New nurse, newly pregnant

Hey guys!

So I've asked a lot of questions from you seasoned nurses before but now I feel like I'm in an entirely new ballpark.

I am 5 months into my first job on a medical/surgical floor. The plan was to do a year here to get experience and then try to check out different options. But now I just found out I'm due in November and I completely need to reevaluate things.

My questions for you guys are:

1) What kind of jobs are good for new moms? I really really don't want to work full time but I'm not sure how to swing it. Currently I work three 12 hour night shifts. I feel like with this schedule I would not get quality time with my baby.

2) This is probably a super long shot but how likely is it to find RN work from home jobs? I'm thinking I already have one strike against me because I'm a newer nurse...

Thanks everyone :)

"New moms" is a VERY broad category. I work occasionally, per diem, and my husband works full time and provides insurance coverage. I have no idea what your personal circumstances are ...or what your career goals are.

To be realistic, at this point it would be very difficult for you to qualify for a work at home position with your limited experience. These non-traditional positions will be looking for strong clinical acumen and judgement. In addition, the work at home positions would require that you find child care. The work at home positions are very heavily production based and depending on the company they may or may not require occasional onsite work. I would suggest weighing your personal/financial pros and cons before you make your decision.

And I want to point out that 12 hour nights gives you no more/less time with your little one as 12 hour days.

If you are the source of insurance for your family, you need to figure that out now.

Work from home RN positions will likely require more than 1 year of experience. They also would likely require that you work full-time M-F and working remotely isn't a substitute for child care so you could end up with fewer days off with your baby than if you stuck with 3 12s. I have the flexibility to work from home a couple days a week but the other days I'm in the community and one morning a week, I have to go into the office. One of my friends has been working remotely for the last 8 or 9 years and she has a nanny for her 2 little kids because she can't tend to them while working. She also has to travel to NY once/month or so to be in her office.

When I worked in the hospital, most of the new moms worked nights. A lot of them worked part-time Thurs/Fri nights or some weekend option because it limited the days their babies had to go to daycare. Most had spouses who worked M-F so if they worked Th/Fr nights, for example, the baby only had to go to daycare on Friday.

And I want to point out that 12 hour nights gives you no more/less time with your little one as 12 hour days.

If you are the source of insurance for your family, you need to figure that out now.

Just saying, I kinda disagree with this. 12 hr nights means sleeping a bit before shifts and the day after. Unless you can function on little sleep, you'll be sleeping when they're most awake. I'd look for a 12 hr day position honestly. That way you won't have to monkey with your sleep schedule and only miss 3 days with your lo a week.

Another option I like is pms if your husband can watch LO in evenings... you will get to see your little during the waking day for a bit, take them to daytime activities like library reading time, and still sleep normal hours and maybe save on childcare. The only down is you may not see your husband very much if he works banker hours.

Also it is possible that you transfer to a unit that has more regular hours at your current facility? Like the dialysis unit, ambulatory surgery, cath lab? That may work better.

I'll tell you what I did. I did two 16 hour shifts. That made me considered three-quarter time, which gave me full time benefits. I did both nights and days at various points. At one point I did two doubles on the weekends, every weekend, which meant zero child care problems...but limited time with the hubby. I chose that route for a while, when they were truly infants.

When I got sick of that, I would do the 16s during the week and on my mandatory weekends only. Night or day, that meant absolutely no more than 2 days of childcare a week needed. I was able to find a grandmother working in a church nursery to watch my babies on those two days. Until I found her, we paid the part time rate for daycare for the kids for those two days. But part time day care for my facility counted for 3 days, so I could have done the traditional three 12s, day or night. I just preferred to only use child care no more than twice a week.

16s are tough, no getting around it. And I know some places don't allow it. But mine did. I did this for a few years until I put my kids in preschool. Then I reverted to regular nights. I would sleep while the kids were in preschool, then be up with them until daddy got home. I was a bit sleep deprived still, because preschool only lasted until 2 PM, but the trade off was totally worth it for me. When my kids went to traditional school, eventually I transitioned to day shift. But I waited several years because I liked nights.

We absolutely needed my income and my benefits. It worked well for us.

Good luck with your choice.