I Need Career Advice

[busybeethatisme]

I will try to make this short!

I graduated in 2009 with my ADN. After I graduated I moved to another state (San Diego, CA) with my husband for his work. (We are a military family) The job market there at the time for new grads was brutal to say the least. I applied everywhere. I could not get into any of the hospitals. I very much wanted acute care experience. But, I took any jobs I could get. Mostly contract jobs working at schools, flu clinics and for awhile in home care. I did that for about 2 years. Then I had a baby and my life changed... The struggle of deciding to work vs. stay at home with my child was very hard for me.

My husband once again was getting transferred. I did get my license in that state, but decided to stay home with my child because he was deployed for most of those two years.

So, I have not worked in two years and we have once again moved to another state. This time I have two kids; a toddler and almost 1 year old. My husband is set again to deploy and now I have two kids in a new state. I am very torn about going back to work; however, I miss working as a nurse so much and miss that aspect of myself of being a professional.

Here are all my questions...

• I would like to take a nursing refresher course. What else can I do to help my skills and make me more marketable?
  
• Are there any jobs that nurses can get that are in acute care that are part time? I seem to never be able to find any. My kids already have one parent gone. I really don't want something that takes me away too much. I am trying to get something that helps give me a healthy work family balance.
  
• Is my career over? I feel like taking the 2 year break was a career death sentence.
  
• Should I go back to school for a BSN? Adding another $30,000 to my already large school loan kills me! (It took me 5 schools to finish my ADN since we move so much) Especially since I never known where our lives takes us with my husbands job. Worth it?
  

We will move again in 3 years from now. So, I need to figure something out and get the ball rolling now if I am going to go back.

Thank you for all your help!!

[sailornurse]

OK, Looking at having 4 children, 2 + toddler + baby. What about part time or per diem/prn positions? What state are you in? That will help us on this site give better advice if we know what the job marker is vs returning for BSN. Why do you say it will cost $30 thousand?