Nurses with children.....

when my youngest son was born, I hired a nanny. I guess it was a good decision. She was from eukran, spoke mostly russian. Her husband was her interpreter. My son ended up speaking russian for a year before he ever spoke his first words of english at the age of 3 1/2. Now he is considered an English language learner in school, lol and his parents only speak english. She was a mother of 16 kids, and I trusted her very much even though she didnt speak english. She also came to our home at an early time and if she couldnt make it one of her 9 daughters could help.

Lucky were my kids. Her son ended up getting cancer after 4 years of being with my son, so her first responsibility was to him. We did pay her well, for the time 110.00 a week.

I have also been there, done that, and bought that t-shirt......

So let me add a little fuel to the fire....

Why aren't the hospitals offering childcare for us?

On a personal basis, I worked weekend option when my boys were small, and it's true I never got to see my spouse. The hospital where I worked at the time did, however, have childcare. If I chose to work extra during the week my kids were on "drop-in" basis.

I realize this doesn't help you,but it totally gripes me that employers expect us to work 40 plus hours every week(some w/ mandatory overtime) at a tough, physically and mentally demanding job, and so few hospitals provide childcare for thier employees.

(O.K., I'm taking a deep, cleansing breath now and jumping off my soapbox) Zudy

Great responses so far!

I live in Wyoming, and i should say that $720 quote is MONTHLY. I think i typed it wrong. But that's for my 2 now, not counting the new baby. I would MUCH rather go in prn, or just part time, like 2 days a week. i'm totally ok with that. Here's where i'm screwed tho. I stopped working when i had my first son, so i've not worked in 3 years. I was a new RN at the time too, i only worked like 6 mths as a RN before i had to stop. I may NOT be able to get a job prn, based on that kwim? If not, i'm ok with that. I mean i need to put in my time too. What can you do? I'm also totally ok with working nights or weekends, even tho my husband frowns on it, but he's ok with it too. THe hospital here offers onsite daycare supposedly (haven't found any details yet about it) but they are more "managers" hours than anything. Something like 8-5 or something. So if i work nights, that will do just fine, i can pick the kids up in the morning when i get off, drop them off at the hospital, sleep for a few hours and go get them. No big deal.

I've done YEARS of LTC nursing, and the thought of going back into it honestly makes me ill. I just hate the thought of it. I love hospital nursing, so if i have to do weekends/nights or whatever to bank my time and keep my license current then i will ya know?? But not at the expense of my family. I would only pay out 1/2 or less of my salary to daycare, or not at all becuase otherwise it would be stupid. lol I have a couple of leads on some friends here, i really want someone HERE with them. If possible, one day a week and Dh the other. He'll do whatever it takes with them too. But since i've not worked in 3 years, i need to work at least prn so i can maintain my active status, kwim??

Thanks for the suggestions folks! Keep 'em coming!!!!

Well, for my .02 cents worth... Our children, 3yo and 7mo, are our #1 priority!! There is NO WAY I would ever leave my children at daycare!(I also have 2 older children, late teens...never went to daycare, either). Absolutely no way. Plus, I do not WANT anyone else raising my children...this is mine and my husband's job. I truly love being able to arrange my schedule around my DH's...when he's at work, I'm w/the kids, when I'm at work, he's w/the kids.

I feel like, I/we had these children, my work/"career" can wait 'til they are old enough....even when my two oldest children were babies, and I wasn't even a nurse yet, I worked nights...weekends, whatever to accomodate being at home w/my children...they come 1st. They grow SO very fast, it is sad, especially if your children are raised by someone else and you miss so many "firsts"....just not worth it on so many levels...

I work PRN, my DH carries all insurances, etc, so I do 2 12h shifts/wk, one 12h w/e night shift and 1 12h weekday shift...sure I lose sleep, but, oh well, I know this won't be like this forever and I'm grateful to be w/my children!:)

Good luck!

Originally posted by moondancer

Well, for my .02 cents worth... Our children, 3yo and 7mo, are our #1 priority!! There is NO WAY I would ever leave my children at daycare!(I also have 2 older children, late teens...never went to daycare, either). Absolutely no way. Plus, I do not WANT anyone else raising my children...this is mine and my husband's job. I truly love being able to arrange my schedule around my DH's...when he's at work, I'm w/the kids, when I'm at work, he's w/the kids.

I feel like, I/we had these children, my work/"career" can wait 'til they are old enough....even when my two oldest children were babies, and I wasn't even a nurse yet, I worked nights...weekends, whatever to accomodate being at home w/my children...they come 1st. They grow SO very fast, it is sad, especially if your children are raised by someone else and you miss so many "firsts"....just not worth it on so many levels...

I work PRN, my DH carries all insurances, etc, so I do 2 12h shifts/wk, one 12h w/e night shift and 1 12h weekday shift...sure I lose sleep, but, oh well, I know this won't be like this forever and I'm grateful to be w/my children!:)

Good luck!

Therein lies the problem. Our children are our utmost priority as well, but i have a license that i may not be able to USE if i don't get to work eventually. That's why i want to do prn/part time. Like i said, IF i have to put them in daycare or a provider, it would be 1 day a week, and the other day of the week they would be with daddy. However, if i can't get it to work just right, i don't go back to work. Its that simple for us. He carries all the insurance, tec...so anything i do would be totally extra pocket money. Its so hard to make things work right tho.

Originally posted by moondancer

Well, for my .02 cents worth... Our children, 3yo and 7mo, are our #1 priority!! There is NO WAY I would ever leave my children at daycare!(I also have 2 older children, late teens...never went to daycare, either). Absolutely no way. Plus, I do not WANT anyone else raising my children...this is mine and my husband's job. I truly love being able to arrange my schedule around my DH's...when he's at work, I'm w/the kids, when I'm at work, he's w/the kids.

I feel like, I/we had these children, my work/"career" can wait 'til they are old enough....even when my two oldest children were babies, and I wasn't even a nurse yet, I worked nights...weekends, whatever to accomodate being at home w/my children...they come 1st. They grow SO very fast, it is sad, especially if your children are raised by someone else and you miss so many "firsts"....just not worth it on so many levels...

I work PRN, my DH carries all insurances, etc, so I do 2 12h shifts/wk, one 12h w/e night shift and 1 12h weekday shift...sure I lose sleep, but, oh well, I know this won't be like this forever and I'm grateful to be w/my children!:)

Good luck!

thanks for being there for your kids...

here's to raising your own kids

You're right...it is VERY hard to get arrangements just so! I would really look at going PRN, that way you have a lot more flexibility... Also, is there any opportunity for you to do outpt/ambulatory care nursing? Work in a primary care clinic, doing triage, etc? The hrs are much more conducive to childcare. How about just straight telephone triage? I did a short stint of that a few yrs ago, the operating hrs were 24/7 so I could pick my hrs...

Just keep brainstorming...it will all come together! Meanwhile enjoy the rest of your pregnancy! :)

Zudy-

Yeah, when I did need daycare most of the hospitals around offered it like 8-6; a few had 6:45-6P so IF you could work day shift only you could manage but not everywhere, and 15 min to drop your kids off and get up to your floor is difficult at best. It was basically useless for most nurses working most of the shifts. When I asked how people handled it it turned out most people relied on family arrangements-spouse, mom, sisters. If you were a single parent without a relative handy to sit for you it was pretty unworkable. Duh- wonder why hospitals can't get enough nurses to staff fully!

Chaya-

What you are describing is is fairly typical of most hospitals. Obviously the daycare hours you describe are meant to accomadate the hospital administrators, not the people that do the real work in a hospital. I'm sure if you tried to explain this to an administrator you would get a blank stare, and nothing would change.( Except you are then labled as a trouble-maker, or worse.)

Oh,gee whiz, do I sound bitter? What a bad,bad nurse I am! Again, deep,cleansing breath, and getting off the soapbox.

When I had my first baby in 1987, I worked 3-11 and my husband worked 2-10. No evening care was offered at the hospital (or anywhere else) so I stayed home for the first year. I went back part time to a doctors office and worked on my husbands days off, which was a pain.

Had a second baby in 1990, and stayed home for about 6 months, then went for a few evenings to the docs office ( my husband was on days by then) It was important to me to get into the work force for my own identity, but my kids were raised by their parents. They are stable, well adjusted teens now of whom I am very proud.

I am in a similiar situation. I am going to, Lord willing, be starting nursing school in the fall and I have 3 children. Two of them will be in school but I will have a 3 year old at home. I really don't want him to have to go to daycare since my others didn't (I am a sahm now) and am now torn because my husband works days and I have no family close by. I could either wait 2 more years to start school, which I really don't want to do, or put him in childcare while I'm in school. My husband is upset because he thinks it will be a waste of money to pay for childcare, when I haven't even started working yet and our money is tight already.

I feel kind of selfish because I want to be able to start working when my youngest starts school and I need to go to school to be able to do that ( in a career that I want). Does this make sense to anyone?

In a way I think he is right but in another way I feel like if I wait I will not go! I have been a sahm for 6 years and am a registered childcare provider. I have just gotten clearance to take in foster kids so I am hoping that I will be able to keep fostering when I start school. That way the kids will be in school when I'm in school and I'll also be home with them when they are home. This way I will still be making money and also be able to go to school. Am I being too unrealistic? so you don't think I am fostering just for the money let me just tell you that I've been working on getting this clearance with this specific place that deals with teens and their problems at home for at least 6 months and have finally gotten it and I am excited to start helping some of the teens in my area. The thing is they will only be in my home for a few hours each night and on the weekend through this mentoring program so it won't take away from any time with them.

Sorry for the length but wanted to make it clear!

JULZ