Stay-at-home vs. Nanny vs. Daycare vs. Oh my!

There are just so many decisions that need to be made quickly before my 12 weeks of maternity leave are up! Before I was ever pregnant and Bobby and I would talk about having kids I would always say I wanted to stay-at-home. However, Bobby always vetoed that and said I needed to go back to work. Although we really have nothing against daycare, staying at home always felt like such a luxury.

Well, now that Natalie is here and the decisions need to be made, we are having a really hard time with it all! I do have a very flexible job in that I can make my own schedule, but at the same time I have an unpredictable schedule since I deal with patients and never really know what my caseload is going to be like. I am scheduled to go back to work May 16th, so even though that seems far away, I know it is quickly approaching.

Option 1: Daycare

Bobby and I have talked about daycare, and I had even called a few while I was pregnant (really only called 2). The first I called is where Bobby works, and even with the employee discount it is crazy expensive! Plus, they told me back in probably November that I would probably be on their waiting list until sometime in the Fall. Well, even though I had heard good things about their daycare, I thought waiting almost a whole year from the time I called was unreasonable. So, I called one of the local churches that people in town give rave reviews and they were a little more reasonable in price, plus at the time were expanding their nursery side of things and would more than likely have openings available in May when I would need it. However, I never put my name on the list because we were still "shopping around."

With not being from around here, it is definitely hard to find a place to entrust the care of your newborn! We mostly have to go by word of mouth from friends/co-workers in regard to this matter. A friend from church had given us the name of a local in-home daycare not far from our house at all, while I had heard several great things about this place from co-workers as well. So, I called last week to get pricing and availability, in which she said there probably wouldn't be openings until June or mid-
August. Talking to the woman on the phone, I really felt comfortable talking with her on the phone and her program sounded great, but it didn't really help me right now. I did put my name on the waiting list though, just hoping that maybe things would fall into place the way they need to.

Option 2: Nanny (aka Auntie Amanda)

Our next option for the summer anyway would be for my sister, who is a teacher, to be our in-home "nanny" for 2-3 days a week. The only problem I foresee with this situation is that she is planning her wedding for this July and I really don't want any drama that goes along with the stress of all that! Also, our house is not conducive size-wise to really house another person comfortably (we would really need to do some rearranging). It would be absolutely fantastic to have a family member take care of her a little longer before we would need to put her in daycare! However, we would still have the problem with the couple weeks between May 16th and the end of my sister's school year that we would need to figure out something.

Option 3: Stay-at-home (at least mostly)

Another option is for me to stay home altogether for the least amount of time of 6 months and the most 1 year. Although financially it is doable, Bobby feels more comfortable if we had slightly more income than his coming in, which I agree would be a nice cushion, but then again I think the welfare of Natalie is more important than finances at this point. Bobby would feel more comfortable if I saw some patients after he got home from work and then on occasional Saturdays when we are in town or don't have plans. However, I don't really like this idea only because I wouldn't probably be able to see many patients after he got off work at 5 due to most patients not liking to be seen later in the evening (maximum of maybe 2 patients a night) and Saturdays are so inconsistent with us being in town that I don't see that happening much either.

Ideally, what I would like is to stay at home with Natalie until she is a year old, and have my sister come down this summer to help out so I could work a little bit longer just to have that extra income and then cut back to only doing PRN in the evenings after Bobby gets home from work (or really not having to do that at all!) We really need to come to a decision soon so that I can work things out with my work, as well as set-up the appropriate care for Natalie! It's so confusing with all these different options and opinions of Bobby and I.

Bobby has been the one lately to bring up me staying at home with Natalie, so I think he really sees the benefit (while she is so young) for her. Maybe if I start making him fantastic dinners and have the house spic and span, he will want me to stay at home indefinitely :) I can dream, right?! In all seriousness, it has really surprised me that Bobby has been the one bringing these conversations up and makes me happy!

I just pray that God sends me some direction/guidance to follow in making this big decision!