New mom cant decide to work 2 or 3 12's

When I had my son 5 years ago, at age 43, I told my husband that no matter what, I was not working full time and I don't.

I work part-time. My child comes first. They grow up really fast. My oldest will be 24 in March, my second is 22 and my third is 17.

Spend as much time as you can with your child. Best wishes!

steph

I agree with Steph. Children grow up very fast. I was confused on when to return to work, too. I just returned 2 weeks ago. My dd is 15 months old. I now work only about 9 hours a week. (two shifts, about 4.5 hours each) It was/still is difficult going back after being out 15 months, but I am happy that I had that time with my baby. I only went back, since our savings were depleting, we were saving nothing, and we are starting to need some new things. (chainsaw broke, my clothes are ratty, I need a new vaccuum, etc)

I say work as little as you can. You can always make money, but your children will only be little for a little while. They won't want mommy forever. I say work as little as possible, so that you can pay bills and that stuff. You get used to living frugally.

I was in a similar situation just a few months ago. I was hired full-time (days) but have a 10 month old baby boy at home that I missed so much. He's in daycare - and although I really like the woman - it's still daycare.

About a month after I started the job (I'm a new grad, by the way, with absolutely no experience) I made an appointment to speak to my manager. I was just very honest with her - told her I wanted to stay working in the OR (I was still in orientation), but that I also wanted to be home more with my little boy and was there anything we could work out? She said she would hate to lose me and would rather have me at 50% then not have me at all, so she let me go to part time.

I said thank you and had her sign the paperwork before she could change her mind! I am sooo glad I did - I love being home with him, but it's also nice to get out of the house those days I work. I think working part-time is the best of both worlds - even though my orientation will take forever now. It's worth it.

I don't think it would hurt to talk to your manger. If she says no, at least she will know your concerns/wants and possibly could work something out for you in the future. If I had not asked, I would still be full-time and wishing I had tried to do something about it.

If my nm had said no - I would have stayed for the meantime but at least kept my eyes open for a pt position. Your litle girl will only have one childhood - spend as much time with her as you can, especially if you can afford to not work full time. Let us know what happens! Chloe

I would either call to talk to her, or set up an appt in person.

Try to talk to her about doing that. Of course, you won't know what staffing needs are in the fall. Nor will your nurse manager. So by doing that, you can risk the full-time position being filled by someone else. You would then have to transfer elsewhere if you needed to be FT. I don't know how passionate you feel about staying in your unit. Its just something to think about.

Friends of mine took advantage of their much loved position of nursing (twelve hour days) and when they went part time and then wanted their twelve hour day position back a new grad snatched that position up quickly. I am finding that there is a nursing shortage but these primo shifts are not as easy to come by. If you have the shift you want and eventually desire full time in the near future, my advice would be to stay where you are and just work it. When you work twelves you have SO
SO much time off, and I truly feel as if I am home more than I am at work. Ultimately it is your decision good luck with whatever you choose.