For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, swings is what most people would call 2nd shift. Mids is the overnight shift. Hell, after 3 years, I still get them confused.
So, EM works a rotating shift schedule. His 'month' starts on a Tuesday, with swing shift. And he works that shift for 7 days. He leaves before the kids get home from school and is home long after they've gone to sleep. Usually, around midnight. Which is sometimes when I'm really just getting into my good sleep. It wakes me up and then he sometimes wants to talk. Fine, we'll talk. So that means, I don't get back to sleep until after 1am. Awesome. Then, he has off on Tuesday and Wednesday (sort of). During this time, he has to 'transition', meaning he stays up all night. Usually, there's an 'end of swings' party at someone's house. Or he stays up all night playing video games. Wednesday, he has to go back into work. TECHNICALLY, it's Thursday morning, but you know what I mean. So, he gets up for work at 9pm. Again, awesome. I'm trying to go to sleep while he's showering, getting dressed, etc.
Then he works mids for 7 days. He gets off Wednesday morning, sleeps for a few hours, gets up and we try to work on stuff around the house. He doesn't have to go back to work until Saturday morning for the start of day shift. It's not too bad. He gets up at some god-awful hour and goes to work. I can usually sleep through it and wake up when the kids starting moving around. So he works days for 7 days. Friday, being Day Last (Never say Day 7, that implies there are more to follow). Then he has off the weekend, and goes in on Monday for T-week. This is basically 4 days of training classes and other administrative bull-hockey. He gets off on Thursday afternoon and has off the next 4 days, until the start of the next swings.
This schedule sucks monkey balls like no other. During mids and swings, it interrupts my already crappy sleep. I have issues falling asleep. Him leaving or coming home around midnight just screws me all up. Sometimes, it's nice. He's not here in the evening, so I don't really have to cook that much (not like I cook any other time, but at least then I have a valid excuse). It just seems like he's here ALL the time, or NONE of the time. He's here during the day for a week. Then he's sleeping during the day for a week. Then he's not here during the day for two weeks. It's just shitty.
I'm almost looking forward to going back to sea duty (where he'll be on an actual boat) and has to go on deployments. At least with a deployment, he's gone. It's not the "here, not here, here, not here"schedule that we have here. Now, I'm not saying deployments won't suck, they do. I'm just saying that if he's gone all the time, I can get used to that. I can get into a groove with my schedule and the kids' schedule. I don't have to wait to see when he's coming home to worry about dinner. There's more of a support system in place. Other wives are in the same boat (pun intended) as you are.
Okay, stepping off my soapbox and ending my rant now.
So, EM works a rotating shift schedule. His 'month' starts on a Tuesday, with swing shift. And he works that shift for 7 days. He leaves before the kids get home from school and is home long after they've gone to sleep. Usually, around midnight. Which is sometimes when I'm really just getting into my good sleep. It wakes me up and then he sometimes wants to talk. Fine, we'll talk. So that means, I don't get back to sleep until after 1am. Awesome. Then, he has off on Tuesday and Wednesday (sort of). During this time, he has to 'transition', meaning he stays up all night. Usually, there's an 'end of swings' party at someone's house. Or he stays up all night playing video games. Wednesday, he has to go back into work. TECHNICALLY, it's Thursday morning, but you know what I mean. So, he gets up for work at 9pm. Again, awesome. I'm trying to go to sleep while he's showering, getting dressed, etc.
Then he works mids for 7 days. He gets off Wednesday morning, sleeps for a few hours, gets up and we try to work on stuff around the house. He doesn't have to go back to work until Saturday morning for the start of day shift. It's not too bad. He gets up at some god-awful hour and goes to work. I can usually sleep through it and wake up when the kids starting moving around. So he works days for 7 days. Friday, being Day Last (Never say Day 7, that implies there are more to follow). Then he has off the weekend, and goes in on Monday for T-week. This is basically 4 days of training classes and other administrative bull-hockey. He gets off on Thursday afternoon and has off the next 4 days, until the start of the next swings.
This schedule sucks monkey balls like no other. During mids and swings, it interrupts my already crappy sleep. I have issues falling asleep. Him leaving or coming home around midnight just screws me all up. Sometimes, it's nice. He's not here in the evening, so I don't really have to cook that much (not like I cook any other time, but at least then I have a valid excuse). It just seems like he's here ALL the time, or NONE of the time. He's here during the day for a week. Then he's sleeping during the day for a week. Then he's not here during the day for two weeks. It's just shitty.
I'm almost looking forward to going back to sea duty (where he'll be on an actual boat) and has to go on deployments. At least with a deployment, he's gone. It's not the "here, not here, here, not here"schedule that we have here. Now, I'm not saying deployments won't suck, they do. I'm just saying that if he's gone all the time, I can get used to that. I can get into a groove with my schedule and the kids' schedule. I don't have to wait to see when he's coming home to worry about dinner. There's more of a support system in place. Other wives are in the same boat (pun intended) as you are.
Okay, stepping off my soapbox and ending my rant now.
