Grown up job!

I made a life changing decision last month.  A decision that affected our little family.  I was offered an amazing opportunity to be a nurse on a labor and delivery floor.  You don't get this opportunity in my field very much,  so yes I jumped on it.  Toughest decision I have had to make since having children.

I have been a part of both perspectives: the stay at home mom and the working mom.  Both of them are extremely hard jobs.  No one has any right saying the stay at home moms have it easier.  That is not true, advice to those of you who say this: do it and then make a comment.  Vice versa: if you are a stay at home mom and are making comments, go to work for a week and tell me how easy it is then.  Both perspectives are tough, it is tough raising children.  It is enjoyable and rewarding, but it is hard work no matter what you do.

We never planned for me to go back to work til our children were all in school.  So it was toughest on my husband.  He understands why I needed to do this and supports me, but I know he is worried about me!

I didn't want to go back and be stuck in an area that I don't want to work in.  I don't do well with change, so if I took a job in the area I didn't want, I wouldn't change and would probably stay there forever.  I have been watching the postings for the past three years.  They are hard to come by in the two areas that I wanted to work in.  Back in November, there was a posting.  I applied just to get an interview and practice.  Well in the end I fell in love with it and accepted the position.

Everyone was questioning my decision from my family, husband, friends, and even my new manager.  When I started my orientation, everyone asked why I went back to work, instead of staying home.  They all looked at me liked I was crazy.  I started second guessing my decision, was I being selfish?  Was it wrong of me to place my kids in someone's else's care instead of mine?

I am not selfish at all.  I have never done anything for me.  I have always done everything for everyone else.  I knew the girls needed to socialize more.  It was just us three, they didn't really play with other kids, no one has ever been the boss of them besides Ian, me, and our parents.

My reasoning for taking this job is:  I wanted to get my foot in the door in this area.  I also wanted to get all my training out of the way.  I want to get a year under my belt so that if we have more kids, I can go PRN.  Where I work PRN is: you only have to work 16 hours a month.  I want to be able to go PRN when the girls start school and/or if we have another child.  This way I am there for them everyday, I can be a classroom mom, I can go on every field trip they take.  If there is a day where there is nothing going on I can work and be done to pick them up from school.  So in the end I am not being selfish, I am doing this so I can continue to be there for them and be involved in their lives!

I will be doing two to three days a week at night.  The girls will go to school from 7-12.  Preschool there is from 9-12 year round.  I have been there for 3 weeks now and love it!  My previous job, I used to want to throw my alarm out the window, I would get so mad when it went off.  I still gave 110% at my previous job, but I was not happy.  With my new job, I wake up before my alarm even goes off.  I am so excited to go to work.  All in all I think I made the right decision for our family!