Today started badly. I got a phone call at 7:20am, from my supervisor, asking me where I was. I was in bed, actually, sound asleep! I had totally gotten my schedule wrong! I hurriedly got dressed, planning to go in late, when my mom said, “I’m so sick, please don’t go.” Uh oh. No childcare, but you can’t just “no call no show” at work when you’re a nurse! They make assignments at 5am, so if you don’t call in by then you basically just short-staffed your whole unit and the patient or two who needed nurses. No good. I convinced my mom to hang in there until at least 3pm, when hopefully I could get a float nurse replacement.
But no, because when I got the car out of the garage, I was promptly stuck on my private lane. Stuck in the snow. My grandmother’s car was snowed in, as well as her back door. So I had to call my supervisor back and apologize profusely. I simply couldn’t go anywhere.
It ended up being serendipitous, because my mom had to spend the day in the ED, and my grandparents’ caregiver called in because HER husband was in the ED. No childcare, no grandparent care, and only me to take care of EVERY SINGLE one of them.
I have an interview with a potential evening shift caregiver tomorrow. I need an evening shift and Saturday day shift person. I also need to find somewhere as back-up when my mom gets sick. Unless she gets sick on Saturdays or Mondays, my sister’s only days off. I wish there was a daycare that did drop-in. I could potentially do one day a week to give my mom a break. Or get my sister to agree to one day a week and I’ll give her some money, or something! My mom seems too tired when she watches her full-time, and I need someone to watch her sometimes when I’m NOT working, and other things come up.
This is all ultra-stressful.
Mother of All Things 
Ask around, I know some daycares actually DO do drop-ins. The hard thing is you don’t get to form a relationship with the caregivers, but it might be an option at least.
I know! It’s frustrating but as my mother gets older I need some sort of back-up plan, although I really hate the thought of leaving her with strangers.
A lot to carry on your shoulders!
Wow. Talk about one of those days! I hope your mom (and your caregiver’s husband) had a quick recovery. Finding caregivers you feel good about inviting into your life is so difficult. I hope you find some jewels in the rough!