A Mommy Story

It seems that, amid all the stress we’ve been going through lately (which is another post entirely, and will be coming, I promise), there is still good to be found. Not only am I now in the ranks of paid bloggers, but I also just found out that this fall I will be starting nursing school.

This has been in the works for over a year, and some of you may remember when I first started out on this journey. I’ve slowly been taking classes here and there, working on the prerequisites needed to even apply for the program. I finished those prerequisites this past fall, just in time to meet the deadline for applications to the online nursing program.

My local college offers an online program for those who already have a bachelor’s degree in something else, and are seeking a career change. All of the lecture is done online, and then labs and clinicals are scheduled for one day a week. The beauty of this is that it means I can still go to school without having to juggle crazy babysitting schedules, and without quitting my current job. I can find time in my schedule to commit to one day a week.

Getting into the program wasn’t a sure thing. They only offer admission to the program once a year, and there are roughly 50 spots available, when generally about 150-200 people apply. The three biggest factors for snagging a spot are your grades from your prerequisite classes, your grades from your first degree, and your scores on the Nurse Entrance Test. After that, there is also an essay that is considered as well. Luckily, I graduated with honors for my first degree, received nearly all A’s for my prerequisites (that damn Organic Chemistry class ended in a B), and scored high on the NET. Yet even with that, I still worried I might not get in.

The acceptance letter was such a welcome sight to see. Yes, I love writing and blogging, and will likely never give those up, but at the moment I can’t make a full living from them. And while my job as a student advisor is a personally rewarding job, it’s not that rewarding financially. I enjoy helping people, I enjoy making a difference, and nursing will give me the ability to do those things, all the while probably making more money part-time than any full-time job I’ve ever had paid.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not going into it just for the money. My mom is a medical technologist, and I grew up hanging out at the local hospital, so I know how hard nurses work. After having Cordy, I also came to admire the work of the nurses on the OB floors. But the money is a factor I must consider when it comes to providing for our family. Aaron wants to go back to school, also, and once I get through nursing school, he will have that opportunity.

We’ve already been discussing the possibility of me quitting my job in the fall, too. Writing three blogs (and looking for more to write), going to school part-time, raising two children, and working part-time outside the home may just be too much for me. The biggest time drain, with the least amount of myself invested, for all of those would be my job. If Aaron gets a raise (which he’s already due for, if they would ever complete his review), if we pay down our debt, and if I continue to find writing work, it is possible that I could quit. It’s certainly a goal worth aiming for.

So, what does all of this mean to you? Depending on how things go, it could mean a few things. First, I won’t be giving up blogging, as this is my one true outlet to turn to when I need to relax. It could mean that I’ll have a whole bunch of new school stories to share in the future (only the funny ones, of course). If the stories are boring, it could mean nothing – the status quo as I continue to do what I’m doing now. Or it could mean you’ll get an interesting glimpse of someone breaking down from too much stress, as all of the hats I’m juggling turn to stone and crash down on me. Let’s hope for one of the first two, shall we?