So that whole working thing was short lived. Yeah, that's what I'm saying - it's over. A total of three weeks, a new record. What happened was this:
A few weeks ago, as I was changing a child's diaper, I got kicked in the belly. He was about 18 months old but a really hefty boy and yes, it hurt. When I went to change the next child's diaper, I felt a strong pulling/tearing sensation in my stomach. "What is going on in there?!"
So, I headed to the director and was sent straight over the the Naval Hospital to make sure everything was still A-OK. The Labor and Delivery ward (in addition to the actual place you deliver, L&D is basically like the pregnant woman's E.R. after 20 weeks) cleared me, assured me that baby was fine and placenta was still attached, and that I might be a little sore. I actually didn't freak over this situation because I kind of figured it was an 'outside' thing... as long it's nothing with the baby - who cares?
Since that time, I've felt a pull in the same spot every once in a while when I move certain ways. I mentioned this whole scenario to my doctor when I went to see her at my 28 week checkup last week and she says it sounds like I indeed pulled a round ligament, and that muscles and ligaments are much harder to repair while pregnant, especially belly ones that are continuing to stretch the most in these final months. She also advised that I lift no more than 20 lbs.
When I left for the doctor from work the few weeks ago when the incident happened, the director of the center informed me that I should let them know ASAP if I have any restrictions because it would be difficult to work with lifting limitations. So, naturally I called her right after the doctor's appointment to let her know what was up. I assumed they'd be a little put-off and we'd figure out a way to make sure I followed doc's orders and still worked in the facility. However, she advised that I just "Put in my letter of resignation."
I was both half upset and half relieved. Work had been really wearing me out. The tiredness from the first trimester is beginning to rear its ugly head again, along with catching a cold (which is typical when you begin work in a daycare center) and other work stressors I had been facing. Ok, I'll just quit then, I figured.
But then I got thinking about it - they can't make me quit. They can't fire me because I have a medical limitation - they already hired me. And then I realized, this is basically discrimination. I went in on Monday with a resignation letter prepared as well as an "argument" to keep my job. I was determined to discuss the situation with them and see if there was any way around it - Could I be placed in a different room? In a room with younger (smaller) babies, or older (not needing to be changed) kids? Could I just be on call-in basis like a sub? All of these were shot down by the directors. They were nice and cordial the whole time, but were unwilling to work with me. "There is no other work we can provide which will guarantee that you won't lift 20 or greater pounds" was basically their argument. Re-apply in February after the baby gets here and you can "have your job back."
I was slightly taken aback but I handed over my letter of resignation - fully understanding what would happen if I did - There'd be no fighting it. My letter is my own choice, it is solid evidence that I chose to leave my job and I can no longer go to HR or to a lawyer and yell discrimination, now that the letter is handed in.
But I did one thing that I rarely ever do in my lifetime - I decided not to fight it. What was it worth? All the signs were pointing to the fact that right now isn't the time for me to work. I don't need the job to survive. And I don't want to burn my bridges in the case that I would like to resume working there again in the Spring. So, I let it go. That's right. Let. It. Go.
So while I may have "let them get away with it," I think in the end, it's what I wanted, too. It's just an interesting situation, in my opinion, to think about.
Just food for thought, I suppose.
Showing posts with label Workin' Woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Workin' Woman. Show all posts
Career Choice
I want a career. Yes, I have a job, but I don't plan on making a lasting career in child care. It's fun for now, but it's not what I want to do.
So, that being said, what do I want to pursue a career in? Well, that's where the issue comes in!
The reason I haven't continued my education is because I don't want to pay money for training in something that I'm not sure I want to do. I have my Bachelor's in Psychology with a couple of certificates, but anyone who was a psych major knows there isn't really anything you can do in the field with just a Bachelor's. I've also thought about teaching. I enjoy working with kids and think I'd enjoy it more if I weren't changing diapers and doing feedings but actually teaching things. I was actually looking very seriously into getting my master's in teaching before I heard that it's really hard to find a teaching job in Onslow County and other surrounding areas right now... and we'll be (most likely) moving in 2 years by the time I'm done the degree, so who knows what the job market for teachers will be wherever the Marine Corps sends us. And then on top of that there was the issue of which grade level would I want to teach - sometimes I think teaching Secondary Social Studies would be great, and I'd like to teach a specialized area better and then sometimes I realize I like little kids and older kids are just jerks most of the time. So that is another tough decision.
I've also looked at going to school for further psychology, for addiction specialist, HR specialist... and many more...
So I pose this to you, bloggy friends (who actually read this, I feel like it's boring and as such no one reads or comments, but hey I can try, right?!) what career field are you in? Do you like it? What are some pros/cons of your careers? What was the education/experience like getting into your field?
Please help me out guys!
So, that being said, what do I want to pursue a career in? Well, that's where the issue comes in!
The reason I haven't continued my education is because I don't want to pay money for training in something that I'm not sure I want to do. I have my Bachelor's in Psychology with a couple of certificates, but anyone who was a psych major knows there isn't really anything you can do in the field with just a Bachelor's. I've also thought about teaching. I enjoy working with kids and think I'd enjoy it more if I weren't changing diapers and doing feedings but actually teaching things. I was actually looking very seriously into getting my master's in teaching before I heard that it's really hard to find a teaching job in Onslow County and other surrounding areas right now... and we'll be (most likely) moving in 2 years by the time I'm done the degree, so who knows what the job market for teachers will be wherever the Marine Corps sends us. And then on top of that there was the issue of which grade level would I want to teach - sometimes I think teaching Secondary Social Studies would be great, and I'd like to teach a specialized area better and then sometimes I realize I like little kids and older kids are just jerks most of the time. So that is another tough decision.
I've also looked at going to school for further psychology, for addiction specialist, HR specialist... and many more...
So I pose this to you, bloggy friends (who actually read this, I feel like it's boring and as such no one reads or comments, but hey I can try, right?!) what career field are you in? Do you like it? What are some pros/cons of your careers? What was the education/experience like getting into your field?
Please help me out guys!
What An Excellent Weekend!
Well it has been a pretty awesome weekend.
On Friday and Saturday we continued with our house hunting. We found a home we really really really like. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a lot of fun other things. We decided to check out getting out of our lease and discussed putting in an offer. However, after talking with hubs Staff Sergeant and my parents, we've decided that right now is not the best time for us. It was kind of a bummer and I am a little down about it, but it makes the best sense for us at this stage in our lives. As my mom pointed out, we're not sure how our finances will change once baby girl is here, how long we'll be in NC, or what is going on with deployment. There are too many unknowns in our life right now to do something as solid as purchasing a home. We've got a nice place that we both like, and while it sometimes feels a little tight with just 2 bedrooms it is certainly manageable and it's already all set up. Mr P. was the one who was most reluctant to buy the home and was so worried he'd "crushed my dreams" so while I joke with him and call him the "Dream Crusher" now, I really understand the points against buying and it really does make the most sense for us at this time in our lives. Besides, to me, there's no point in doing it unless both of us are 100%.
So, after being a little bummed about that, we decided to go engage in some sweet fall activities (woo hoo!) We headed over to Mike's Farm which is across from the airport only a few minutes from our house. When we got there we were pretty shocked about the disorganization of the place and the high cost of everything there, but nonetheless we ended up with 3 punkins - 2 big ones and 1 tiny one, kinda like our family.
Mr. P thought he was soooo funny with his preggo punkin belly.
After that we went on base to run some errands and then we headed to Babies R Us to continue to work on our registry. The first time we went, we didn't know the sex of our baby and I was also way over excited and ended up putting about 4 of everything on the list, since I couldn't decide which themes/colors/things in general I liked best. We enjoyed editing things, Mr. P made me delete a few things, and we have it so that there is just about only one of everything. Just about. As we headed home, we discussed what we wanted for dinner and decided that we'd done really well last pay period and we'd reward ourselves with dinner and a date night.
We enjoyed a great dinner at AppleBee's and then headed over to the movies to see ZombieLand which was pretty freakin' funny. I do admit though, for a good portion of the movie I was more concerned with not peeing my pants than having a good laugh out loud. Note to self (and other preggo women) after month 5, get an end seat so you don't have to continuously climb over people (or in my case feel guilty about climbing over people so much that you just sit there trying to ignore the gotta-pee sensation) every 5 minutes.
Today was different than our typical Sunday, as we spent the day running around. While we usually run errands on Sundays, we veg out and watch football a good portion of the day too, but today's agenda didn't include much football (much to Hubby's dismay). We had to put air in my tires, get hubs a haircut, gas up the truck, make our meal plan and grocery list, shop for work clothes for me, pick some things up from base for him, stop at a friend's house, and grocery shop... It was a long day. It was nice though. The humid NC weather has finally dropped enough that it feels like fall, almost like winter today. It was about 50 degrees and and cloudy and, while I do love the sun, it felt great to have a break from the heat. We got 2 pairs of khaki pants (they give us the shirt(s) once we're in the center - I'm just supposed to wear khakis - and I just need to look "work appropriate" the first few days in HR for paperwork/training) for me from Old Navy and a really nice zip-up hoodie for him. We also groceried for way under budget - I'm getting pretty good at this budgeting/saving money/smart shopping thing. Go me!
We came home and put the groceries away and watched the Pats CRUSH the Titans. Sadly the Ravens lost by a field goal, but luckily I didn't watch it to put a damper on my day (because we never get the Ravens games here... grr)
Tomorrow is my first day of work - basically intake type stuff, HR paperwork, training, the norm. I'm a bit nervous for my first day in the center (Mon, Tues, and Wed are all training and that's as far as I know, center will be some time after that) as I'm not sure how different it will be from the center in MD and I'm already used to how things worked there. I just have to take it as a totally individual experience, right?! Wish me luck!!
Happy Week Everyone :-D
On Friday and Saturday we continued with our house hunting. We found a home we really really really like. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a lot of fun other things. We decided to check out getting out of our lease and discussed putting in an offer. However, after talking with hubs Staff Sergeant and my parents, we've decided that right now is not the best time for us. It was kind of a bummer and I am a little down about it, but it makes the best sense for us at this stage in our lives. As my mom pointed out, we're not sure how our finances will change once baby girl is here, how long we'll be in NC, or what is going on with deployment. There are too many unknowns in our life right now to do something as solid as purchasing a home. We've got a nice place that we both like, and while it sometimes feels a little tight with just 2 bedrooms it is certainly manageable and it's already all set up. Mr P. was the one who was most reluctant to buy the home and was so worried he'd "crushed my dreams" so while I joke with him and call him the "Dream Crusher" now, I really understand the points against buying and it really does make the most sense for us at this time in our lives. Besides, to me, there's no point in doing it unless both of us are 100%.
So, after being a little bummed about that, we decided to go engage in some sweet fall activities (woo hoo!) We headed over to Mike's Farm which is across from the airport only a few minutes from our house. When we got there we were pretty shocked about the disorganization of the place and the high cost of everything there, but nonetheless we ended up with 3 punkins - 2 big ones and 1 tiny one, kinda like our family.
Mr. P thought he was soooo funny with his preggo punkin belly.
After that we went on base to run some errands and then we headed to Babies R Us to continue to work on our registry. The first time we went, we didn't know the sex of our baby and I was also way over excited and ended up putting about 4 of everything on the list, since I couldn't decide which themes/colors/things in general I liked best. We enjoyed editing things, Mr. P made me delete a few things, and we have it so that there is just about only one of everything. Just about. As we headed home, we discussed what we wanted for dinner and decided that we'd done really well last pay period and we'd reward ourselves with dinner and a date night.
We enjoyed a great dinner at AppleBee's and then headed over to the movies to see ZombieLand which was pretty freakin' funny. I do admit though, for a good portion of the movie I was more concerned with not peeing my pants than having a good laugh out loud. Note to self (and other preggo women) after month 5, get an end seat so you don't have to continuously climb over people (or in my case feel guilty about climbing over people so much that you just sit there trying to ignore the gotta-pee sensation) every 5 minutes.
Today was different than our typical Sunday, as we spent the day running around. While we usually run errands on Sundays, we veg out and watch football a good portion of the day too, but today's agenda didn't include much football (much to Hubby's dismay). We had to put air in my tires, get hubs a haircut, gas up the truck, make our meal plan and grocery list, shop for work clothes for me, pick some things up from base for him, stop at a friend's house, and grocery shop... It was a long day. It was nice though. The humid NC weather has finally dropped enough that it feels like fall, almost like winter today. It was about 50 degrees and and cloudy and, while I do love the sun, it felt great to have a break from the heat. We got 2 pairs of khaki pants (they give us the shirt(s) once we're in the center - I'm just supposed to wear khakis - and I just need to look "work appropriate" the first few days in HR for paperwork/training) for me from Old Navy and a really nice zip-up hoodie for him. We also groceried for way under budget - I'm getting pretty good at this budgeting/saving money/smart shopping thing. Go me!
We came home and put the groceries away and watched the Pats CRUSH the Titans. Sadly the Ravens lost by a field goal, but luckily I didn't watch it to put a damper on my day (because we never get the Ravens games here... grr)
Tomorrow is my first day of work - basically intake type stuff, HR paperwork, training, the norm. I'm a bit nervous for my first day in the center (Mon, Tues, and Wed are all training and that's as far as I know, center will be some time after that) as I'm not sure how different it will be from the center in MD and I'm already used to how things worked there. I just have to take it as a totally individual experience, right?! Wish me luck!!
Happy Week Everyone :-D
