I kept postponing motherhood until it cornered me 3 years back. I can't quite point out what I was afraid of but it’s something between the labor ward hyperventilation process and my job. I was at 2-weeks’ gestation age and kept it to myself for some reason I felt like sharing my new big news would just pop the baby out of me. Before I got the courage to tell my husband I had 8 toilet runs for "indigestion" as I called it or just the excuse I gave my best friend and workmate Lenah after almost spraying a patient with my " indigestion contents" the morning before; but it was not my fault, she started it: the poor lady decided to rapture a jet of foul smelling amniotic fluid to my face and the next thing I know was me in the washroom with the Blood pressure cuff on one hand and a nursing chart on the other spitting my intestines out. I know Lenah had diagnosed me already but I still told a red lie not that I'm proud of it but this reflects just how big of a move motherhood is to most of us.
Passion and love are almost synonymous in romantic movies ironically I assign the terms to my current two Careers - Nursing and Motherhood, or should I say the Guinness record world hardest careers. Now if you're a journalist or something close to that and you're thinking of asking me "How do you do it?" I guess I'll just stand tall and confess with a sleep-deprived flat face "It's not rocket science!" Cliché, well I know... How hard can it be balancing the two? I answer to two bosses. My second boss takes 75% of my time and relies solely on primitive reflexes and gas to make facial expressions. During the first month, I got literally torn between breastfeeding and formula!
Don’t ask me what I chose because whatever theories you want to rant about the advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding don't fit perfectly in the real world. For some reason oxytocin is discriminating based on careers and while you succeed in advising the patient's on breastfeeding you come back home to a dry milk pump and your advice to them come echoing to you at that moment in the most taunting ridiculous voice.
Health - related careers never go easy on aspiring moms and I am one of them. Before getting there we pass through it all psychologically the theory of creating a life, first- hand encounter with labor process and mark you all types of them. You work in neonatal unit and fall in love then you go to labor ward and curse childbearing after a close brush with breech, cord prolapse and dystocia. Perhaps the meanest thing nursing throw at us is the glimpse of what motherhood comes with when we haven't even signed for it yet!
Above all evil things you want to pin on nursing for your perception of "miserable motherhood" withdraw them all because among other things nursing prepares you for motherhood both psychologically and emotionally. Take it from a colleague who did it twice motherhood is beautiful and a lifetime job just like nursing. It opens your eyes to so much good and makes you a better nurse.
Here are some points to consider before joining the club.
1. Drop the guilty feelings.
Nursing and motherhood is an adventure. It gives you time to care about someone other than yourself. Take pride in it because against all odds no one in the world is suited to be a better mom than you. You're job description typically involves making better mothers so get a chance to be one yourself.
2. Workout a suitable schedule with your employer.
Align your shifts with HR to fit your family needs. This can be a whole year plan of met working hours in the first and second trimester to colleague collaborations where you switch duties with a friend. Create a clear line between family time and work.
3. Get all the help you can get.
You're blessed with families and a great network of friends from work and all kinds of social platforms include them in your new role. Your spouse, house help... in the simplest terms view every person in your life as an extra hour of sleep, how many of those hours can you kill for? I mean even without babies.
4. Create a childcare plan as a transition process for getting back to work.
A reliable childcare provider you can trust and have them come a month before resuming work to get them acquainted with your baby's clock and your routine.
5. Generate a family calendar
Essential tool for the busiest person of them all mom! This system for managing motherhood: calendar pages to keep track of family members' schedules, directory pages to locate everyone from the kindergarten teacher to the carpet cleaner, and planning pages for birthday parties or the family vacation. Helpful sticky notes and tear-out lists make it easy to stay organized
6. Take care of yourself.
You're precious and a selfless person who requires time for yourself it doesn't hurt to get some.