Who's Going To Watch The Baby?!?!?!

No one tells you about the extra, extra stresses of raising a child. When preparing for a child everyone warns you about the lack of sleep, the never private restroom visits, the adjusted finances, and everything else your standard parenting book covers. No one mentions how stressful just childcare can be.  Date nights are no longer planned on a whim (or guaranteed for that matter. A great date night may be planned only to get a call from the sitter 45 minutes in due to an inconsolable infant) and also come a double the cost (dinner/movie cost PLUS babysitter fees). Also, finding the perfect childcare situation can be daunting (In home or center? Which nanny or center to choose? How much are we willing to pay? Childcare availability/ hours of operation?).  In my case going to work is a constant calculation of how much I'm making versus how much I'm paying the sitter that day (Again, keep your therapy, dentist, doctor, hair, nail, etc. appointments people! No shows and last minutes cancellations are especially sucky for those of us trying to make a living off of billable hours. End rant.)

Our family recently had our first minor (read MAJOR, but I'm trying to downplay because I know it could have been much worse) crisis regarding childcare-- meaning we had none and needed some last minute. O typically stays at home with a babysitter we found through Care.com. We have been so happy with her and are so grateful to have her, but this particular day she was unexpectedly unavailable. Whomp, whomp, whomp. Thankfully my dear friend Sara (visit her here) graciously offered to watch O while I went to work for a half day unexpectedly. Talk about a lifesaver! My husband and I had always discussed what we would do in this type of situation where our regular sitter was unavailable for one reason or another. Ideally, my husband would work from home for a few hours while I went and covered my scheduled appointments, but this particular day last week this plan just was not feasible. What were we going to do?!

To say I had a minor freakout moment is a drastic understatement. I was a ball of nervous energy, my stomach was in knots, and my eyeballs may have been bulging out of my head (think creepy cartoon character size as seen below.) In fact, this actually a pretty close representation of what I looked like as I frantically listed my options.

 

So what were my options? Thankfully, I have a couple of friends who stay at home and knew that they would be happy to help if they were able (i.e. the lovely Sara), but I also knew that they were not a guarantee. My second option was to contact them for sitter referrals. Did they know anyone? Who would they recommend? My third option was to contact daycare centers and Mother's Day Out programs to see if they accommodated drop-ins. For our family, this was only the third option because O had never been exposed to such a large group of children at once without my husband or I in tow. Also, in my quick Google search I found that very few childcare centers around us accepted drop-ins.Yikes! I will note that I did not actually call any of these places and have considered that maybe they will accommodate such situations if contacted more directly, but do not advertise this online as to not invite regular drop-ins.

In my frantic search, I did learn a lot about the childcare programs around us like their hours of operation, programming, and enrollment processes if we chose this care option in the future. My search also exposed me to options parents have when their own children become sick. For our family, my husband and I will always make arrangements for one or the other of us to stay home with our sick guy, but I do realize that some parents do not have that option. Care.com has a list of many sitters who are willing to care for sick children. According to this Babycenter article (yes, my go-to), some hospitals and child-care centers offer sick care as well, but it can be pricey. This page also lists various options for identifying back-up child care and includes ideas I hadn't thought of in my hurried, frantic state like looking into local college programs or contacting a nanny agency for a list of backup care providers.

In closing, I would just like to say that I would be happy to pay Sara's generosity forward to any of my friends who need it! Please don't hesitate to call, and if I'm not working myself I'd be happy to have a playmate for O for the day and help you out as well. Parenting is a tough job and we're all in this together.