Bruth

You sound at your wit's end, and exhausted to boot. This is not a good combination for decision making that will affect your future and that of your young son. However, I agree with the posting about looking for a job where you work weekend nights, (which would mean your mom would sleep through part of the 'shift' of caring for her grandson, thus lessening the burden on her) and if you could get child care during the day so you could sleep on the weekend days, you could have the weekdays to do your schooling and paper writing, and still have time to enjoy your son. It might be worth looking into. I know some hosopitals are desperate for full time night weekend staff and will promise almost anything to get you to sign on the dotted line, to sign up and save their butts. Nights are usually not as crazy as day shifts either, in my experience, and while you are schooling yourself to be a NP, you could be earing premuim dollars, and not burdening your mom too much either. Might be a win/win situation.

Personally, I would ask for the ability to know what was going to happen to each of my clients, in the immediate future whilel they were under my care. That way I could be pro-active, in caring for each client. If one was going to go into V. tach, for example, I could carry a syringe of Lidocaine in my pocket, ready to inject IV. Not knowing what is going on in another room has always been a concern of mine, as I have wondered if spending a lot of time with an emotional client was harming indirectly another client in another room. Strangely enough, I have had dreams in which I have had precog 'glimpses' of what my next shift will hold, and have at times spooked my colleagues by telling them that I had dreamt that at 1046 hrs my client in room five would arrest, and need two defibs to bring him back, and then it would take place just as I had said. But I want more of that ability. Guess I am not satisfied with what I already have!

After working only two years, and then taking a year off work, you may well be considered unemployable unless you take a refresher course. Two years is not a long time to learn on the job skills, and then to take the year off, while certainly appealing, would make a future employer question how current your knowledge was. You might want to consider a travelling nurse position, and travel as you work, taking some vacation time every now and then to see the area in which you are working. But, if you want a longterm career in nursing, taking a year off already, is not what I would personally advise you do to.