Need Advice, Nursing or Ultrasound Tech.?

Hello everyone:

I've been perusing this board for quite a while and I'm glad such a fabulous nursing forum exists for everyone in the profession and for those considering it. I really need some career advice from the wonderful seasoned nurses on this board and I apologize in advance for the long post.

Currently, I'm a stay-at-home mom, but would like to get into the healthcare field, specifically nursing or sonography. Nursing was my first choice and I took most of my pre-reqs, but I'm in California and there are very few accelerated BSN programs (I have a BA) and the ADN schools take forever to get into. I also do not want to pursue an entry-level MSN due to cost and the fact that ADN's have better bedside training, which I think is critical. I basically got really discouraged with the school situation and after reading these boards for hundreds of hours, I also got the feeling that many veteran nurses would not recommend the profession to newbies. After all the "discouragement", I'm still attracted to nursing and my friends who are fairly new RN's love it so far. I like the flexibility with working hours, but it seems that new RN's get stuck working 3rd shift, holidays, weekends, etc. I need to have my weekends free for my family and I would hate to miss some holidays with my kids. Also, the political BS seems to be more rampant in nursing and that something that would really get to me.

Now, I'm really considering a transition to being an ultrasound tech, since locally pay is the same as an RN and it seems like I can have more autonomy while working and not have to deal with as much BS. I would have to work a regualr 9-5/5 days a week though, so that aspect is not appealing. In my case, this choice has alot more pros to it then the RN route.

I thank you if you've read this entire post and would appreciate some advice from professionals in both fields.

Thanks,

Laura