Tech:  There was a photo therapy light that was for a baby with jaundice.Other than that the only other technology there were the computers because you have to chart almost everything.

Diagnostic procedures: They did a car seat test on a baby to see if it would lose circulation while sitting in a car seat. The baby would sleep until it began choking on its own spit, then wait for the nurse to get it out then fall back asleep again every five minutes.

Therapeutic: The nurses changed a lot of diapers and rocked and swaddled a lot of babies. A majority of the things done in the nursery are therapeutic things because they mainly are trying to just babysit until the mother wants them back.

Diseases: I didn't see any sick babies but babies can have birth defects. An example is down's syndrome which a baby is born with.

Terminology: Erythomyacine (probably misspelled)- Is a medication put on the babies eyes after birth to prevent against the baby from getting an infection in the eye and going blind.
Vitamin K- Is an anti blood clot given within two hours.

Responsibilities- My responsibilities were to follow the nurse around as she taught me about the babies. I even helped her to wheel a baby to its mother.

Knowledge- I learned about some of the medications given after birth such as vitamin k and the hep. b vaccine. I also learned how the treat jaundice with a light.

Best thing- The best thing was getting to see all the newborn babies, and to see how they act. This is the field I want to go into and it was really cool to see what it is like.

Worst- The worst part was not getting to hold any of the babies. The nurse said if one cried I could hold it, but they were all behaving that day.

I would have corrected it by poking a baby, but I think that would be frowned upon in the hospital.

I had a good week because I was locked in a room with a ton of babies.



The nurses on the nursery unit are a lot nicer than on the previous units I've been on. When I first walked in I noticed that it smelled pure. They had nonstop Taylor Swift playing and the babies were all asleep. The nursery nurses mostly are there to make sure that nothing catastrophic occurs, but other than that they take some vital signs, chart a lot, and mother the babies. One baby was in a photo therapy machine for jaundice all the while he slept and occasionally punched the cradle he was in.

Some of the babies will belong to one nurse practitioner who will take the vitals of only the babies who were delivered by a certain doctor. The pediatric nurses will come and work in the nursery if there isn't much action in there areas. The nurses have to be soft and gentle from  caring for the baby to communicating with the mother. I got to see the photo therapy and also a car seat test. They put a baby in a car to see if the baby will lose circulation from sitting in a different position.

I learned about all the different tests and medications they give to the babies. Within two hours of birth the babies get a vitamin k shot which is an anti blood clot. Another medication is erythomyacine which is put on the babies eyes to prevent blindness. The babies also get a hep. b vaccine which i got to watch. the nurses do a ton of charting and do a hearing test by using electrodes. Babies don't know to swallow spit, so the nurse had to constantly suck out one babies spit with a syringe.

This is what I want to do in the future so I thought that his unit was very interesting. The nurse I met was very informative and friendly. This was by far my favorite unit probably because of how cooperative the patients were. The highs are high and the lows are low on this unit, but I think its worth it because you are bringing life into the world.