OB Rotation

Today I started working with the RD who has the OB floor as one of her responsibilities. The two main tasks on the OB floor are to provide education about breastfeeding to women who are interested in it and to talk to patients who have been admitted for hyperemesis gravidarum. She basically just speaks to them about making sure they are getting enough calories, staying hydrated and still taking their prenatal vitamins. Most of the women we saw today had breastfed with previous children, so they just sort of smiled and nodded as we repeated information that they already knew.
We also saw two hyperemesis gravidarum patients. The first patient seemed to be doing better and was tolerating clear liquids after about 12 hours and was hoping to be moved to solid foods within the next day. The next patient was a lot more challenging. We read her chart and it stated her pre pregnancy weight was only about 100# and that she had a previous history of depression and suicidal thoughts. Her current weight was only 81# and she was about 10 weeks pregnant! After talking to the nurse it seemed like the patient had been in before and the doctor was now suspecting an eating disorder rather than hyperemesis. We went it to see her and tried to help as much as possible, but there was really nothing we could do. She was stating that she was hungry and wanted to eat, but the doctor had made her NPO and hadn't been by to advance her diet. We asked the nurse about giving her some juice, but since she was NPO that wasn't a possibility. I felt like we really missed an opportunity to get her to eat, since any calories would be good for her. It was frustrating that since the doctor hadn't been by to advance her diet, she wasn't able to eat. I am hoping that when we check up on her tomorrow that her diet has been advanced.