Hi all! Sorry this is so long, I don't have anyone to brain-dump all of this to, and I'm just looking for advice from someone. No one in my family is in a profession like this and I'm always the one everyone else comes to for advice.
I am currently an LPN and work per diem for a staffing company. I make AMAZING money 15 minutes from home. 12 hour shifts, but as with any agency, you get cancelled and facilities drop contracts without notice, so it is a very unreliable source of income. I can't fully commit to traveling for work because I have a 6 and 4 year old, and no reliable babysitter. I am forced to work around my husbands rotating schedule. He works 12's & 8's days, afternoons, and nights.
I have completed all of my pre-reqs and applied for the LPN-RN transition course at my local college. My intent was to begin this fall, pending admission to the program. The program is part time 1 day class & 1 day clinical for the most part, near the end I heard it gets a little hairy and clinicals can be added, so you'll be in class up to 5 days a week.
This past week I have done a lot of brainstorming. Part of my life that is non-negotiable is my children and all that comes with them. If they are in sports, I am either coaching or watching. I will not miss these moments in their life. I am a mother before I am a nurse. I love my job, but the 12's make it impossible to be there. My son started football and I have just a glimpse of how busy our life will be as they grow up.
I have decided to either 'take a break' from school, or if I find a job that fits with our lifestyle and allows me to be there for all of my kids extracurricular's forego school all together. I have always wanted to become an RN and hopefully go to NP school but with the challenges of child care and being able to be there for everything, I'm wondering if working an office job as an LPN would be the best fit for me. We make enough to live, and I can pay my own bills with 4 agency shifts a month, but I guess I'm ready to settle into a career at this point. I'm 27, I've been in and out of school since I was 18 years old. Got unexpectedly pregnant 2x and dropped out of the RN program I was in, and completed my LPN.
The office job would be perfect. 8-4:30 so I can take them to school and be there when they get off of the bus, no holidays, weekends off. It just sounds perfect on paper. I don't want to say I'm 'giving up' on my RN dream but, right now I am so tired of trying to figure out childcare for my shifts, and how we are going to get them from point A to B. I am totally burnt out from trying to manage my life, I think I am just looking for convenience at this point, something steady. Has anyone else been in this situation? Do I sound stupid for doing all of this work to get into the program just to quit?
I know no one can tell me what is best for my life, besides me, but I figure if I can give everyone a little glimpse into it they could just give me opinions.
I've already got 2 interviews because I was tired of wasting time, but nothing is final at this point. One is for a Urology clinic, and the other is a denials analyst for insurance. Both of the hours are amazing, M-F and the insurance job is specifically for an LPN, the urology job is Med Assistant or LPN so I'm sure that pay isn't great. I know I won't make nearly what I am making now but, the hours will be steady. Any urology nurses or denials analysts that could tell me about their jobs?
