SANFORD - Like so many community college students, Sanford resident Christina Rumbold put her dreams on hold in order to take care of a family. When the time was right, however, she enrolled at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) where she was able to master the skills required to become a Labor and Delivery nurse.

Since graduating from the Nursing program last May, Rumbold says she is right where she wants to be--helping physicians bring newborns into the world and assisting expectant and post-partum mothers.

"When I think back on starting the Nursing program at CCCC, my knowledge of nursing, the human body and its systems, diagnosis and treatment of disease processes, and actual nursing skills was minimal to none," Rumbold said. "It is almost unbelievable that I was able to learn so much in a relatively short time. It was the toughest, most challenging thing I have ever undertaken, but when all is said and done, my experience at CCCC is northing short of amazing!"

As a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford, Rumbold's responsibilities include monitoring mothers in labor, assisting physicians and midwives with delivery of newborns, working in the newborn nursery and Intensive Care Unit, administering post-partum care, working as a circulator during Cesarean section procedures, and triaging mothers with a variety of pregnancy related ailments. Additional duties include assessing patients and diagnosing nursing needs in response to the patient's stage of pregnancy or related medical conditions such as hypertension, pre-term labor, or fetal intolerance of labor. Rumbold also plans and implements the use of external fetal monitors to asses labor progression and fetal well being, oversees medication, and interprets medical information such as contraction and fetal heart rates.

"Close communication with physicians and midwifes is crucial in the management of laboring patients," Rumbold said. "The nurse must alert the attending physician or midwife to the need for their presence on the unit for delivery or any trending problems with the labor process."

A Labor and Delivery nurse is also responsible for educating expectant mothers and families about the stages of labor, pain management options, immediate care of newborns in the hospital as well as at home, breastfeeding, and any signs and symptoms that could require medical attention for the newborn or themselves, she added. "These can be present at any time without any notice. There is so much more to labor and delivery nursing than most people realize," she said.

Rumbold credits CCCC with helping her to learn a multitude of skills in a relatively short time. "My educational experience at CCCC provided me the skills and knowledge I needed to pass the NCLEX boards, obtain my nursing license and become a viable candidate for my current job," she said. "The skills taught in the classroom and in the clinical rotation period gave me a solid base on which to begin my nursing career and continue learning new skills while perfecting the ones I already learned."

Another important benefit of the CCCC Nursing program is the fact that it is local, Rumbold added.

"As an older student with a family, the fact that the program was right here in the area allowed me to complete my education while balancing family responsibilities without the additional component of traveling for daily classes," Rumbold said. "The friendships I made were wonderful and helped strengthen my resolve to earn my degree. The requirements and expectations of the Nursing program at CCCC were essential to my current success."

For more information about the Nursing program at Central Carolina Community College, visit the college website at www.cccc.edu, or contact Teresa Mangum at 919-718-7313 or e-mail her at tmangum@cccc.edu.