Nursing - Special Care of the Newborn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nursing - Special Care of the Newborn - Essay Example I have one other midwife working with me in the SCN. The workload was not much. It was 11 pm, and there were 8 infants under our care. There was a call from the Delivery Suite about a patient, Suzy who presented to the Labour and Delivery accompanied by her husband John. They wanted SCN midwife to attend the delivery. I enquired about the history. The Delivery Suite personnel told me that Suzy is a primigravida at 33 weeks of gestation. This was an unexpected presentation to the Labor and Delivery for her. There was onset of established labour pain. On examination, it was found that labour has progressed already to the extent that the cervix was fully dilated, and Suzy would birth soon. After talking to John, her husband, Suzy was admitted, and the birthing would occur soon. Since this was a preterm delivery, there is a high chance that the baby would be low birth weight, premature, and would have every chance of many catastrophic events during delivery putting the baby at risk. Ther efore, the Delivery Suite wanted SCN presence there for immediate resuscitation of the baby post delivery and assessment and arrangements for admission to the SCN. This was a very rational approach on the part of the Delivery Suite personnel to contact Special Care Nursery on the verge of this preterm delivery. Newborn period encompasses the first four weeks of extrauterine life, but it is an important link in the chain of events of transition of the fetus to adulthood. The morbidity and mortality rates in the newborn infants are high, and most occur during the newborn period. Any neonate born before 37th weeks of pregnancy irrespective of birth weight is termed as preterm. Since the fetus had not had enough time to grow appropriately within the uterus, the birth weight of the baby will be low. Along with that, a preterm baby will be small in size. There