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Assisting with births helped me to empathise with mothers
While on placement at a mother and baby ward, student nurse Amy Cray felt privileged to have been a part of so many family's special moments.
Having given birth myself, I was excited about my mother and baby placement and keen to experience the event from a different perspective. I was only there for a week, but was determined to learn as much as I could in this short time.
The first elective Caesarean I attended took less than 15 minutes from the first incision to the baby being born. I was surprised at how quick the procedure was. I was interested to see how many layers of flesh and membranes had to be incised before the uterus was visible; it made me understand, in a way I had not before, that this procedure is major abdominal surgery.
After this experience, I will empathise more easily with mothers who experience the pain of having a baby this way. I also saw how difficult it was for the mother to be unable to hold her newborn while she was being stitched and to have to allow someone else to be the first contact for the baby.
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The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.