Mommy2010

Please keep the responses coming. I want the truth and appreciate all of your honesty. I am currently in route of finding someone that will take the kids while they are sick. I have a very reliable person to watch the kids but it is at her home and I would rather have someone come to the house so that way I do not have to worry about going and dropping the kids off. Plus the added "if the kids get sick". That is my biggest dilemma right now.

Hi everyone. I am so confused on what to do right now it's not even funny. So here it goes! I have three kids ages 4, 2 and 1. For the most part they are good, but my 1 year old is the most challenging. He is getting ready to walk soon! My 2 year old has vesicoureteral reflux of her kidneys so I am expecting surgery for her sometimes in the future. My 4 year old has strabismus and sees her eye doctor usually every 2-3 months and will be getting another surgery here soon too. So as you can see, our plates are mighty full! Since 2008, I have wanted to go back to school for nursing (this is when my first was born). My hubby said that I could as long as I worked on top of it. Well at this time, I was working 40 hours a week. So I told him I couldn't if I had to still work. Baby #2 came in 2010 so I wanted to go back again and again opted out because now I had 2 children to care for and I was working around 30 hours a week. Baby #3 came in 2011 (wasn't planned) and wanted to start in Spring 2012, but I was forced to quit my job so now I am a stay at home mom. I am happy to be home because my kids are hardly sick and I get the added bonus of spending time with them. Now that I am 27 years old and I am not getting younger, so many people have told me different things. I was told to go now while the kids are young that way they don't remember it and then you can enjoy them more when they get older. I have been told another to wait and go when they are older that way you don't have to feel guilty of losing time with them while they are young and you will have better study times. I am enrolled to go this Fall 2012 but I have at least 4 classes to pass before being on the waiting list. Then I have to be on the list for 1 year and I will be able to do clinicals. I have been told the easiest is to take the clinicals by themselves since they are so difficult! I know the house will not be the cleanest and the laundry will pile up, but that I can sacrifice. I am more scared if one of the children gets sick and I have to go to class for a few hours. My husband works nights right now but he will be on days hopefully within the next year or so. Last year, our children were so sick from stomach flus and we were hit with 2 respiratory flus and RSV. It was aweful! I cannot imagine surviving this while in school. Now that the kids are not in daycare nor a babysitter, they have been very healthy. I am hoping that the 4 months I have had them has helped build up their immunity a little bit. I know that our school has a zero tolerance policy on tardiness and absences. I don't think you can miss more than 1 day. Now when I get into clinicals, since the kids will be older, I am hoping it will be better. I am expecting that my pre requisites will take me around 2 years or more. I am very fortunate that my college is only 2 mins from my house and this is the main reason why I felt now is the time to go back. Aside from the fact I have no college degree and I really love helping people. I am not in nursing for the money. If I was, I wouldn't go into it because nurses go through hell and they should deserve a better paycheck. My concern lies on my children. Since I won't spend as much time with them, I feel guilty. Then I don't know how I will get studying time in. I can study after the kids are in bed, but they aren't normally in bed until 9pm at the latest. This gives me only about 2 hours of studying time. Now, my 2 and 1 year olds still take naps so I understand I can study during this time, but it is very rare if they nap at the same time. I can study with my two oldest around because normally they are well behaved. Then another thing I have to worry about is getting my oldest ready for kindergarden. She is starting in 2013 and I want to be sure she is ready. Plus my 2 year old needs to start learning things too. My goal was to get crafts for them and learning tools so that they are learning things. But how do I expect to fix breakfast/lunch/dinner, teach my kids, study, do homework, etc.? My parents can help out on the weekends, but during the week is the help I need. Without me working, my hubby works 6-7 days a week and sometimes it is hard to make the house payment (over $1,000/month). I have tried finding a sitter to come to the house but most of the people way overcharge or they want a Mon-Fri job. I can only give them about 3 days a week if that. Can someone please give me some insight here? I am confused. Should I just go now and start getting the classes out of the way or should I stay home and wait until my kids are older and hopefully we are out of the woods for surgeries? PLEASE HELP ME!

Personally, I would get your RN and then go for your BSN or MSN. That way you have extra education and you could eventually become a case manager.

I am supposed to start nursing here too and I am scared to death!!!!! So many people say it takes a special person to be a nurse and someone very dedicated, which I believe in. I'm not scared of my classes at all. I am scared that when one of my kids get sicks, I will have nobody to help take care of them.

Ok, so I have pondered several times on going back to school for nursing. I have three children, ages 4, 2 and 11 months. I am a stay at home mom and know I can do it for the most part, but here is why I am worried about my decision. It seems as though every time something happens, I have to drop the semester. For example, I was going to start spring 2012, but ended up losing my job and couldn't pay for school. Then I tried this summer 2012, my daughter had gotten very sick from a UTI. I am signed up to start this fall 2012, but now I am again wondering if now is the time. My daughter has been in the hospital for 3 days now with a severe kidney infection. There may be a possibility of having vesicoureteral reflux and may need surgery, but nothing is certain yet until she has her VCUG done. I always seem to second guess myself when something happens. My husband has a very demanding job and he has had to take off several days due to sicknesses and now with our daughter being sick so he can stay at home with the other two children to take care of them. We cannot afford him to lose his job either. So then I sit here thinking, is nursing really what I want? And I know yes. But I have heard in nursing there is no way to take vacation/sick days along w/ in school you cannot. I was told nursing school they don't care if you have kids sick or anything. They expect you there. I'm not saying I don't want to be there, I do, but when my kids are sick and my husband is at work, what am I to do? No babysitters will watch kids when they are sick. I am giving my kids extra vitamins and things to help build up their immunity and I am hoping it helps, but there are never any guarantees. So then I start thinking, what else can I do healthcare wise that I will enjoy that isn't nursing. My ultimate goal was to be an NP, but I just don't know. Should I try just 1 class at a time, forget nursing or wait to go back until my youngest is in school? I was planning to do most my classes online that I can (English, CPT 104, Psy, Soc, Nutrition, Growth & Development, etc.) but A&P and a lot of the others I cannot. Can you please help!

There are some online schools you can do your RN to MSN (I think it may be a bridge???) but be sure to check out your state and if they accept bridge programs. I have heard some don't. Do some investigating and good luck!

I always thought that meant that either the students would drop out or they would flunk out. I could be wrong?

Hello everyone. I am 27 years old, have 3 kids (4, 2 and 10 months) and been married 7 years. I am just trying to figure out if I am right to go into the nursing field. Here is why. I worked at desk jobs for 8 years. Although I did not mind it, I didn't want to particularly sit down at a job forever. So, unfortunately, my hours were reduced down from 24 to 16 and since I travel about 10-15 miles (I know it isn't far), the gas I would pay and the daycare/sitter fees I would actually be paying more money going to work. I am now a SAHM. So, I decided that I need to go back to college. I have already been accepted to a school and I can be in clinicals as early as spring semester 2014. Obviously this is great and it looks like I could graduate in as early as 3 years. I just do not know if nursing is a field that would suit me. I took one of those career tests and it said my areas that suit me best are psychology, management, education and medical. This doesn't really help me though. I would love a management position, but I want to work in the medical field. I always wanted to either work in L&D or in a doctor's office (but as a NP). I have always pondered if nursing was the right field for me. A lot that has me second guessing is because I love my kids and I hate to spend time away from them. Now I know it isn't much time away during pre req's and my oldest won't be starting school until fall 2013, but I just worry so much because my husband has a very stressful and demanding job. Plus he farms land on the side at his parent's house which is like 40 miles from us. My husband said he will support me, but that he doesn't want to stress about the money nor does he want to stress that I am making school the most important thing. Basically, if he has to farm or he needs to work overtime, he doesn't want me saying, "Hey I need you to watch the children." He is a great guy so don't think that he is this awful husband and father. He spends a lot of time with us all, but when you combine farming and his job, he isn't going to be able to just leave everything else on the backburner. I do not have any family members close to us that can help either. My husband has to work to support us and sometimes overtime is required. Our finances are ok. We aren't bankrupt and we have saved a lot over the years. The biggest problem is finding a sitter (and a good one) that isn't far from where we are located and finding one that doesn't charge and arm and a leg. On top of this, most of the people I find on sittercity.com want something full time. Plus, I don't know how much we can afford each week for a sitter. I have done our charges per month and we are barely going to be able to afford one. So I am trying to figure out with the stress of everyday life and nursing, if it is a good field for me. I have also pondered if I should go into more of a management position (bachelors of healthcare administration) which is offered at an online school that is pretty decent priced, but from what I understand of this degree, you can't really get a great job that pays well. Nursing seemed to fit because I love helping people and sometimes all you have to do is work 2-3 days per week and you are done. Now, whether or not my body could do this, I am unsure of. I am also unsure of if I will be able to find a job after I graduate. I know nursing is a demanding field but around here, I sometimes see jobs but they are not posted more than 1 week and they are filled. I think that is mostly because they are trying to hire internally first. Management is harder than hell to find too. I was a CNA in 2003 but I honestly didn't like what I did. Plus I had some really b****y nurses I worked with. It honestly was the place I worked with. I had thought about being a CNA again and working for a little bit, but my hubby works 3rd shift and I would have to work a 1st shift job, which there is no way to find. I know nursing you would work a crappy shift too, but by the time I graduated, my oldest would be 7, my middle would be 5 and my youngest 3. This is by the time I would graduate if I go full time at 12-14 credit hours per semester. I was planning to go this summer, but the summer (which is only going to be this summer b/c the college just transitioned to semesters this fall) is only 7 weeks and it is a very accelerated course so I didn't want to over do it. It just started this week so I cannot opt back in. Plus my middle child just got sick with a UTI pretty bad so right now just wasn't the time. I know this is long and I apologize. I just want to see what you people think. Do you think nursing is right for me? Or do I need to find something else where I work in an office? Please help.

So in everyones opinion then, how many hours per day/per week is good for studying and when is a good time? The only reason I ask is because I have 2 kids (2 year old & 6 week old) and it's hard for me to find time to study. My oldest goes to bed at 8:30pm and my youngest....well we really haven't found her sleeping schedule yet! My husband is here, most of the time, but he is very busy too (farming, working, etc.). I have to constantly watch my toddler because she is always trying to wake the newborn up. Since I will be working 3 days per week, this gives me 2 full days where I would hopefully be able to get some study time in (while the kids are napping). I would say when my toddler goes outside to play I could take the newborn in her car seat and just sit outside and watch my toddler play, but she always wants to go out to the pond or play on the swing set. If that happens, I have to watch her every single second because she'll either want me to push her on the swing or she'll want me to play with her at the pond. Trust me........I have no problem playing with my kids. I just want to make sure I set aside enough time to study. Sometimes if I didn't have enough sleep the night before, I would just crash on the couch while my newborn was out (while I was on maternity leave).

If your ACT scores in math, science, reading, etc. are at a certain level, then yes you can be put on the waiting list. If they are lower, then you have to take some beginning courses for these to get your education up to their standards for the RN program. Then once you get on the waiting list, if you are in like the top so many for GPA, you may be able to get into the actual nursing classes sooner. I don't think that will be a problem for me though. I may have passed 6th in high school with a GPA of 3.7 and a 3.8 at my former college, but I do NOT expect to get anything better than a 3.0 since #1. I haven't been in school for 6 years and #2. It's nursing and we all know it is a very tough area!

Oh yeah I have to take statistics. Sorry forgot that one. How do you find time to study with 5 boys? Yeah there is a 2 year waiting list and these classes don't have to be met in order to apply to the nursing program. I may have to take some other courses, depending upon my ACT scores from high school (which was 7 years ago)!

I have not applied yet to my nursing school, but I was wondering how hard the prerequisites are? I have to take English Comp, General Psychology, Sociology, A&P I & II, Microbiology, Growth & Dev. of Child, Adolescent & Adult, Problem Solving for Health Care Prov., Drug Therapy for Health Care Prov., Intermediate Computer Apps & Principles of Nutrition. Are all these classes hard? I'm not real concerned with English Comp. & Intermediate Computer Apps. I think I'll do good in those classes, but how hard are the others? Oh, and by the way, I have 2 kids (2 year old & 6 week old) and planning to work 24 hours per week. I am married and hubby works 3rd shift. Thanks!

I have not applied yet to nursing school, but I have spoken to an advisor about the nursing program. I want some opinions on the actual internship. I will not be in clinicals or the internship for at least 2-3 years because there is a waiting list. My question is how do the internships work? I have a co-worker that is in clinicals/internship last quarter and she told me that here, 1st internship is 6 hours, 2nd internship is 10 hours and then 3rd-6th internships are 12 hours long. What I am wondering is how many of you were on day shift internships? Did any of you have kids and do the internship? Did any of you work a job while taking care of kids and doing the internship? I was told by my co-worker that she has class 2 days per week and one day she is in internship. Now granted I have no clue how she did it because she was only off work 1.5 days per week. So I'm guessing her internship was after class or something. How did you nurses do it? What was your most inspiration in staying in nursing school while you didn't get to see your kids? I'm very concerned if I enroll in nursing school about being this much away from my kids. I don't mind being away while I go to class, but if I have to be away for internship 12 hours and then have class 2 days per week, I'm unsure how I'll do it, unless I quit my job. Luckily I won't need to worry about it for awhile, but now I am starting to worry. Also, how many days a week did you have your internships? So far I know for the 1st-2nd internships here it's 1 day per week. Please give me some insight! Thank you!

I currently have 2 kids (2 year old daughter & 6 week old daughter). I would like to go to nursing school and obtain my associates degree. The waiting list here at my college is 2 years just to get into the clinicals. I plan to work part time (24 hours), take 1-2 courses per quarter and be able to take care of a 2 year old and 6 week old. I cannot get into this program until Fall 2010 so I do have some time to think this over. There are 5 online courses that I can take, so this will help me be able to stay at home and work on my own time. By the time my clinicals roll around, my oldest will be almost 5 and my youngest will be 2 1/2 years old. I thought if I were to go back now and take any classes offered online, then I won't have to be away from my kids. Our clinicals here are not offered in the summertime, so this will also give me summers off or I will be taking 1 class (like A&P or Microbiology). This way I'm only away from the kids 2 days per week. I love my kids. They are my life! But I'm tired of working job after job with no advancement opportunities and no place to go! All I have is a high school diploma. My passion is to work labor & delivery and only work part time.

I am in the same boat as you. I am 25 years old, going back to work part time (about 24 hours per week) and I have 2 kids (2 years old & 6 weeks old). I am meeting with my advisor today to discuss if this is even possible. The good thing is that I cannot actually get into clinicals until Winter 2012 so I am able to go through my general education courses for 2 1/2 years before getting into the really hard stuff. Over here at my nursing school, it takes 2 years alone just to get your nursing courses in and another 2 to get your general education courses. So the 2 year associates degree winds up to be 4-5 years to complete. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you are able to do this.