Nightshift Mombie; Advice; Encouragement; Experiences

[MamaofSteele]

Hello! I am 25 mom of 3 littles ages 5..3..and 2 my 5 year old now goes to kindergarten my 3 year may starts preschool soon and my youngest is still in diapers! I received my cna certification Dec. 2015 and immediately started working at my current job....nightshift (10pto6a) in a facility with long-term skilled nursing and an Alzheimer's unit, in which I've been scheduled to work on for the past few months.

My husband and I (not "married") we have been together 6 years and have our 3 littles together. He is 29 and has recently changed his line of work from construction tieing rebar to mixing mass quantities of chemicals to make ink for major manufacturers. His schedule is Monday thru Friday 7a to 330p weekends off...we have been making this work as we suck at money or "financially suck"! We can't afford child care close family and friends have jobs too and so it's left up to us to figure it out. I have every other weekend off and on my on weekends I have Friday and Monday off...my daughter has to be at the bus at 7:40a needless to say our mornings are like wam bam thank you mam!

I guess my question is....

How long will I be able to do this?

When I take my oldest to the bus my other 2 are waking...there has been countless times I've just passed out on the couch unable to fight it and wake in short spurts to mini disasters and screams and fighting and mom mom mom...I have been running on as little as 2 hours of sleep between shifts. I've had my neighbor bring my oldest from the bus (2:40p) because I fell asleep and my kids woke from their nap and they enjoy taking my phone. I didn't hear the alarm.

I feel like it's taking a toll on what kind of mom I am. My husband is at work all day obviously...my kids are young they need constant attention...in the middle of all this I take care of errands if I'm able (we have one car right now) CLEAN and care for my children....baths ....breakfast and lunch..and still make time for fun and play and laughs. When my husband gets home I like to visit with him...(we have our own "issues") dinner baths if I'm able...fixing beds....bed time stories.

UGH. I'm just exhausted.

I need this job and I can't work 2p to 10p or day shift 6a to 2p because obvious reasons my husband's schedule (he makes more money) and my babies....IDK.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...no judging please...thank you all for reading!

[BeckyESRN]

You need to off-load some of the work onto your SO! My husband and I run this exact schedule, except I'm daylight person and he's 12 hour nights. I get the kids up, one goes to school, one is preschool 3 days a week. He takes the youngest to preschool and comes home to nap, picks up the preschooler, makes lunch and then it's nap time for both of them. I get home at 3:45 and I take over everything at that point. If he works, I wake him at 5:30. If he worked the night before, I wake him around 8:30. The daylight person needs to accept the bulk of the house stuff and chasing the little people. You have to work like a tag team, which really does suck sometimes. Communicate your needs and figure out what works.

Also, talk to your doctor, there a few medications that can help with night shift difficulties.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

You are not able to stay awake and keep your kids safe. One day you could wake up to much more than a "mini" disaster.

You may find yourself in front of a real judge, not just the internet. Somebody is going to take note, perhaps the neighbor that had to bring your son home.

Yes you can work afternoons. You would need 2 hours of childcare while you and dad tag team, you could go part time, ANYTHING to keep the kids safe. Right now, they are not.

[MamaofSteele]

I can barley afford our lives expenses more or less pay someone to watch my kids...my husband and I are sorting through things on our own....it's just tough...