GTKY Monday 4/27

mindyb2019

Ok Ladies, tell us about your jobs. What do you all do for work?

willashbaby

I'm a special education teacher in NYC. For the first 9 years I exclusively taught very small classes (6 students max) mostly for students severely affected by Autism (my entire school is special education). For the last two years I have switched from classroom teacher to a "specials" teacher. I have every class 1-4x each week and teach a course I designed combining early literacy and the arts. I also become our "unit teacher" aka building admin when our regular unit teacher/AP are out of the building. I covered our UTs maternity leave full time and will probably take her position every summer when she's home. I might also eventually take the position full time at another site when that UT retires. I'm happy to stay in my current position or do that so either one is fine. 

I also work for a jeweler. They are mainly online (small office in the NYC diamond district). I do their hand modeling and run their social media. If anyone ever has jewelry questions, LMK!

thankfullyamama

@willashbaby that’s so cool hand modelling lol and kudos to you for being a Special Education teacher that can be a very trying profession. You must have a lot of patience! 

thankfullyamama

I’m a registered nurse! I started my career in labour and delivery and loved the job but not the night shifts! While I was there I also got my lactation consultant education and so I feel rather prepared for labour and breastfeeding already as I used to teach a lot of the classes! I now work in a renal dialysis unit which is still 12 hour shifts 7 days a week but no nights! Work life balance is much better where I am now but I do miss labouring women and seeing families meet their little ones for the first time! I am nervous working through this COVID pandemic without knowing what the potential affects are in the fetus in the first trimester but work has been super accommodating and if we get a few positive cases they will put me off so I’m not too worried!

dobiemom11

@willashbaby. I am impressed that you designed a course.  That is something I love doing, but only done a few lessons.  

@tryingktogku. I guess you are well prepared for December!  Thank you again for your service.

For ten years I was a microbiologist in various different fields (medical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural).  When we moved last year, I decided I was interested in getting out of the lab and into education.  (I am so grateful to be out of the lab with the virus happening.  I would probably have gotten roped into testing samples).  I am currently an educator at the zoo when it is open.  We give tours to field trip groups and do different lessons based on the standards for each grade.  Ultimately I would love to design the lessons, but need to work my way up first.  I used to do that in a volunteer capacity in my old job and ran our outreach program.  

willashbaby

@dobiemom11 it was out of necessity, NYC as a whole supplies us with nothing in special education. I've made my own materials my entire career!

sejica

From 2005-2019 I owned and managed apartment buildings. From 2006-2017 I also worked for DH's family businesses wherever I was needed. I've done logistics, web dev assistant, bookkeeping, and t-shirt quilting.
Since 2017 I have been primarily a sahm and am thrilled to not have to navigate this pandemic with tenants. My plans are to sahm for the next decade or so, then we'll see.

BmcD2016

Currently I’m in quality assurance for an aeronautics company. I had just started back to school this spring on my quest to get into nursing school. So this will be interesting to see how it all plays out with baby #4. 

thankfullyamama

@sejica I love that’s there’s a SAHM here! All the women in my family were SAHM and I’m the first to have my own career! DH and I have agreed that I’ll only work part time until our kiddos go to school so that I can maintain my own career but also be there for the kids more than I could be if I was full time and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be somewhere in the middle! 

thankfullyamama

@BmcD2016 good luck in nursing school! It was the most challenging 4 years of my life but it’s so worth it at the end!

thankfullyamama

@dobiemom11 oh wow working at a zoo must be so interesting! 

BmcD2016

tryingktogku said:

@BmcD2016 good luck in nursing school! It was the most challenging 4 years of my life but it’s so worth it at the end!

Thank you! I can’t even apply until I finish a class in the fall and fall semester ends on my due date (I will most likely have baby earlier since I do planned c-sections), so I’m really anxious of how this will all work out. 

feather_heather

I work in historic preservation as a planner for arguably one of the most historically important towns in America. 

conni0205

I am a part time SAHM, part time worker. I work two days a week right now as an accounts payable, receivable, and oversee some of our tenants rents for my FIL’s apartment management company.

karmba

I work in Compliance for a large Financial Services firm.  I enjoy it - I've been here since 2012.  I have pretty good benefits (16 weeks maternity leave) and I'm able to work from home easily.

luckypenny11

@dobiemom11 - my mom was a microbiologist for 40+ years. She retired about 2 months before COVID made it to the US, for which I am selfishly glad  We had lots of interesting (re: disgusting) conversations around the dinner table when I was growing up    A good friend of mine is a veterinary radiologist with a large zoo, and she has the BEST stories.

@tryingktogku - I second that thanks for all that you do!

I'm a veterinarian - I worked in academia and emergency medicine for the first 10 years of my career and am now in a consulting job.  Though I miss clinical medicine some days, the work/life balance is much better.  I wasn't able to get pregnant until moving out of ER work, which I think has a lot to do with the schedule.  My current job involves a lot of teaching, which I absolutely love - I often refer to this as the "unicorn" of veterinary jobs. 

gh1219

I'm a physician - general surgery resident to be exact.
For those unfamiliar with the track, medical school grads go on to specialized training in their chosen field under the tutelage of experienced physicians for 3 to 9 years after graduation until they can practice medicine independently, which is called residency.  General surgery residency is 5 years, and I added 2 years of full time research during which I got my MS in clinical research.  So I've been out of the hospital for 2 years and I'm about to go back for year 5/7 and clinical year 3/5.  I will probably pursue emergency surgery and critical care in the long run, which is an extra 1-2 years fellowship training after residency.
The day to day work of a general surgeon is to fix hernias, remove gallbladders, remove appendixes, etc.  A specialist in emergency surgery would also operate on patients with gunshot wounds, car accidents, intestine perforations, and really any immediate life-threatening condition.  I love my job and I can't wait to get back to the OR and to taking care of patients. It's not a very family-friendly career choice but we are going to power through and make it work. MH is also a general surgeon, but he finished fellowship in bariatric surgery 4 yrs ago so his schedule is more flexible and forgiving than mine.  I'll also have more flexibility when I graduate residency in 3 years and especially after I graduate fellowship in 4 years.  We are just over the moon to be having a baby and can't wait for this next adventure.

willashbaby

@gh1219 I've had "you" and your husband work on me, lol! I had an emergency gall bladder removal in January 2017 (that surgeon was my best friend when I woke up and my excruciating pain was gone). Then in October that year I had gastric sleeve, hiatal hernia, and a surgical hernia from the gallbladder surgery all done. Both are you are so important in so many ways, thanks for all of that hard work!

bearmomma1

@gh1219 I feel as though I'm very familiar with the Residency program...thanks to Greys Anatomy..lol =p That's so awesome! What an amazing career to have.

I'm an administrator at a National Laboratory. Basically just providing admin support to researchers. I just started this job last year and I love it so much.

gh1219

@willashbaby I'm glad you had a mostly positive experience!!!  It's definitely one of those jobs where people don't want to need your services.

@bearmomma1 yes exactly like Grey's!!!  Except less sex in supply closets and fewer plane crashes of course.

mindyb2019

I'm loving everyone's jobs. They sound so awesome and amazing. 

@gh1219 Your job would be amazing to have. Thanks for all the hard work you do and thanks to @tryingktogku for being a nurse and all the hard work you do too. My SIL is a nurse as well. 

I work in healthcare. I am a Recreational Therapist at a care home and specialize in geriatrics. I love my job so much. I basically get to work with everyone’s grandma and grandpas which are so cute and sweet but it can be challenging dealing with the elderly and ones that suffer from dementia/Alzheimer’s or other disabling conditions. It’s quite sad and it’s tough when you get so attached to the residents and they pass away. It’s rewarding though getting to spend the remainder of their days on earth adding love and joy and seeing their faces light up when they get to do something they really enjoy. 

JBcakes08

I'm a registered Dental Hygienist 3 days a week. The other 2 days I'm home with my two kids (2 and 1). 

If anyone needs any dental advice, hit me up!

notvincent

I managed some business units at a company that makes plastic drainage pipe. It doesn't sound very exciting, but I really like what I do. Most of the time, anyway. :-)

dobiemom11

@mindyb2019. Your job is so important.  My grandfather goes to a care facility during the day and he loves it.  It gives my grandmother a break from caregiving.  They play memory games with him and keep him a little active.  The FB page for the group always shows him whistling like crazy!  

mindyb2019

@dobiemom11 aww thanks. ohh cool. So he goes to an adult day program? I used to work at one of those. I loved it and it gave a break to their spouses or loved ones from caregiving. Ya we play memory games and do fitness and walking and other fun things to help them keep and stay active or engage their brain or help with a stroke they have had etc. It’s awesome and I LOVE it. 

antera23

I’m an Early Head start home visitor. I visit families with kids 0-3 and pregnant woman. We do a lot of parent education, connecting to resources and community partners, health and wellness education, and a whole lot more. 

akoros

Wow, so many fascinating (and important) jobs! 

I'm an economist with the federal government, working on international trade policy. This past January I moved out of a technical role in our data/research office up to our front office to be the senior advisor to the head of our unit. It's been an interesting change, I still get to do some technical work (mostly pulling and analyzing data these days, not so much modeling) but am more exposed to the rest of our unit's portfolio and also now in more of a leadership role as the "team lead" for our front office staff. I generally love my job, and it's a great group of people to work with. They've also been very flexible with teleworking, which has been great.

dreamscapes_

DH and I both work at Disney World 🤣 I work in ticketing and he’s in attractions. We both love it. 

charmedlifex3

I'm a financial advisor with a large firm. I love the flexibility, and the benefits are pretty good (16 weeks maternity)
And now @karmba has me nervous. LOL, just kidding, I actually used to have a compliance role at another firm years ago. 

karmba

@the_road_to_oz haha it's good to have former compliance experience - it gives you a good perspective

sierra2020

Stay at home Mom here - not by choice but the best thing for our family and I have absolutely loved it and been thankful for it. Pre-motherhood I worked in Entertainment at Disney, and then in Recreation at the Four Seasons Resort

laurenspdx

So many awesome jobs and great people!

I’ve spent the last 7 years working as an outdoor guide and manager at a guiding company. I’m switching to a new company but things are on hold right now in the travel industry, of course, so I’m also helping my partner with his work on home renovations. I love guiding, I’ve been able to travel to so many places to help people climb and explore, from Yosemite to amount Kilimanjaro. I also just finished my EMT in the hopes of volunteering on a search and rescue team (currently training for that). Baby will probably put my exploring plans on hold for a while but I’ll be so happy to share the world with him/her once they’re old enough!

shantx

I’m loving all the vastly different jobs!

I’m a Realtor and it has been crazy in my area of Texas during the pandemic! I have been so busy and people are buying and selling houses like crazy right now! I’m also a temporary, voluntold homeschool teacher to my 3 kiddos and am definitely not loving it! God bless teachers, that’s fo shooo!!! 

hadassah2020

So many jobs! I'm a teacher and am teaching middle school and private music lessons from home. It's busy with 2 littles but at least they aren't in school yet and still have quiet time. I love my job and really hope we can be back in the classroom soon.  We are out until June for now though I anticipate it being out until September. 

jbal918

I’m a Two Way Immersion (English/Spanish) Preschool Teacher. I taught regular preschool for 5 years before moving to this district and being hired for the TWI program. I teach the English World while my co-teacher teaches the Spanish World side. We have 30 kids split to 15 and 15 and they rotate weekly in our classrooms. It’s a lot more work than the regular classes I’ve taught but I love my team and the district I work for is pretty great!

nmadjeski

Loving all these different jobs! 

I recently became a SAHM in December after 13 years in retail as a manager. I was honestly burned out and wanted to go back to school. I'm taking prerequisites at the community college and I'm hoping to apply for nursing school in the semi near future. 

BmcD2016

@nmadjeski yay! Same! Although I’m currently still working but the plan (before pregnancy) had been to quit once I got into the program. I am finishing up one pre-req this semester, one in summer 1, and another in fall. Fall semester ends on my due date 😬

nmadjeski

@BmcD2016 We had a similar plan but my SO really wanted to get his CDL (previously a SAHD) and he knew how stressed I was at work so we decided for me to quit and he would pursue that. I planned on working part time after he got his licences and a job so we didnt have to put the kids in daycare but due to Covid the DMV shut down 3 days before he was to take his road test. So we are both at home for now. 

The end of the semester here ends on 12/18. I'm due 12/15 but I was induced at 38 weeks with my son (undiagnosed GD) and 39 with my daughter (type 2 diabetes) so I am probably going to sit that semester out. Unless I can take the classes i need in the shorter 7 week session they offer. I honestly havent looked because I'm already feeling overwhelmed! Haha

bartonolivia

I’m a stay at home mom. But I’m a full time student  studying social media marketing! 

BmcD2016

@bartonolivia and @nmadjeski glad to see there are other mamas who returned to school. 

When I registered for fall semester, I had just found out I was pregnant and I had to register then or lose my VA priority and possibly lose a spot in that last class I need. I think I’m going to just stick it out and hope for the best as far as finals go. I know I’ll deliver up to a week early since I have planned c-sections.