It has been 18 months since Andrew came home from work and told me that he was going to move to night shift. We had been married for 5 1/2 years, and the entire time Andrew had worked the 2pm to 10pm shift (which regularly was more like 2-12). In the beginning, it was very difficult for me. I was newly married, went to school and worked all day, came home at five and was alone till bedtime, actually past my bedtime. I always stayed up for him, even if I was falling asleep on the couch, or love seat as the case was. Eventually, when we had been married for about a year and a half, and I was newly pregnant, I learned to go to bed without him. After Nate was born, I realized that I highly valued that evening time alone, in quiet. While I miss Andrew, it is nice to have time for me.
When Andrew made the announcement regarding night shift, I had HUGE concerns. I was pregnant with Emmy, and had only slept alone a few times in our married life. I was very worried about his sleep and his schedule, would he switch back and forth, or would he stay up all night even when he was home? When would we see each other?
Now that he has been on night shift I have to say: we have acclimated. It was hard at first. It is still sometimes quite hard. He still has some problems sleeping at night, and I have a hard time scheduling family things, but it works. Some days i still have a very hard time with the fact that we aren't a "dad goes to work Monday through Friday from 8-5" kind of family, like everyone else in the world seems to be, but I am learning to adjust my perspective. Now I am afraid of the day that he may come home and say "They want me to work days".
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