Not 1, not 2, always 3!

I worked at the big house again last night. Since I've been back I've only worked L&D one shift, all the others I have been down on the HRPU (pronounced harpu) the High-Risk Ante-Partum Unit. I do like the HRPU, usually have about 3-4 patients depending on acuity and once you get everyone their meds and tucked into bed the nights tend to be quiet. Just an FYI, never say the Q word (quiet) on a L&D unit, it is sure to get you many dirty looks.....nurses are a superstitious bunch!
Monday night they put me on L&D, and initially I had two patients. One patient had just delivered so all I needed to do was get her recovered and moved over to mother/baby unit. The other patient was a 27+ weeker who had limited prenatal care and had arrived an hour earlier with her water broke. Well, I ended up having to pass off the fresh delivery because the pre-termer didn't even have an IV going yet.
I got her IV going and gave her; fluids, stadol, antibiotics, steroids (for fetal lung development) and magnesium sulfate (tocolytic, help calm the uterus down so it will quit contracting). Unfortunately, despite our best efforts she delivered shortly after midnight by repeat c/s (baby was breech).....under general anesthesia, because she could/would not sit still for regional block.

We had two other 27 weekers come in and deliver on us that night as well, despite us doing all we could to keep those kiddos in!

Just another example of something every labor nurse knows......bad karma always comes in three's!