Meagan

I am a brand new mommy with a little girl that is just coming up on 4 months old. We didn't do well with breastfeeding (that's a whole long story), and I think that partly ruined our opportunity to bond since it was more of a crying fest for her and a task of endless frustration for me. When she was only three and a half weeks old, I ended up needing to go back to work for financial reasons. My husband is SO close to getting his bachelor's degree that I didn't want to ask him to quit school so I could stay home with the baby. He is not a slacker by any means so don't even think about going into that - that is not the point of this. It was a decision that I made of my own accord, and I TOLD him to keep going to school; he did not have a choice.

However, due to the fact that until she was 3 /12 weeks old we were having nothing but trouble, and the fact that I began working a full time shift, I wasn't ever really around. I played with her and did my best whenever I was home from work, but as time went on things only got worse. Now, it is getting to the point where I can't even hold my own little girl without her actually crying and reaching out for her daddy. I've never gotten mad at her, and I've never done anything that could have scared her, but it's almost like despite the fact that I was the one that carried her for 41 weeks (longer if we would have let her), she doesn't even know who I am. I've done nothing but shower her with love, my attention, and as much of my time as I could give. I've even dropped down from full time work to part time instead despite the financial difficulty so I could spend more time with my baby.

Now, I feel like somewhere along the road I made a mistake. I don't know if I did anything wrong. This baby was not planned, she was a total surprise that has changed our lives for the better, and I've always thought that I would never have children because I would make a horrible mother. Despite my best efforts to take care of my baby and provide for her, she wants nothing to do with me.

Does my baby just not love me, or is she scared of me because she doesn't know who I am anymore? Was there something I did wrong along the way?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to get a little insight as to what my options are, or what I can do in school, while I'm on the waiting list for the actual degree program I'm enrolled in. All of the sources I've looked at only have information for what to do if you apply for admission to the college itself, not a program, and you're put on a waiting list before you can even start classes.

My situation is this:

I'm working on my Nursing degree.

I've been accepted into the college.

I've taken all of the prerequisites courses and have been accepted into the program of my choice.

I am now on a one and a half year waiting list before I can begin taking classes for my program.

There are NO electives or other general college requirements left for me to do (these had to be completed before being accepted into the program).

The program already has a minor built into it, so I can't work on a minor either.

So what do I do? Do I just sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for a year and a half before I go back to school? The job market is seriously fubar where I'm located, so even though I'm admitted and accepted into the college with a degree in progress, the fact that I haven't finished will prevent even fast food employers to escort me out the doors. That means trying to re-enter the job market after being in school for so long is very improbable right now. Not impossible, just highly unlikely.

I suppose another option is to just stay in school wasting my time and money going after a certificate program that I won't necessarily get to use. A certificate program that I'm looking at is the Medical Coder and Billing Specialist Certificate, which takes a year and a half to complete. By the time I finish the certificate, I'll be back in the saddle for my Nursing degree, which has classes that are ten credits all on their own since they integrate clinical work and experience in them. Because I'll actually be gaining experience in a clinical setting for my degree, I won't actually have any time available for even a part time job as a Coder, which makes the certificate a moot point.

Despite the fact that the certificate might not even be used, would it still be worthwhile to work towards it while waiting to finish my degree? Or are there other options that I haven't seen yet that might be a better alternative?

Special Note: I need some source of income, whether it is from my scholarships and grants (which I can only receive while taking classes), or some form of work, because I have my baby to support and bills to pay after all.