how to be a stay at home mom and an RN

stephljudy · Sep 7, 2011

Congrats on your pg! I have found no opportunities to work from home as a RN, but since you work inpatient, could you look at a per diem opportunity? This way you could work a flexible schedule and spend as much time as possible with your little one?

MandaRN94 · Sep 10, 2011

Look into telephone triage from home.

westieluv · Sep 11, 2011

I used to do telephone triage from home for the hospice that I worked for. It's true, you are at home, but it keeps you very busy and you have to focus on what you are doing. It is not something that you can do while soothing a crying baby or playing with your toddler, it requires your full attention. If you have someone else at home while you are doing your triage job in case the baby needs something while you are fielding phone calls, then great. If not, it would probably be very stressful. I also did on-call hospice visits for that company, but when I applied for a different position with another company that would have been only telephone triage work from home, I was told that I would be handling calls for five different hospices across the country. Had I accepted that position, I would have been on the phone non-stop for my entire shift, and no way would I have had time for a baby or anything else other than handling the calls. Telephone triage isn't what a lot of people think it is, you are really busy!

What about, as a pp mentioned, going per diem at your job so that you can work the opposite shift of your husband and only when you want to, if the RN coding thing doesn't pan out? That's what we did when our son was born several years ago and it worked out great. I think that with any kind of nursing, since you are dealing with other people's lives, it is critical to have as few distractions as possible while you are working. Doing something like triage without being able to give it your full attention could have disastrous results. The advice you give can literally mean life or death for someone.

MandaRN94 · Sep 11, 2011

I agree I do telephone triage and yes it is a busy job! But really- what nursing job could you do from home AND take care of a baby-probably none. Unless you want to take a nanny job, any nursing job from home would require your full attention.

westieluv · Sep 11, 2011

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you were saying that triage isn't a busy job, it's just that I have seen so many posts on these forums by nurses who have never done triage and just assume that triage nurses just sit around and eat ice cream and watch TV and get paid for it. I have actually seen posts where nurses ask how they can get a triage job so that they "don't have to work" and can "sit around in my pjs and get paid for it", and, not knowing your background, I had no way of knowing if you were one of those nurses or not. Again, I'm sorry. Since you work triage, you know how hairy it can get and how important of a job it is. If the triage nurse gives the wrong advice or instruction...well, you know what can happen.

No hard feelings, I hope! :nurse:

ETA: I agree with you, there really is no nursing job that someone could do from home where they could give their baby their undivided attention. If it is something like coding, data entry, or transcription, they have to be on the computer for hours, so really, unless your baby sleeps a lot, it would be quite difficult for a nurse to work from home without some back up help there. I know that when our kids were little, I could never have been on the phone or computer for long. Kids keep you busy!

Jenytom · Sep 11, 2011

Hi! What ever you decide, make sure you continue to work, otherwise it is hard to get re-hired! I worked as a nurse full time for 6 years following graduation. My first son was born at year #4 and when my second son was born (year #6) I decided to stay home with them full time. Now 3 years have whizzed by and I am ready to be working again but cannot get anyone to interview even give me an interview because I have no "current experience". It has been SO frustrating! I LOVED getting to stay home with my boys! The breastfeeding experience was SO much easier and I didn't have to worry about days they were sick (daycares will not allow them to go) or my nanny not showing up to work (she has a headache) plus we attended swim together, play dates...it was AWESOME to have had the opportunity to be their biggest influence. That being said, I feel like the hard work I put into getting my BSN has been lost! Nursing recruiters have suggested volunteering (can't afford childcare for two on NO salary) or going back to entry level med-surg. I feel I "paid my dues" working nights and med surg the first year just to get to maternal child and now that I took 3 years to raise my family I am dis-hearted to start over...I just don't have the desire to do that again! Family is important, it should be your priority:) Good Luck!

westieluv · Sep 11, 2011

Even getting back into night shift Med/Surg is difficult without "current experience", as I discovered when I tried to go back to inpatient hospital nursing after taking seven years off to stay home with our kids, even though I had over ten years of solid, inpatient Med/Surg hospital experience under my belt. None of the hospitals in my area would even consider someone without "current experience", for Med/Surg or anything else. I ended up getting hired by a hospice company which was a FANTASTIC experience and taught me a ton about life. I consider not being able to get back into hospital nursing right away as one of my greatest blessings in life, even though, at the time, it was very frustrating. I couldn't get enough hours at the hospice, so I went from there to LTC (never again!!!) and then got hired this past June by a local hospital that valued my previous Med/Surg experience. Funny though, while I thought all along that I wanted nothing more than to get back into hospital nursing, I have an interview tomorrow to transfer to the hospital's hospice department. By taking what I thought was an unwanted detour in my career, I actually discovered my true calling.

Well, anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread and take it this OT. OP, good luck with whatever you end up doing. It is commendable that you want to be a stay at home mom. Kids grow up way too fast, and you can never get those years back. I worked a couple of 11p-7a shifts a week when our son was a baby, and he never even knew I was gone. :)

JenniferSews · Sep 11, 2011

I have a friend that works from home. She has her masters in education and does her job as a company educator from home. But she still pays for daycare and her kids go every day because she really can't work from home with them there. So probably not what you are looking for.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

I know it is hard wanting to both work and be with your child(ren). I try to find a balance. I take one year off after each kid. JUST one year. No more. More than that, and you won't be considered to have recent experience. A year won't hurt. I am really not ready to put kids in daycare or anything like that at one year old, though. So I go back per-diem, and work around my husbands schedule. I do something like an overnight here or there, every other weekend, holidays (I really don't mind working a nightshift on thanksgiving or similar! You just have to not sleep those days) or whenever he isn't working. I work very minimal after returning. It is kind of difficult b/c it cuts into family time and it is hard to take an extended vacation with your family, but to me, that is a small price to pay. I like to have either myself or my husband caring for our children only, so it works best for us. That way, you are an employee, you are current, and employed. It goes on your resume. I have not had a problem doing this, and I have been doing this since 2005 when I delivered my first. I now have 3 kids (youngest is 9 months) and will be going back very part time in January. I plan on going back just half shifts, so that I can continue to breastfeed for as long as he likes without having to worry about pumping at work. For just 4 hours he can have table food and water and not mess with breastfeeding at all. It is so hard to balance working and parenting. Something WILL suffer, you just have to decide what is important to you. Everyone is different and there is no shame in whatever you choose to do. It can also take a toll on your marriage (tag team parenting/working) if you don't talk about clear expectations about division of childcare and house hold duties.

I think working triage from home sounds nice, however, I would get a nanny. That way you can breastfeed whenever needed and the nanny can take them back when you are done. (yes, you can breastfeed while on the phone, while typing, etc. get a boppy pillow!) You will know what is going on and everything, but not have to be responsible for keeping them safe and happy. That would be the only way I would consider doing an at home job.