Nclex advice, 3 years post graduation.

[Lnz1226]

Hi, I'm Lauren, I'm new to this site. I came here needing advice and guidance that I'm having a hard time finding anywhere else. I graduated from nursing school in December 2014 with an ADN. I know that I should of taken the Nclex as soon as possible but my school doesn't send our paperwork to the state until after we graduate. Most of us weren't even able to test until almost April 2015. I took this time to just relax and work and then just kept putting it off. In this time my older son was diagnosed with autism. He has been in therapy since he was 3 and we finally got an official diagnosis. I also have a younger son as well. I work full time as a caregiver in the DD field, I am a single mother so I have to work at least full time to make it and sometimes it's still not enough. One of the reasons I started nursing school was to one day have a rewarding career that could support us as well. I do not have much help with my son's besides my mom occasionally babysitting. My older son goes to occupational therapy, speech therapy, and counseling. He also has doctors appts in Cleveland often which is an hour from here. On top of this he often requires a lot of my attention at home when he's having a rough day. No one but me is getting him to these appts and working with the school and whatever else he needs done. Because of all this I kept getting discouraged and kept putting off taking the nclex. I felt I didn't have time to study and was just overwhelmed. I did decide to take it in December 2016 but I failed, I didn't prepare at all like I should of. Now it's January 2018 and I feel the urge to get into nursing and use my degree and everything I learned. I feel like I'm wasting myself and all the work I put into school. Things are still difficult with my son with autism but I know I need to try to get this done. Here comes to where so need advice. I don't know what to do as my next step, I know I need to get my Nclex done but where to start. I'm also very concerned with after I do pass the Nclex, how will I be able to get a job being this far out of school? I do also want to go back to get my BSN. Any advice would be helpful. I really want to work hard to have a job in the nursing field. Sorry for the long post.