Jennifer Sutherland is a labour and delivery registered nurse who has been working at Royal Columbian Hospital for the past 13 years. The Record caught up with Sutherland to find out what it's like in the perinatal services department.
Question: Can you describe your role?
Answer: I work in the perinatal department, which encompasses labour and delivery - where women come to have their babies - and the post-partum area where they go to recover.
Q: At RCH you were an ER nurse before switching to labour and delivery nursing in 2004. Why the change?
A: Some of the roles in emergency were being deleted at the time and I thought it would be a good time for a change, and I thought (labour and delivery) would be a good area for me to go into because it's quite acute care. You never know what's going to happen in delivery, so it is quite an emergency every time a woman goes into labour. You have to anticipate what might happen with the baby and the mom. It's very exciting, (and) it's very rewarding.
Q: What's the most interesting thing about your job?
A: I would say working with a woman through her pain experience. It's quite a privilege to be part of such an intimate moment in a woman's life, and that intimacy is brought on by a complete stripping down of the soul (because of) the pain. Like, she's raw, in her rawest moment, and she's allowing you to be part of that. And then it's kind of completely all forgotten once the baby's born. It's really exciting. I'd say that's the best part of my job; taking a woman through the most intense, vulnerable moment of her life, to the best moment of her life.
Q: How many babies do you deliver per day?
A: I'd say the department averages about 12 births a day. I do a lot of charge work, so I don't always get to work with the women one-to-one; I'm usually in charge of the entire department, but probably at least once a shift I'm assisting a delivery.
Q: Is there a myth you'd like to dispel about your job?
A: I think a big myth is that labour is scary and that women are screaming all the time. I think the majority of women actually have quite a bit of control over the pain they experience and I think women do a good job at labouring. It's definitely not a horror show, that's for sure. I think another myth is people think labour and delivery should be kind of basic. It's a health field, but there's a lot that goes into having a child - a lot of complications can arise.
Q: Is there anything you'd like to change about your job?
A: The job itself is fantastic, but it would be really nice to have a facility that has single-room care. Right now it's disjointed. We have a labour room and then the women have to go upstairs to a different area for the rest of their stay.
Q: What was it like to deliver your first baby?
A: It was very exciting. Coming from emergency, I was used to the excitement, but I don't think my heart has ever raced that much. There was a lot of emotion involved with the dad and the mom, especially for their first time.
Q: What's the shortest delivery you've ever seen?
A: I had a woman come in and deliver in four minutes. I've delivered babies in parking lots and I've delivered babies in elevators.
Q: The longest?
A: Well, that's another myth, too. A lot of women start counting labour from the very first contraction they feel, and often you'll hear that a woman's been in labour for three or four days, but it's not really true. I would say, on average, most women deliver in 12 to 14 hours, and 18 to 20 hours being a long labour. Labour is considered when contractions are getting stronger and closer together, and when the cervix is changing. When that's not happening you're not in actual labour, although you might be very uncomfortable.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A: I wanted to be a trauma surgeon, doing reconstructive surgery. (I wanted to be in medicine) since I was, probably 12. So I went straight from high school into nursing and straight from university with my degree to the Royal Columbian Hospital.
