My Journey Through Nursing School with a Baby

I originally wanted to be a nurse as a child, after realizing I couldn’t become Brittany Spears. My father was and still is a family practice physician. I loved visiting him at his work. Mainly because the nurses paid attention to me. They said all these wonderful things about being a nurse. It also seemed like a lot of fun.

 Later in my life, I had some issues with my mental health and tried to go to school to become a psychologist. I had to go part-time because of said mental health issues and I was planning on going for my masters so it was going to take quite a while to achieve this goal.

With ended up getting pregnant with my daughter. I was unable to continue going to class because I was embarrassed when I almost vomited in front of everyone. Also, I knew it was impractical to continue going to school for years, while not making an income above the minimum wage.

This just wasn’t going to work with a baby on the way. So I had heard about this licensed practical nursing school that you could get licensed in a year. This seemed like a perfect solution. I also could work in mental health as a nurse.

I called the school to see what I had to do to get in. She told me about the 3 references I needed and, learned about writing an essay on why I wanted to be a nurse. She signed me up for a pre-test to getting into school this is called the TEAS. I bought a book to study for it. My main focus was on math because that is where I struggle the most.

I went to the test and I couldn’t find the center, I was 8 months pregnant and I was frazzled. When I finally got there I was practically hyperventilating and they made me sit because I think, they thought I was going to go into labor. They let me into the testing area and I flew through the math portion, I was so proud of myself.

However, when we were told to turn our pages to go to the next section I realized I had missed a whole 2 pages of the math section! I freaked out and asked the teacher what I could do, she told me there was nothing I could do. I felt deflated, I knew I wasn’t going to do well on the test now. There was no way I was going to get in, even if I was perfect for the rest of the test.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter in the mail that said I was not accepted. I was heartbroken, I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I wasn’t surprised. Later that day I got a call from the school, I figured they were calling to tell me I had failed. Much to my surprise, I found out that someone had declined their acceptance and they wanted to know if I wanted to still come to the school. I excitedly accepted and was in the full-time program.

I was able to spend 4 wonderful months with “C”, at the time I was overwhelmed and scared most of the time. However, I would never trade it for anything.

I was very overwhelmed with starting school. Understandably, I was upset that I was leaving my baby, thankfully my mother was able to watch her two days a week and we only had to put her in daycare part-time. I still was unsure of leaving her with a person whom I didn’t really know.

I was a bit of an emotional mess, which culminated with me sobbing in class. It was a hard thing for me to go through, but it was the first time I was really acting like an adult in life. I was 2 years into treatment for my mental health issues and everything I did was new.

I am so glad I had the support of my peers and my friends to be able to stick with it and not just cut and run.

It was not such a difficulty in the beginning because Cadence was only a little baby and didn’t need much entertainment. She wasn’t getting into things walking or crawling. My husband had some difficulty with making her happy, but I think that was just because she was used to how I did things. Later on, when she started getting into things she would grab my papers and want my attention which I couldn’t give to her.

I had to get creative with it. I started studying outside, it was nice scenery and I was out of sight and, out of mind to my daughter. When it was cold or we had inclement weather, I would go to my local library. I could take up a whole table to myself, pop in my earbuds, and study away.

Being in the full-time program meant I was studying almost every night, so these solutions weren’t always possible. So I would have to stay in our bedroom. Or I would wait until she went to bed to study. I usually waited until she went to bed just so I could spend more time with her.

The long and short of it is, you don’t have a social life. I was able to keep up with my therapy and groups that I attended for my mental health. Much else was out of the question, the extra time I had was spent with my husband and daughter. Priorities for me were simple, mental health, school, and family.

I went through a lot to get through this program, but it was the most excellent thing I could’ve ever done for me and my family. I went into it with the mindset that I wasn’t going to give up and I wasn’t going to fail. And I did just that. I graduated in August of 2014 and I earned the title of a nurse.

I was ecstatic, I learned not only nursing but I learned to be a grown-up, an adult. How to get through hard emotions and not give up. I am eternally grateful to the staff and the experience I had at my nursing school. If you would like to check it out here’s the link http://lpn.csiu.org/.

If you like this content, check out my other posts about nursing!