Going from SAHM to Nurse at 50 Years Old

FEELING "TOO COMFORTABLE" AS A STAY-AT-HOME MOM

After being an all-in, stay-at-home mom who home-schooled her kids, coached their sports teams, volunteered at church, cooked and cleaned and did all the things an involved mother of four would do, Anne Nelson found herself out of a job when her youngest decided to attend public school. At a time when many women would have dropped into a recliner and taken a well-deserved nap, Anne decided she needed something else to do.

She said, "I was feeling quite comfortable being a stay-at-home mom with not a lot of responsibilities. My kids were raised and three of them were already through college."

Without any students to teach, Anne decided to go back to being a student herself.

With a goal to simply explore the possibility of finishing the nursing degree she had started 25 years prior, Anne went to see a counselor at the local community college. To her surprise, the counselor said Anne had all of the prerequisites necessary to apply for nursing school immediately. So she did. 

Anne got accepted into the nursing program only to encounter another career delay--a three-and-a-half year waiting list. But she didn't let that stop her.

In this interview, Anne shares the many starts and stops she had en route to landing exactly where God needed her to be--in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at a local hospital.

FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE AS A NURSING STUDENT

Now at age 57, Anne says becoming a nurse was the hardest thing she's ever done and she credits her family for giving her the support needed to finish, even when the process got difficult.

Anne recalls, "It really was a full immersion, it was hard, especially hard on my husband who was so used to having me available all the time. There were a few times partway through it that I would have to say, 'I would stop doing this today. I will call them today. I will say, 'I need to drop out today if that's what you want.'" 

But she didn't drop out.

They kept going.

"They prayed through it," Anne explained.

FEELING AT HOME AS A NICU NURSE

As a NICU nurse, Anne is now helping other families through some of the most profound moments of their lives.

In the joyous deliveries that go as planned and the heartbreaking deliveries that don't, Anne has the skills necessary to help when she can and the faith necessary to pray for comfort when she can't.

Anne is acting as the Lord's hands in such critical moments and it seems obvious to me that He guided her there for that purpose.

What You'll Learn in this Episode

How Anne Nelson worked her way through a grueling nursing programThe starts and stops that forced her to pivot in unexpected waysA leap of faith she had to take in her careerBlessing she could not see for herself in taking this journeyMost Importantly: how she has seen the Lord’s hand in her career

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