SAHM's - How is your stress level? - Page 2

[FireWithin]

Originally Posted by Eman'smom

I was a middle school teacher (with one year of high school), and I really enjoyed those kids. I know most people run from that age bracket but I really liked those years.

OT I was (am??) a middle school teacher. I really love that age also, really looking forward to it with my own DC.

[meowee]

I used to be extremely stressed-- then somewhere around the 3rd baby I just slowed down. I realized that not everything had to get done in a single day, and that if I had to do something very slowly, that's how it would be done, or if it took a long time to do something, it would just take a long time. I realized that it is the basic things that really matter-- a family that has stayed together-- good health-- no poverty-- a roof over our heads-- food and water and electricity-- a safe place to live-- kids who aren't miserable-- those are the things that mattered.

I remember when I just had 1 child, our fridge broke and I was in tears. After the 4th child, the fridge broke and I wasn't the least bit stressed. We lived without a fridge fo a couple months. It was winter so we put things outside.

[my2girlsmama]

High stress, very high. No sitting around munching bon bons here (LOL there is a myth if I ever heard one! Wish sahm WAS that way though at times..........)

Baby dd who is one is refusing to sleep...nursing alot.........learning to walk and talk and growing developmentally right now...so I am a walking bag if exhaustion and frustration. Not fun. Older dd is needing more from me and I am trying but baby frustrates me to no end needy and clingy.......causing me to just feel useless to them both.

Hubby gets to relax more and that angers me to no end.

Money is tight and I am trying to balance us on the proverbial highwire of life........daily. Not easy by any means.

I feel alone alot...........tired....stretched to the max.

Stress..........yes definately.

[musingmama]

my2girlsmama, i know how you feel

[Treasuremapper]

At this point I am so stressed that I feel I can not continue. I am exhausted, burned out, and just barely getting by. I am really worried about going on any further with this level of sleep deprivation.

[skueppers]

I'm actually much less stressed than I was when I worked full-time. For the most part, there's not all that much that I actually *have* to get done, other than taking care of my daughter.

If the grocery shopping doesn't get done today, I can always scrounge something up out of the freezer/cabinets, and we can go to the grocery store tomorrow. If the rugs don't get vacuumed today, nobody other than me is really going to notice. And so on.

I think that as my daughter gets older, it will get more stressful; right now I don't have to deal with behavioral issues. And I know that when we have another child, it's definitely going to get more interesting. But for right now, I feel like things are OK.

[onlyzombiecat]

Stress definitely exists for SAHM's too.

Right now I feel stressed because my dh is contemplating changing jobs. He had an interview yesterday and I know he'd like to take the job if they offer it to him. It has better benefits but the job would also pay less than what he makes now and things are already tight. There are so many unknowns in the situation- if he gets offered the job, if he starts out at x pay, if he gets a certain shift, if he works 2 jobs... and it still might fall short. Can we make that work?
The thought of him working 2 jobs to try to make it work stresses me out because his days off are the only time we spend together... and the time I get a break with dd. Some will say to me that I should get a job but we are in a rural area, job options are limited, we only have one car, who would take care of dd, how would we pay for child care if the job I got only took us back up to where we are now in terms of income but not over and we had added expenses from me working.
Dh is also going to be taking a trip soon leaving me to care for dd alone 24/7 for almost a week. I've done it before and know it can be stressful... because even a five to twenty minute break helps. Dd will also miss her daddy and I'll have to deal with that too.