This is my second week back to work, and we're still definitely getting into the swing of things. The laundry has piled up a little and we're not seeing our friends as often as I would like, but things are okay.
My first week back, I worked nights. I've been working nights for more than 3 years and for a really long time, swore I'd never work day shift. A while back, though, I realized I wasn't sleeping well at all and decided to request to transfer to days after all. I expected to transfer as soon as I came back from maternity leave but because of a staffing shortage I needed to work one last week of night shift when I came back.
I can't believe how tired I was. How crabby and exhausted. I felt physically ill when I came home from my first night shift, and even worse after sleeping about 6 hours during the day. I felt groggy and achy and nauseated and just truly sick. I must have felt the same way after all my night shifts before I went on maternity leave, too, but it wasn't such an abrupt change then and so I just didn't realize how truly awful I felt.
It was a huge relief to move to day shift this week. It's harder in some ways - the unit is much busier during the day, no question! It's harder to be away from Kid4 knowing that she's not just sleeping, she's awake and playing and being adorable. It's harder to be away from Kid3, too, and he's having a rough time with the adjustment. Kid2 and Kid1, honestly, are just plain happy. They know that when I was so exhausted I didn't have as much patience with them, and saw the difference once I was getting enough sleep, so they're just happy that I'm working a normal schedule now and have more energy and more patience - which means more fun for them! - on my days off.
It's definitely a change, and it will take some getting used to, but I think it's a good change.
