Last week I interviewed for a new position on the surgery floor. The nurse manager offered me the job on the spot, so I accepted. This will be a full-time day position, so I would be working three days a week from 7am until 7:30 pm. For the past four years, I have been working nights (7pm-7:30am) and I have been wanting to switch to days for a long time. Working nights has it's benefits; there are less tests and procedures, little doctors, and usually some down time that allows you to catch up on your work. However, sleeping all day before and after a shift along with the constant schedule change on your body can be very difficult.
Now that I am working days and Alfonso is working nights, what about the baby? Not only do we both work 3 days a week, we also have to work 2 weekend days in a pay period. Also, Alfonso (for example) cannot work on a Monday night with me working the following morning (thereby his shift running into Tuesday morning at 7:30 with my shift starting Tuesday morning at 7am). Finally we agreed that I would be working Sunday, Monday, Tuesday during the day, and he would be working Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at night. We would have Saturday off together, but this does not include Alfonso sleeping until 2-3pm on Saturday after 3 nights of work. It's very difficult, but I hope that we can manage. We have thought of alternatives in case this does not work out.
We are looking into day care, since we need to consider some backup. Sending Christopher to daycare really petrifies me. Images of Christopher crying without anyone picking him up or someone mistreating him keep flashing through my mind. I know that this is not the case at most day care centers, but this is what I keep thinking about. When I was younger my mom stayed home and watched all four of us. We never went to daycare, so perhaps my fear of daycare is related to me not having an experience with daycare.
Next week I plan on looking at day care facilities, so perhaps I will feel a bit better. I do not start work for another two weeks, so I have a little bit of time left.
3 comments:
Christopher is so cute. Did you go to the reunion? I just couldn't make it. I am glad you have made contact with Keelie, she became a really important person in my life.
I hope you are able to make working arrangements that you are happy with.
If it makes you feel any better about day care, I was petrified to send Ava at first too. I grew up in a small town, and when my mom went to work, my grandma watched us. We never went to day care. But I moved 250 miles away and had to find someone to watch Ava. I cried the first couple of weeks. But it got better. And now I can't imagine my life if I didn't have my wonderful day care lady. She is seriously like a family member now. She's about the same age as my mom, so it's like having a 'mom' over here. I can't tell you how much easier it was to leave Noah, when I had to go back to work when he was only 6 weeks old, knowing that I was leaving him with her. I totally trust her.
Some advice I would have when deciding on day care, look at your state webpage and find a list of what licensed day cares are required to do. Take the list with you when you check places out and be sure they follow the rules. Some of the rules are silly, but most of them serve a good purpose.
AJ leaves the best advice, right? I can understand why you are afraid to send Christopher to daycare. I wish I could come out there and be his nanny (not like I'd know what I'm doing, LOL).
Love,
Chica
Post a Comment