Pregnant and burnt out

[Cyrindarella]

hello all,

This is my first post here on allnurses.... I always read other people's posts and the excellent advice given, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I've been a nurse for 6 years now in a med/surg-tele setting. For the last 3 1/2 years I've been doing travel nursing around MA. I got into traveling because I heard the money was good and I hated my experience with hospital politics at my first job and didn't want to deal with it. Over the years, I've tried to move on from med surg because I have loathed it since the moment I set foot on a floor, but have become exceedingly discouraged at what my true path should be, because I feel miserable all the time.

Now for the wrench in my spokes. I unexpectedly got pregnant, and while my husband and I are excited, we weren't planning a second right now as I'm not where I want to be in my career and neither is he.

After I found out I was pregnant, I had taken a perm position but took a huuuuuge pay cut (around $3000/month!) and had an awful experience, so I left that perm position to go back to traveling around Boston. Got a contract right away, and it's the busiest floor I have ever worked on. I've been here a month and am drained in every sense of the word. I do well over 10,000 steps a shift and out of the 15 shifts I've worked so far, maybe 2 of them have gone well. I just don't know what to do. This pregnancy is a lot harder than my last and with an 18 month old on top of it, I am so drained and just plain burnt out. I feel lost. I don't know what to do. I want to leave this contract but don't know if I should. Also feeling very discouraged about my future in this career (I suppose that's a whole separate post) I just don't know what to do with myself. Should I quit this job and do home care til I deliver? Either way, I know I won't have maternity benefits so I'll be broke no matter what I choose.

And as a side note, I'm the sole bread winner. My husband goes to school and stays with our son.

so sorry for the long post!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

Since you're supporting your family, I wouldn't advise quitting now, in the middle of a contract, especially since you just quit your permanent job. Finish the contract. You have a few weeks to decide what to do next, and hopefully you'll let your husband weigh in on your decision.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Listen to what your mind and body are telling you, if being pregnant and burnt out leaves you too exhausted to work on the busiest floor you have ever worked on, quit and work in homecare. It's a good idea for pregnant women to listen to their instincts, it helps to protect their unborn babies.

[JVLims]

Congratulations on your unexpected but beloved bonus baby! It seems like a bad idea to leave mid contract, but if the pace and demands are affecting your health (and by extension, the baby's-though those little passengers take everything they need from you, leaving you with the empty tank}, perhaps there is a way to exit via a medical leave. Of course, this does not solve the issue of you being the sole breadwinner. You may be able to take a less well paid but also less demanding job, or your spouse may have to step up to the plate and either go to school at night and take a day job, or simply put school on hold for a semester or two. My spouse went to school full time (with clinical rotations some hour away) and worked nights when our second child was born. It's difficult but sometimes our spouses have to put their plans on hold just as we did to support their goals. Do not stay in an overwhelming, exhausting job if you can help it-you may risk errors or injury to your patients or yourself. Hope all works out well for you! I'm from MA too-it's hard because our cost of living is so high there really is little opportunity for most families to make it work without two incomes.