As an L&D nurse, whether we admit it or not, we occasionally have one of those days when we get our patient and wonder: Honey, how did you ever end up here?! Today was one of them. She was a sweet, young little thing with a rather lost look on her face. Her water had broken at 33 weeks and she was hanging out with us until 36 weeks, when she was going to be induced.
The problem was My God, She STUNK! I have to say, on L&D we get a plethora of smells (in our little world there is a stink, but when that has reaches the intolerable point, it becomes a stank). For the most part, we don't really acknowledge the wonderful smells... it's part of the job. This wasn't a normal smell. It was barnyard cow's ASS inside-out and multiplied by 2 years. How does a sweet, little girl get smelling like that?! I told the nurse who was taking her to make sure she got a shower before even getting into bed. Might as well start off right... but mostly I was thinking I would be inheriting the patient when this nurse went home at 3 pm!
The cause of the stank soon became clear. The men all (obviously, and that's never good!) worked on a ranch. Unmistakable stank. And the dirt left in the hallway didn't help either. Other visitors were complaining of the smell in the Waiting Room, we were gagging at the Nurse's Desk. One Nurse took the airfreshener from the bathroom and emptied it in the hallway. So now it smells like citrus crap. It was a rediculous scene.
Then she's assigned to me. I stood at her door, overwhelmed by the stank coming out. I couldn't go in! I couldn't deal with this for the rest of the day. The only way I know how to deal with this is to just keep it real. A good dose of authenticity, if you know what I mean. So, after far too long I took a deep breath and entered the room.
OH MY GOD! HAS IT SMELLED LIKE THIS THE WHOLE DAY?! I AM SO SORRY!!! IT MUST BE THE SEWER BACKING UP! LET ME OPEN THE WINDOW FOR YOU! WE HAVE GOT TO CHANGE YOUR ROOM!
Oh, God. I'm evil. I told the family that she would not be delivering today... they went to the waiting room as I moved her to the negative pressure room. Then we fumigated the unit and when the family wasn't looking we removed the antenna from the TV in the waiting room. They all went home and we didn't have another issue that day.
The problem was My God, She STUNK! I have to say, on L&D we get a plethora of smells (in our little world there is a stink, but when that has reaches the intolerable point, it becomes a stank). For the most part, we don't really acknowledge the wonderful smells... it's part of the job. This wasn't a normal smell. It was barnyard cow's ASS inside-out and multiplied by 2 years. How does a sweet, little girl get smelling like that?! I told the nurse who was taking her to make sure she got a shower before even getting into bed. Might as well start off right... but mostly I was thinking I would be inheriting the patient when this nurse went home at 3 pm!
The cause of the stank soon became clear. The men all (obviously, and that's never good!) worked on a ranch. Unmistakable stank. And the dirt left in the hallway didn't help either. Other visitors were complaining of the smell in the Waiting Room, we were gagging at the Nurse's Desk. One Nurse took the airfreshener from the bathroom and emptied it in the hallway. So now it smells like citrus crap. It was a rediculous scene.
Then she's assigned to me. I stood at her door, overwhelmed by the stank coming out. I couldn't go in! I couldn't deal with this for the rest of the day. The only way I know how to deal with this is to just keep it real. A good dose of authenticity, if you know what I mean. So, after far too long I took a deep breath and entered the room.
OH MY GOD! HAS IT SMELLED LIKE THIS THE WHOLE DAY?! I AM SO SORRY!!! IT MUST BE THE SEWER BACKING UP! LET ME OPEN THE WINDOW FOR YOU! WE HAVE GOT TO CHANGE YOUR ROOM!
Oh, God. I'm evil. I told the family that she would not be delivering today... they went to the waiting room as I moved her to the negative pressure room. Then we fumigated the unit and when the family wasn't looking we removed the antenna from the TV in the waiting room. They all went home and we didn't have another issue that day.
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