How do you juggle being a mom and being a nurse?

eccentricRN · Apr 29, 2008

I don't mean to be funny, but how is nursing any different than any other profession... how would anyone juggle another job? That said I am a mom & in order to accomodate such & my husband's job (2nd shift) I am resigned to work 3rd shift(no 1st shift avail close to home). I work 4 days a week, 32 hours a week, alternating every other weekend... I get approx. 5 hours of sleep if it's during the school week(less on Wed, due to cursed early release), and I'm still working on a plan for this summer. So I'm tired... but I still have to be mom, I also carry most of the workload for household chores, cooking, cleaning, laundry, paying bills/balancing the checkbook, shopping, etc... I'm lucky if DH does a load of dishes or vacuums once a week.

So you do what you have to do & if you are ale to work less/more then great... you'll find a balance that works for you I'm sure of it.

Altra, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2008

I work 40 hours per week, no more and no less than the majority of adults employed full-time.

I juggle my career and being a mom the same way that my "sisters" who are fellow nurses/ accountants/ teachers/ cashiers/ pilots/ beauticians/ factory workers/ MDs/ sales clerks/ soldiers/ journalists/ chefs/ what-have-you do ... one day at a time.

futurecnm · Apr 29, 2008

How do you juggle being a mom and being a nurse? How many hours do you work each week? Any tips to make it more manageable/easier?

do you mean how do moms juggle career and children? like someone else said, it is really not different than being at any type of job and being a mom. I am heading back into the workforce after being a stay at home mom the last 5 years. in that time I have gone back to school and will be a RN in the next couple months. I will start working in July. I plan to be organized, plan ahead, spend as much time with my kids and husband on my days off, and rely on my husband to be mom and dad while I am at work.

allnurses Guide · Apr 29, 2008

My kids learned young that Mom works in order to buy food. When they were very young, we explained about people being really sick, and since they were grown up, didn't have a Mom or Dad to take care of them. They accepted it very well.

If you work and hubby works, then there needs to be a chores chart, with hubby and kids expected to kick in their time as well. A 5 year old is perfectly capable of spraying Pledge on a rag and wiping off the table and chairs. If they're big enough to push it, they can vaccuum. Unloading a dishwasher is no big deal, get a step stool for the shelves out of reach. Folding towels in the laundry basket just isn't that hard. Do a sweep through the house at bedtime, with everyone, and I mean EVERYONE taking their own stuff to their room.

Just keep repeating: Mom is a nurse, not your maid!

All that being said, I hired a housekeeper once a week. :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

RNperdiem, RN · Apr 29, 2008

I work per diem 12 hours a week. I have been doing this for 6 years now.

My husband gets a better deal on health insurance on his full time job, and provides family coverage.

Even though I work 12 hours a week, I earn high weekend per diem wages and pay no childcare costs.

This works for my family because my husband has a regular hour schedule. He also does a proper job in childcare in housework while I work.

Every family is individual and works out what works best in every case.

Trauma Columnist · Apr 29, 2008

When I first became a nurse, our sons were 5 and 10 and dh was on active duty. Fortunately we lived in the land of 24/7 day care (Las Vegas). I worked nights so that the kids usually didn't have to go to daycare unless my husband was deployed. I worked nights until 2006 (total of 14 years). Nope, not because I liked it but it worked for my family since hubby mostly worked days. Yep, sleep was in short supply!

As to housework, I'm too cheap (even now) to pay a housekeeper and my husband and sons (when they lived at home) helped. That was always a given, no choice.

We have been married 28 years now and I have always worked full-time so the devision of labor was never an issue.