Thursday, July 8, 2010

to work, or not to work?

The news of having a baby has opened a great deal of questions and issues in my life. First of which is WORK... What is a mom to do? I currently work 40 hours a week. It is hard. I miss my kids. I think they sometimes miss me too, especially Drayden, for some reason we just have a special bond that way. But most of the time they are off playing with friends, or going to school, and could really care less whether I am sitting at home or at work. However, a baby... now that seems to me that is should be a different story. I have always had the privilege of staying at home with my babies. I didn't have to go to work until Chantel was almost 3. The cons of having a job are: I have to be gone alot. I have to hire someone else to raise my baby. Breast feeding will be much harder. I will miss out on so much, and I worry that I will not have the same kind of bond with this baby as I have with my other children. We would have to make alot of financial changes. We would no longer have health insurance. The Pros of having a job are: I can afford everything I need very easily. I have AMAZING health insurance for CHEAP, I get that "me" time away from the kids.I have an excellent job with paid vacations and holidays. In my mind the cons are outweighing the pros... but the insurance thing is probably the biggest reason I am having a hard time with the prospect of quitting. It was because we didn't have health insurance that I was forced to go to work in the first place. my Emergency Gall Bladder surgery, $20,000, Drayden's broken arm $7000 Drayden's teeth, $2500, various instacare visits, $1000... that adds up folks, and well collection agencies are fairly ruthless when it comes to sucking that money out of you. We are now down to about $3000 in medical debt, so we have come a long way in just a few short years, but I don't really want to go back to having no medical insurance... it is just too scary! Insurance through my husbands job would cost us $600 a month, and if I wasn't working there would be NO WAY we could afford that. I currently pay only $150 a month through my work. While it is a personal decision, I would like as many opinions as possible because I am at a total loss!!