When are you going to start working?

As most of you (if I know you in "real life") know, I recently became a registered nurse! Go me!

The plan was to try to get a job while pregnant and just take a normal maternity leave. Lauren having Down syndrome never changed that plan. The gamechanger was her heart. The doctors and social workers at the hospital said we should anticipate a 1-2 week hospital stay and that parents take off anywhere from 4-12 weeks from work after their baby has open heart surgery.

I didn't feel that it was realistic or professional to expect an employer to give a brand new employee 8 weeks off after a C section plus anywhere from 1 to 3 months off for her surgery. If Lauren has her surgery at 4 months old I would have only been at work for 2 months before needing this time off. I feel like the responsible thing as a possible employee would be to be up front about this information and the time I would need off. Lauren will be here in 11 weeks or less (yay!) so the chances of me even finding a job would be slim right now anyways.

So believe me, I plan on working. I worked my butt off for the last few years to earn my nursing degree, pass the state boards and become a registered nurse. I really enjoy the field of nursing, it's what I was meant to do. I am very exciting to start working! But it will have to wait until after Lauren has her surgery.

To be honest I am REALLY enjoying my time home! I started the nursing program I completed when Ryan was only 5 months old. I graduated when he was 20 months old. I love getting to spend so much time with him right now, especially since he won't have my undivided attention for very long! Being a stay at home mom certainly doesn't pay very well, but it is so much more FUN than I expected. I get the feeling that returning to the working world will be very bittersweet.