Slowly getting used to night shift, Ambien and other issues...

[estrogen]

I've started working nights about a month ago.... reason being - one pre schooler, one infant, daycare too expensive. (If it took almost my entire pay check, why bother working and making the kids go through that?) I'm slowly getting used to it, meaning I'm slowly seeing myself to pull out of the Walking -Zombie - Phase. But i can't do it without Ambien. I know... I know... bad, huh? But I just really can't help it. Without it, I couldn't sleep at all during the day, no matter how tired I was. After trying really really hard,taking all the right steps (blackout curtains, fan for white noise, warm bath etc.) and about a week, of practically no sleep, near psychosis, I caved in and decided to just take the darn thing on a regular basis, on the days before I have to go to work. On my days off, I seem to be able to easily switch to "normal" night sleep and do not need the Ambien. I'm sleaping great ever since, five to seven hours per afternoon... Anyone else in the same boat? How long can I use the Ambien, without it loosing it's effectiveness? Does it even tend to do that? And will my Doc likely rewrite my prescription indefinately? I could definately use some opinions / advice...

Secondly, being a fairly new nurse (two years) I got to work on all three shift over the last two years (bussy med-surg floor). On our unit, I found the most pleasant nurses on evening shift - they were kind, sweet, kind of relaxed, funny, we made a good team and we definately had some fun (even though we're allways super bussy, no matter what shift we work). Day shift nurses were too stressed, therefore too cranky and kind of up-tight and I find now, that our night shift nurses are huge sticklers... Eventhough I got great praise from all the shifts and from management, calling me one of the best LPN's in the hospital and I definitely can do my job (which I'm sorry, but at our hosp. is with two or three exceptions to meds, EXACTLY the same as the RN's job including IV pushes, central lines etc.) correctly quite independently, without constant supervision, they kind of keep riding my a** (xcuse, my language) about tiny little details, and each one has a completely different opinion as to how things should be done... I figure it's because sometimes there is a little more time on their hands afterall....???