A Mommy Story

Something I haven’t had the chance to share here (until now) is that starting today, I’ve got a new job. Yeah, I know, I didn’t really mention anything before today, but that was mostly because I wanted to make sure it was a done deal before shouting it to the heavens.

It’s not that I disliked my other job, because the truth is I really do like mother/infant nursing. I was less comfortable with labors, but I think I rocked the mother/infant part of my job. But it was an hour-long drive. And the 12 hour shifts left me feeling drained, so that even on my days off I felt like sleeping all the time.

More importantly, we’re working to get Cordy involved in more activities and social skills classes. Which requires a lot of after-school time. And money. In my old job, I had to leave for work soon after Cordy got off the bus, leaving no time for these extra activities. Aaron would then take over care of the girls in the evening. It’s hard to take Cordy to therapy when Mira doesn’t appreciate being dragged along.

So it was a hard choice, but an opportunity presented itself that I couldn’t refuse. My new position is here in Columbus and is a short drive from my house. It’s eight-hour days. And it pays much better. In all, it provides everything we need at this time. If I’m going to work full-time, then I might as well make sure it’s the perfect fit for me and my family, right?

I’ll also still be working with moms and babies, only in a less hands-on manner. I’m going to be one of several nurses working on a support hotline for new parents, where parents can call or e-mail with any infant feeding questions, be it breastfeeding, formula feeding, or solids. I’ll know more after my first day of orientation today, but so far everything about this new initiative sounds awesome, and I’m hoping it’ll be a huge success.

Sure, I’ll miss the hands-on care I enjoyed in a hospital setting, and I’m planning to find some occasional work on a mother/infant unit to keep my clinical skills from getting too rusty. But I don’t feel bad about this job change – it was necessary for my family and for me, and everything fell into place so quickly that it felt like it was meant to be.

Wish me luck on my first day!