The Student Mommy

When I had my first daughter almost 5 years ago (Yikes! How did that happen?!?) I thought I only had 18 credits left to get my English degree. But, at some point during the pregnancy and labor I realized I needed to be a nurse. And thus, became my journey as a student mommy. So I finished up my last 18 credits while doing my pre-requisites for nursing. I got pregnant again and graduated with my Bachelors degree and kept working towards nursing school. The day before I had my second baby I found out I got accepted into nursing school and would be starting in less then 5 weeks. Needless to say, 2 kids and 5 years later I think I am the schooling mommy professional. Here are a few tips I learned along the way....



1- Early bedtime. Seriously. But not you, your kids. I did most all my homework once my kids were asleep. If I tried when they were awake we would all just end up frustrated. But, this did mean that there were many nights I only got 3-4 hours of sleep. Hence, where the early bedtime comes into play. The earlier they sleep, the earlier you sleep.

2- Try to incorporate a break between classes. My kids went to a baby sitter or daycare while I was in school. I felt less guilty having a built in study break while I already had someone watching my kids then trying to get my classes done as fast as possible to pick up my kids then trying to figure out someone to watch them while I took a test or some last minute thing I didn't do while they were in bed the other night.

3-Breath. You will be done with school before you know it. And it will be one of your greatest accomplishments.

4-Involve your kids in what you are doing. I tried to show my daughter that school is important, and hopefully when she is older she will feel the same way. I love learning.

5-Reward yourself. After midterms were over, I took a break one night and instead of studying while they were sleeping I would take a nice long bath. DO THIS! I'm not kidding. It helped me rewind and have a stellar rest of the semester.

6-Tell your husband you love him every night. There were times I was ridiculously stressed and I tended to take it out on my sweet husband, unfortunately--especially since he picked up all my slack around the house. I could not have done it without such a supporting husband, and family.

7-Go to graduation and take lots of pictures. Graduating nursing school was one of the best days of my life.

There you go, school in 7 simple steps. ...If only it was so simple. Remember, you can do it!!

~Alicia RN :)