No daycare, need to work nights, is this doable?

[Chazd18RN]

I have been an RN for 2 1/2 years and I work on a mother/baby floor. I used to work 12 hr day shifts 3days/week. When I switched hospitals a year ago I had to take a 8 hr PM shift (1500-2330). I didnt like this shift at first but now I am used to it. Everything was going good but I just found out that our daycare provider is closing down her daycare so that she can go back to school. I do not know of anyone that can take care of my 20 month old son for 2 1/2 hrs/day when I am at work until my husband can pick him up by 5:00 and I am terrified of taking him to someone that I do not knw. Right now I am part time and I do 7 (8-hr) shifts per pay period. I am thinking about changing to the night shift (2300-0730) and cutting my hours down to 6 (8hr) shifts per pay period instead to avoid having to find a new daycare provider. So basically I would work two 8 hr night shifts per week, and then every other weekend. My husband is home on weekends to watch my son while I sleep every other weekend but he will not be home during the weekday until about 6:30pm. My question is, will this work out? Will I be too exhausted coming home to care for my son after work and only sleeping during his nap time (usually 2 hrs) until my husband gets home? Will it be ok since its only part time or will it still be too hard? I was thinking about spreading out my days so that I wouldnt have to go back to work the same day after getting off that morning, but will I feel like I'm always catching up on sleep? Should I just bunch my days together in order to get more time off? I was thinking I could work mondays and wednesdays then every other weekend (fri and sat night). What do you think? Any advice? Also, I am 19 weeks pregnant and plan to be home with a 2 year old and a new baby during the day after working night shifts. Am I being unrealistic to think that this could work since its only part time??? Please be honest. Thanks in advance.

[Chazd18RN]

Thanks everyone for all of the honest advice. You are all right, I would be miserable if I went this route. I will talk to my husband and we will need to brainstorm some more ideas. One of the posters suggested working weekends only and that sounds like a good idea. Thanks again!