The Birthing Center at Sentara Virginia Beach General is a little slow on this Monday morning in mid-July, but everything could change in a heartbeat. For now, the patients’ doors are closed, and the nursing station is calm. One nurse scrutinizes a computer printout, sipping a cup of coffee, chatting with an EMT on an OB rotation. A giant computer screen on the wall displays five layers

of information: lines, dots, patterns, and numbers that correspond to the vital signs of the ten lives it monitors, five mothers and their babies.

Suddenly a flurry of activity erupts. A nurse hurries from a patient’s room and sits down at a computer.

“We have a baby!” she says, entering data.

“Boy or girl?” someone asks.

“It’s a boy,” she responds.

In an instant, the loudspeakers in the halls announce the news with a music box version of “Lullaby and Goodnight.” Everyone in the hospital, on every floor, hears the tinkling tune. It’s reminiscent of the moment in “Peter Pan” when Peter tells the children: “When a baby laughs for the first time, a fairy is born.”

These are some of the strongest, emotionally charged moments on the pages of our life stories: the births of our babies. Every day, up to a dozen babies have come into the world in this 1970’s era building on Laskin Road. But as of August 4th, mothers-to-be in Virginia Beach will go to the southern end of the city, to the shiny, new, high tech, state-of-the-art Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, in a unique partnership between Sentara Health Care and Bon Secours. Both Sentara’s and Bon Secours’ names appear on the signage, the result of a winning solution for the two corporations who both wanted to develop a hospital in this dynamic section of the city, where many young families are buying homes and building lives.

Here in Tidewater and across the country, moms and their families are cared for by a unique team of highly skilled OB nurses, who share in the monumental event of childbirth. Let’s meet a few.

A HAPPY JOB

“I’ve always wanted to be an OB nurse, ever since my first clinical rotation at DePaul Hospital,” said Lenore Giovanelli, RN-Clinical Nurse 2 at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. Early in her nursing career, she took a position as an extern with the medical surgical unit, assisting with gynecological surgeries and the overflow from the obstetrics department. Then she waited patiently for a position to open up in obstetrics, a department known for its high retention rate.

“It’s happy job,” Lenore said. “It’s very fulfilling to help someone bring in a new baby into the world. Every couple is different. Every situation is different.”

Lenore has been an OB nurse for almost thirty years. She says that being a nurse worked perfectly with raising a family.

“I worked 3-11 for many years and would meet my husband in the parking lot, [where] we’d hand off children. He’d go home with the kids. I’d work my shift, come home, and get them off to pre-school,” she said matter-of-factly without a touch of stress or regret. Now, as she prepares for the transition to the new hospital, you’d think she might be nervous, but she’s smiling and relaxed.

Lenore has a youthful, expectant look in her face. Perhaps her role as faithful companion for families on the journey of labor explains the light in her eyes, the joy in her presence.

She walks through a hospital world enriched with technology, like the computer screens in the nursing station and patient rooms and the “twin rooms” in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where parents and family members can stay overnight with premature babies.

Sometimes a labor and delivery can be simple and swift. Sometimes there are complex issues, but Lenore is prepared for everything. As a fully trained RN, she assists during cesarean sections and is qualified to monitor medications prescribed by physicians. She says that she has a special respect for the mothers-to-be who have taken the time to prepare for birth and choose to deliver without medical intervention.

“It’s been shown through research that if women get an epidural in the second stage of labor, it can take longer,” she explained. “The mom won’t feel the urge to push. And we know that if the mother has narcotics delivered, [the drugs] can cross the placenta. So we won’t give her that kind of med within an hour of delivery.”

We walk down the hall and enter a room, where Kelly Harris of Suffolk is resting, having recently delivered her fourth child, a boy named Gabriel. She is at ease with visitors, and her napping son is swaddled in soft blankets and wearing a hand-knitted blue cap. We coo over the baby and offer congratulations.

“How did you experience the nursing care?” Lenore asked.

“Everyone was just so nice and helpful,” Kelly replied, only a few hours after giving birth without any medications.

It’s nearing lunchtime, and Kelly says she’s delighted with every meal served at the hospital. Baby Gabriel has already been nursing for more than a half hour. Lenore smiles and nods her head, “Yes,” sending a silent message across the room that this is how wonderful and natural having a baby can be.

As new generations arrive in the birthing center, Lenore sees changes in the behaviors of her moms and families in labor. She has some concern about the overt presence of social technology: mothers-to-be texting or sending Facebook updates throughout early labor and bringing their iPods and docks into the birthing rooms, family members taking photos before and after the baby is born. She doesn’t mind a nice selection of music and is glad to take some “happy-snaps,” though Sentara doesn’t allow videotaping of deliveries for safety reasons. Lenore says technology can sometimes get in the way, becoming a distraction for the reality of the moment.

“When you have a baby, you have to be alert to the instructions and assistance of the nurse and the doctor, so sometimes I’ll say ‘Oh, honey, you may want to turn off your cell phone for awhile,’” she said.

Though Lenore served in an administrative capacity while preparing for the move to Princess Anne, she says her greatest happiness is at the bedside with patients, and she’ll return to that role in the new building. She’s seen thousands of births and considers every one a miracle.

STRENGTH AND SKILLS

Becoming a certified OB nurse takes more training, time, and testing than just becoming an RN. Beyond earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing at a four-year university or an Associate of Applied Science in nursing at a community college, an OB nurse has to have two thousand hours of experience and 24 continuous months on the job before she can sit for the certifying exam. Prospective OB nurses shadow an experienced RN to gain strength and skills while accumulating hours.

Twenty-five year old Jennifer Martinez, a recent ODU grad, earned a position on the staff of Sentara Virginia Beach General after an externship there during her senior year. Two years ago, she gave birth to a daughter in the middle of her nursing school studies. Now that she has experienced labor and delivery, she has more insight into the kind of nursing she will practice. Currently, she’s following Alison Nestor, her nursing preceptor, as she learns the skills that will make her a valuable member of the team at Princess Anne. But she won’t always follow another professional. OB nurses are known for being strong and independent decision makers, responding to the needs of their patients in labor, being the firm voice during anxious moments.

“There’s a lot of autonomy in this field, Jennifer said. “You don’t always see the physician until he or she is needed.” She says it takes dedication and a big investment of time and energy to become a nurse. While the income is good, it’s “not about the paycheck,” Jennifer says.

SPECIAL MOMENT

Some nurses enter the world of childbirth and delivery through a different door.

LTJG Amber Wilson, USN, earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at ODU and has been in the Navy since 1999. Her university education was part of a commissioning program through the military. She received military pay during her studies and upon graduation became an officer. Amber worked for two years in the pediatric unit at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, which she says was an emotional challenge, partly because she is a mother. She and her husband Donny have four children: a four-month old son and three daughters (16 months, 4 and 10 years old).

Her desire to work with moms and babies evolved while she was caring for newborns. She’s much happier now, being involved in that “huge, monumental special moment when a baby is born,” she says. Now she’s planning to become certified as an OB nurse during her next Navy deployment in Southern California, where she and her family are being transferred this summer.

Amber says she sees all kinds of patients. The majority of those who deliver at Portsmouth Naval request epidurals, more than 90 percent. She also mentioned the weaving of technology and childbirth. Just recently, Amber cared for a couple who were informed about childbirth and delivery procedures because they watched childbirth videos on YouTube.

“Whatever it takes,” Amber said.

“Some women come in very prepared,” she said. Amber’s experience in nursing is leading her to a future different from OB nurses like Lenore and Jennifer. She salutes the women who have been involved in “labor intensive inpatient work,” but she sees herself teaching maternal-child health, preparing women for the whole experience of pregnancy, delivery, and follow up care.

RE-SET YOUR HEART

Family care is also at the center of Chesapeake Regional Medical Center’s BirthPlace.

Jan Huss is the assistant chief nursing officer at Chesapeake, where the Mother and Baby Unit is celebrating its 25th year. More than 75,000 babies have come into the world since the hospital opened in 1976. Jan’s been an OB nurse for more than 15 years.

“For the most part, it is a very happy job, exciting for families,” Jan said. “One of the most wonderful things is that we only have 1-2 patients on a shift, instead of 6-7 in other kinds of nursing.”

“We also encourage our patients to have good pre-natal care, and we see that a larger number of people are starting earlier with check ups and ultrasounds,” Jan said. ‘For those who are in need, the city helps provide support.”

Chesapeake Regional, as well as Sentara and Bon Secours hospitals, provides childbirth preparation classes, offering support for breastfeeding, labor and delivery practices, exercise, and parenting. In particular, Jan mentioned classes in “comfort measures,” learning which medicine may support their deliveries; sibling welcome classes; and sessions for families on how to introduce your baby to pets. Like most hospitals across the region, Chesapeake Regional encourages breastfeeding and has certified lactation specialists available to mothers. As an OB nurse, Jan believes part of her role is to provide the tools for families before and after the baby is born.

“This is a wonderful time to help families,” Jan said, “even to the extent of providing post-discharge care for first-time mothers.”

From a career perspective, becoming an OB nurse can be difficult at first since openings are harder to come by. But once you help bring a baby into the world, the experience can re-set your heart and your job plans for a lifetime. Lenore and the other nurses say, despite all the improvements in the high-tech end of hospital life, the secret to being a good OB nurse is simply comforting your patient, sitting on her bed, holding her hand, giving her strength, and assuring her that everything will be all right.

“To this day, if I’m working delivery with a couple, I still get a little tearful. And I think when that day passes, I’ll move on to something else,” Lenore said. “But I can’t see that day, not yet.” 

Kathleen Fogarty writes regularly for Tidewater Women.