Hello to all!! I am a lurker on this board and have been for many years, but now I have a question. I am a pre-nursing student, but I am also 34 weeks pregnant, am due Aug 28 (YEAH!! :balloons: almost there). I want to take classes since I dropped my classes in the spring due to my pregnancy. The classes I want to take would be A and P 1 and another online gen ed class, and they would start on 8/18. The A and P class I am looking at meets 2 nights a week, one night for 4 hours and another night for 2 hours. Would this be feasible with a newborn?? I know I am going to be beyond exhausted and am going to have my hands full with him, but the problem is is that I need to take an A and P class in order to apply to the nursing program for Spring of 2010, and the application is due 2/15/09!! Otherwise I will have to wait to apply until Fall of 2010.....
The other upside to taking classes (I hope) would be I could pull some extra $$ in loans for living while I am not working, b/c I won't go back to work until at least October 10......
Any advice y'all have would be wonderful.....I really don't know what to do!!
I made the choice to leave a very lucrative accounting career and switch to nursing after missing out on all of my child's big 'first-year' milestones. I've always been interested in nursing, so I've been kicking myself for not just sticking with it after high school.
Anyway, I started A&P 2 along with 2 online classes while working full-time nights with an 18 month old only 2 weeks after my second child was born by c-section (and I exclusively nursed for 6 months). If you want it... you absolutely can do it. Granted, my house is not as clean as I would like it and my husband makes chicken nuggets/grilled cheese/pb&j for the boys more often than I would like to admit- but, I just keep telling myself this is only temporary. I start NS in just a few weeks!
Good luck!!
Sorry - quick hijack....
Oh wow, congrats to you!!! I wish I had my second already. I had a miscarriage earlier this year before I applied to schools... so we decided to wait until I heard from school to have more kids, just to ease the stress load. But AWESOME for you. I promised to have two more kids back to back after school was over, haha. To make up for "lost time". :)
My dad also got on my case after I decided to switch careers... "see, you should've listened to me and done it sooner..." I'm like, DUH, but everything happens for a reason, right? If I didn't go to University, I wouldn't have met my hubby, or had my son, etc... :)
I say go for it if you have a great support system. I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I had to take A&P and Micro during summer school (same 8 week span) and I had an 8 month old at home! I had my husband and my parents to help me take care of the baby. I was soooooo exhausted at the end of those 8 weeks but I made it through with a solid B in both classes. This can be done you just have to put your mind to it. Congratulations on your pregnancy and I wish you the best of luck!
I say go for it if you have a great support system. I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I had to take A&P and Micro during summer school (same 8 week span) and I had an 8 month old at home! I had my husband and my parents to help me take care of the baby. I was soooooo exhausted at the end of those 8 weeks but I made it through with a solid B in both classes. This can be done you just have to put your mind to it. Congratulations on your pregnancy and I wish you the best of luck!
I did the same... I took chem and A&P 101 together then Micro and A&P 102 together... everyone said DON'T do it... but I knew that I had a good supportive family backing me up, so I spent time with my son, when I had free time, and studied A LOT when he was asleep. I just made sure my notes were all portable, so that I could study anywhere, be it in the house/playroom/backyard, even in the car... :)
This is just my personal preference......I purposely put off school until my children were older because I didn't want to miss out on their childhood. I could always become a nurse but I couldn't always watch them grow up. If it was me personally, I would put it off a semester. As the previous posters said...it's not just class time, it's homework and studying too. I spent more time studying for A & P than any of my other classes combined. Whatever you decide...Good luck and congrats on your baby!
Congratulations on your upcoming bundle of joy! Is this your first baby?All I can say is WHOA, your issue brought back a flood of memories regarding my situation which was somewhat similar.
Let me start out by saying--- just trying to adjust to a newborn and his/her schedule with NOTHING else to focus on but the baby is a MAJOR undertaking in and of itself. OMG- - -I still can remember feeling like the walking dead a week after having my first son. I had so many emotions: I was scared, excited, exhilirated, sleep deprived, you name it. Sometimes, I was amazed at how hard it was just to get a shower in everyday. I know this sounds crazy - - - but a 10 minute hot shower as well as a hot meal is going to be at the TOP of your luxury list real soon!!! :)
Anyway, as exhilarating and exciting childbirth and childrearing may be, it can take quite a toll on you physically and mentally. Also, don't forget that if you are breastfeeding, you will be nursing the baby about every 2-3 hours around the clock in the beginning. That's a lot to handle - - -not even taking into account school. I'm not saying what you have set out for yourself and your family is not possible- - -it going to be a challenge and great balancing act.
I wanted to share my story:
I finished up my master's thesis as a stay at home mom while my youngest at the time was six months. I also had a 2yr old and 6 yr old. My youngest is an August baby too, and will be 5yrs on the 1st!!!!
I digress- - -Anyway, all I could think of during that semester was "What in the H-E double two-sticks was I thinking?" I cried some nights out of frustration because I knew I needed to be finished with my master's program and get back into the workforce- - -but my boys needed me too. I only went to class one night a week for three hours and it was still VERY HARD. In class, I thought about my babies. At home, I thought about how and when I was going to find time to work on my paper. I felt guilty about not spending enough time with my sons and I felt guilty about not giving my thesis 100%. I think I felt guilty about everything. My milk production really began to decrease that spring because I began giving more supplemental bottles to my son. If I wasn't too tired to pump, it would take me FOREVER to make 8 oz because. I was way too stressed to make an adequate amt. of milk for son. I wasn't nursing him regularly in the evenings because at this point he PREFERRED the bottle over me. It was simple: the milk was flowing more freely out of Evenflo than it was out of Mommy. He stopped on his own in April. That hurt.
I will say though, I gained alot of respect for myself during that timeframe for being able to manage my household (he! he! he!), finish my thesis, and have three boys in tow. One MAJOR caveat: I did this with ALOT of support: My husband, mother, father, and mother-in-law. I also say all of this to you to let you know that it is possible.
Now in hindsight, would I changed anything ---Nope. That's because if I had waited, I would not have been able to have landed the job that I currently have (my thesis was based in large part what I do now).
Did I loose out on some things? Of course, I lost out on breastfeeding my son for at least another 4-5 months, missed some weekday soccer games, couldn't tuck my babies in every night, and I probably lost out on some other things that I can't recall right now.
Did I gain? Of course, I finished writing my thesis paper, defended it that semester and graduated with my MA in Govt.; I landed a job that has tremendously helped my family from a financial standpoint and is providing me w/ the flexibility to finish my nursing prereqs this fall and next spring, and finally the most important to me---a major boost in self confidence in knowing that I can accomplish ANYTHING I set my mind to.
Also, the ONLY reason it doesn't hurt as much that I was away from my boys in the evenings was because when I question my oldest about the times I was away, he doesn't even remember. I making it to the soccer games!!! :)
Also, I look back now and realize that if I had put it off another semester and didn't finish my master's program in the spring when I had set out to, I would probably be blogging on a different website on how I regret not finishing my program as I had planned. Yes, life gets in the way and that's when you have to make these tough decisions. :uhoh21:
You see, there is really no right or wrong decision - - - what really matters is how well you can live with the decision you make. I just wanted to relay my story in hopes that it will help you come to terms with a decision for yourself.
I cried some nights out of frustration because I knew I needed to be finished with my master's program and get back into the workforce- - -but my boys needed me too. I only went to class one night a week for three hours and it was still VERY HARD. In class, I thought about my babies. At home, I thought about how and when I was going to find time to work on my paper. I felt guilty about not spending enough time with my sons and I felt guilty about not giving my thesis 100%. I think I felt guilty about everything. My milk production really began to decrease that spring because I began giving more supplemental bottles to my son. If I wasn't too tired to pump, it would take me FOREVER to make 8 oz because. I was way too stressed to make an adequate amt. of milk for son. I wasn't nursing him regularly in the evenings because at this point he PREFERRED the bottle over me. It was simple: the milk was flowing more freely out of Evenflo than it was out of Mommy. He stopped on his own in April. 
That hurt.
boogeysmomRN
189 Posts
Sorry - quick hijack....
Oh wow, congrats to you!!! I wish I had my second already.
I had a miscarriage earlier this year before I applied to schools... so we decided to wait until I heard from school to have more kids, just to ease the stress load. But AWESOME for you. I promised to have two more kids back to back after school was over, haha. To make up for "lost time". :)
My dad also got on my case after I decided to switch careers... "see, you should've listened to me and done it sooner..." I'm like, DUH, but everything happens for a reason, right? If I didn't go to University, I wouldn't have met my hubby, or had my son, etc... :)
Good luck to you in Nursing School!!