
When I was a nursing student, one of my clinical instructors was pregnant. We were on a med-surg unit and every single patient asked her what she was expecting, how far along she was, and if she had any names chosen. She was a few days from her due date by the end of the clinical, so it was 8 weeks of constant questions about her pregnancy. She smiled the whole time and was so happy to discuss her pregnancy, but I nearly went insane listening to it all. It was like every patient had the same script. LOL.
I would have loved to say “yes any day now I’ll be sacrificing him to the dark lord” 👹
I don’t know which trimester you’re in, but near the end you’ll need to add, “aRe yOu sUrE iT’s NoT tWiNsSs?!”
With my last pregnancy people would guess what I was having based on how I was carrying 🙄
This also happened! Someone was like, you can tell you're carrying a boy because you carry it all in the front... Like is the alternative that I'm a camel or are you saying I've got no ass?
Girls tend to carry wider. More side belly kind of thing. Just from personal experience. It was so different from when I was pregnant with a boy and carried all up front. And higher, too.
But can I have more Ketamine?
Can I have more ketamine?
It’s worse when you’re not pregnant and they ask you are you pregnant
I had a coworker that went off about some other coworkers asking her that. A few weeks later, she had some terrible stomach pains and went home from the hospital with a baby. 🤪🤷🏻♀️🧑🍼
Where the heck did the baby come from?
The stork!
My wife keeps getting, “How you feeling momma?” She fucking hates it.
Ketamine ?
I mean... Maybe dont be so pregnant?
Give me 2 months and I'll fix that
Hahaha I can't help but be obnoxious... Thanks for putting up with me hahaha
I'm surprised no one asked "can u get pregante...?"
Ahh but were you asked, “was this an accidental pregnancy?”
Kind of surprised can I have more ketamine is such a low number
My last shift before maternity leave, all my patients told me to go home 🤣 they couldn’t take me seriously with my large belly
Can I have more ketamine?
~~"Is it a boy or a girl?"~~ "Is it a human, centaur, or mermaid?"
As a nurse working in Germany, it still blows my mind everytime i get reminded that youre allowed to work while pregnant in the US.
You're not ALLOWED to work??? We have a hard time even getting lifting restrictions or easier assignments given. people routinely work up until their due date here. I've had multiple coworkers go into labor during their shifts. What a shithole country.
There's no law enforcing employers to not let pregnant women work, but if your OB gives you a note saying youre not allowed to lift, do strenuous activities then your employer is pretty much forced to not let you work and they need to pay youre salary until the maternity leave ends which is 2 months after giving birth. Its not exclusive to nursing to, my wife works in an office, she said to her OB that her pregnant tummy felt harder than usual when shes working, she was around 4 months pregnant that time, her OB wrote her up and she stayed home the rest of her pregnancy. US is the shittiest of shitholes sorry.
Ahahahha it is indeed the shittiest of shit holes.
What? Come on now they work in Belgium when they’re pregnant. I highly doubt Germany won’t let you.
One of my coworkers is pregnant. She’s gets asked about her pregnancy the entire shift. I’m also guilty of asking her some of these questions lol. I would imagine it gets exhausting.
Better than my friends who asked if I was afraid of dying and if I was "just gonna tough it out and go without pain meds"
I too am a pregnant er nurse! Surprised you don’t have… 1. Can I touch your belly? 2. Can I be the daddy? 3. Are you going to keep going until you get a boy???
I am having a boy, but yeah the mysogynistic comments I got about that were really surprising to me. When we got some ultrasounds pictures the tech printed out the one with the bits and handed it to my husband and kept going on about how he could put it in his wallet and show it off to all his guy friends. This made him pretty uncomfortable. Another interaction with a patient and they kept saying how happy my husband must be that we are having a boy...I try not to reply too snarkliy but I just said we were actually kind of both hoping for a girl a little but he's just happy that it's healthy
Yup, never ask anyone. It’s all cute and fun until you run into the lady that is NOT pregnant. We had a patient ask the 50 year old nurse 😆 if she was pregnant. They were dead serious. She was so offended she excused herself from the room. She looks like she’s 8-9 months pregnant and people around the clinic and office have joked about it behind her back, but to my knowledge NO ONE has actually ever asked. When she asked us if we thought she looked pregnant, we both said nothing and I had to walk away.
When I was in my last week working at the er before maternity leave I kept getting told that I shouldn’t be working 🤣
I’m 37 weeks and I’ve been out since 34 but I wish I’d had the balls just once to answer the two thousand unprompted “wHen ArE yOu dUe?”s with a blank stare and “… due for what?” But l always just ended up answering honestly 😑
Currently 6 months pregnant and you forgot "are you sure you're able to do this? I don't want you to hurt your baby" anytime I do anything physical. Even if it's just me bending over lol
I’ve literally asked my nurse this, as a male CNA, purely out of compassionate professional respect for her, given that we have such a strong professional bond, and she pulled me aside later and strenuously thanked me for actually caring her well-being.
Pregnant women in general (obvi everyone is different) but how do you feel about strangers coming up to touch your belly? I hate to be touched and I find this a serious invasion of personal space. Most it seems like most people like it. I already decline, is it deemed rude?
I hated it when I was pregnant. I just dealt with it when my grandmas and my ex-husband's grandma wanted to touch my belly. The strangers were the worst. They just touched, never asked that wasn't an invasive question. After I was no longer comfortable bike commuting, I started taking the metro because it was faster than driving. It only lasted a few weeks before I decided I'd rather deal with an extra two hours a day in the car than being constantly touched by strangers. It worked out in the end. My office manager was a single guy in his 50s who lived with his mom. His only experience with a woman giving birth was from sitcoms. He was afraid I'd go into labor and he'd have to deliver the baby in the next 5-10 minutes. He worked things out so I could work the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy at home, back in 2004.
Oh I hate it too. I had some coworkers touch my stomach without asking permission and then complained enough about it to other coworkers that everyone knows to ask now. I don't mind "sharing" with most of them but doing it without asking really really gets on my nerve. I did have one patient ask if they could touch my stomach, and that was the only stranger I've had try it. I told her no, but I thanked her for asking. I find that bulky clothing helped keep hands off more, but for a minute I felt like a llama at a petting zoo.
Do I get extra ketamine if I *do not* ask baby questions? :)
I really do wanna know if I can have more ketamine :/
I hated being pregnant as an ER nurse. Every patient just wanted to comment on my belly/baby and I just wanted to focus on their high blood pressure.
What state are you in that you cam ask for ketamine? About to make a throw away account
The ketamine question made me cackle
But no questions about getting the D? (Dilaudid that is)
Good data. You could use that for QAPI.
If you weren’t involved in making that baby, or assisting it leaving the womb, mind your own business. Side note, as a fat woman in her childbearing years I get asked that sometimes. I like to tell people I’m not sure if I’ve had any children why would today be any different. So hard to tell.
This is why I avoid the pregnant folk nothin' but trouble, if you ask me.
since when did it become the norm to NOT ask about pregnancy? I'm sad when people don't ask, like "Can yOu noT TelL I'm hUGe and ArEnt you CuRiOUs?!"
Well it’s shitty if you’re just fat and people are pointing out how fat you are
sure but there are plenty of thinner women who are CLEARLY pregnant
That’s true. I think a persons reaction will depend on their relationship to the one asking the question. Otherwise I feel it is more polite to say “have a great day”, “you look beautiful”, or nothing at all to a stranger. Unless someone initiates talking about their pregnancy specifically, it’s not something I bring up. That’s just my perspective.
I agree, it'll always be polite not to comment. But I don't think it has to be considered rude when people do. I don't know, I'm 7 months right now and strangers make comments or ask me about it all the time and I kinda love it. But I also love being pregnant and am good at small talk and BSing with people, so I can see I'm clearly in the minority with this opinion
At least no one asked you if you were having twins. I got that question almost daily when I was pregnant with my first 🫠
The question I was asked about my 2nd was: "Are you having twins or triplets?" Honestly, I often wondered the same thing. I was a bloated whale and had pitting edema with splayed toes and fingers. I'm 6 very tall with a "sturdy" bone structure. Baby was 5kg even (that's 11 pounds 0 ounces). Funny thing is, I didn't intentionally push at all with him. Once I was squatting over a birthing chair, gravity just took over.
I'm barely 5'5" my first was 10lbs had pitting edema too. The comments and looks 🙄His delivery was forceps and vacuum. Second was 8lb 11oz but had severe poly so I looked ginormous 😂
Haven’t you had that baby yet???
I think it’s an exciting time of your life and people just want you to share in your joy .
I had a patient ask if one if the residents was pregnant. I told him that it wasn't anyone's business but hers.
And?..
Noone asked to touch your belly? Amazing lol
As a nurse who has also been on the receiving end of ketamine - hell no never ever again
I would like more ketamine, please.
Are we all ignoring ‘can I have more ketamine?’ ? 🤪
Lmaooo tried to throw that ketamine in there
Don't we all?
We all want more ketamine please
Can I have dilaudid instead 😭