I work at a level 1 trauma center hospital and I absolutely LOVE my job. Anyone who knows me has heard me say what a blessing this job has been in my life. And almost 2.5 years later, I still VERY MUCH feel that way… this job has been a huge blessing in so many ways. It checks so many boxes that are very important to me and I continue to feel that way.
And here comes the but: one of the hardest aspects of the job as a single mom is the hours. I basically have no other choice than to hire a nanny/sitter for the hours I work that are not included in any daycare center and most definitely not schools. Overall, I’ve had great luck with meeting some amazing young women who have helped me more than I can describe. Some of these young women are basically family to us ❤️ Maddie’s very first nanny who started to help us when I first started paramedic school when Maddie was 2 is still watching her! We keep in touch with her older sister who helped us out for years before she moved to Orlando. One of her current nannies is also from NY and we pretty much instantly bonded and seem to always be on the same page 😊. I am super grateful for these awesome relationships we have with some wonderful people outside our family and our lives are definitely better with these ladies around.
There are SO many times when life happens to those who help me with Maddie which typically ends up in a landslide of stress on me. I try to pick up the pieces and figure out how to work my normal schedule and not ask anything more of my coworkers because it’s always my goal to be a symbiotic coworker who people generally enjoy working with 🤷♀️ (I really disdain the days I can’t do both: be a good work partner and a good mom).
This morning I received word that Maddie’s current nanny is going to be unavailable for at least a week for medical reasons 😔 I’m 1000% concerned with her well-being before anything and she knows I’m a paramedic and she can tell me whatever is going on with her if she chooses to.
And so now I have a new stress bomb in my face.
I reached out to our second nanny immediately, and unfortunately she just had too much going on to commit to us. This happens when I only need limited hours during the week: it usually means anyone who helps us has a second gig, and I get why!
So now it’s time to pay the fee to use care.com again and/or post on Facebook in the nanny groups and take my chances.
All of this is happening while I’m in the process of having a new home built for Maddie and I- which was delayed AGAIN until the end of September… She is due to start kindergarten August 10, her father is deployed (but also hasn’t lived locally since January of 2019 bc he was stationed in California).
I’m also mulling over what to do about kindergarten starting… my original plan was to have her start in her new school when we moved in because the original projected date was June/July. That didn’t happen, but I was hopeful for July/August, and I still was willing to register her at her new school and commute for a couple of weeks until closing. Last week the closing was estimated for the end of September, so that changed everything for us. I had to beg for an extension on my lease at my apartment and pay far more than the place is worth, and figure out what to do about Maddie and school.
I ultimately decided that homeschooling for a couple of months is the best option for us at the moment and I’ve reached out to both counties to see which she should be registered in.
Add onto all this the fact that my ex served me paperwork to try to have Maddie 50/50 for custody the day before he deployed (in April) and has tried to have his child support reduced while out to sea (so add in the cost to retain a lawyer).
It can all become pretty overwhelming, pretty quickly, even after you’ve endured so much.
Any other parents have anything similar to share?
Once Upon a Lifetime 