Infant Care - Holy Moly

I thought of lots of titles for this blog before coming up with the easiest choice. There was "I want to pull my hair out", "Is this a joke?", and then my personal favorite "WTF?!". I decided to be politically correct and just go with a safe title, even though the title does NOT justifty my stress levels on this issue at the current moment.

Oh, and I apologize ahead of time for this rant.

First off, the fact that our son is not even here yet and I am already having to face the fact that someone else will be having him - is a tough pill to swallow. Then you add the EXTREME paranoia that comes with that fact. WHO will watch him?! WHO can we really trust with our CHILD?! Oh yeah, a stranger we pay? That's reassuring.

I've contemplated long and hard about changing my career to Stay At Home Mom (and it's looking more and more like an option) - but I just don't think we can swing it. We have rent, bills, monthly expenses, and not to mention a whole new plethura of expenses with the baby on his way. And we also have the minor event of our WEDDING next August as well to save/pay for.

All in all, as glamorous and amazing it would be to imagine not leaving our baby with strangers and working all day - I dont just dont know if it's possible right now. At least not for this first year of his life. So - it brings us back to square one: DAYCARE.

I'm sure I am not the first new mom to research daycares for newborns so I know that many of you out there can/will relate to my struggles and frustrations.

Problem 1: Cost.

I understand that newborns are more of a handfull to care for than toddlers, but the far range in price was still surprising. For some reason, most daycare centers seem to think that parents are living on a champagne & caviar lifestyle. And granite, some are, however most aren't. This is a a recession, even if it wasn't though - this is REALITY. We all h ave to work to make a living, and I'm not in any position to pay $1,200 for someone to watch my baby while we go to work. I'm sorry, that's crazy. Especially when they are not providing whipes, diapers OR formula?! So, I'm literally paying you more than we pay for our RENT and HOME to make sure he sleeps, eats, and is happy from 7am-6pm. For a five-star daycare that has the best reviews and some sort of system - we are basically looking at selling our organs on the black market, or taking a loan from the bank. WHY!? I understand you get what you pay for and that if we want the best people to take care of our child, then we have to pay more than average - however, these prices are just unrealistic. And it's realy discouraging to know if we want the best for our son (and obviously we DO), then we have to pay top dollar. Top dollar meaning, literally TOP of the scale dollar.

Problem 2: Security

It's incredibly scary to fathom leaving our son with a stranger. The fact that is he is exiting my womb soon, freaks me out in itself. I've been the one person in contact with him and responsible for him and his diet and well-being. Soon, the world will be introduced to him and will take on those responsibilities, and that's scary in itself. Though, I'm extremely ready to meet him, I'm trying to take this one step at a time.

So jumping a few feet ahead to the dreaded time of maternity leave being over and having to go back to work, now we have to find someone else to care for our child, as if he was their own. NOTHING SOUNDS MORE IMPOSSIBLE.

I was not prepared for some of the horror stories I found in the "reviews" tabs on yelp. Stories of kids getting slapped, babies being forgotten in the backyard, oh and my personal favorite: the cat that bit the ear off of an infant. REALLY!? This makes me not only want to stay at home with our son, but literally not let him depart from my womb. Scary is an understatement, and the more I've searched the more scared I've gotten of all the facts that lie in the unknown care of a stranger.

There are many other factors to consider when looking for the perfect daycare, all of which make this process incredibly impossible.  You have location of the daycare, hours of the daycare (because some like to open after we go to work or close before normal office hours), curriculum vs. non-curriculum, type of kids in the daycare, who all works or stays at the daycare during the day with the person you pay..the list goes on and on.

I obviously cannot give up, but I am no where near finding the perfect place for our little one.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you ahead of time, but no, this blog doesn't come with a happily ever after, at least not at this point.

I hope very soon I can have a "follow up" blog which will include my dream daycare, and our baby enrolled in it :)

PLEASE, keep your fingers crossed.

Also, any suggestions or referrals would be GREATLY appreciated. Google, Yelp, Care.com can only get you so far.