Very panicked about returning to work as a single parent , is this normal?

[Yellowdream]

I don’t have any involvement from ex apart from financial. His choice. I return to work I two weeks and I’m so stressed I’ve been sick the last couple of days, just so anxious. I have a really demanding job (hospital based) and huge responsibility and my head is swimming with leaving dc, what happens if I am stuck in traffic to collect them etc etc. I have zero practical support from anyone at all. Yes I have friends but nobody to actually share the load. I was really confident about going back and dc in nursery but I feel like I can’t do it. I don’t know what to do. I never thought I would be a single parent and never thought I would be faced with this. I feel so stressed it’s making me ill. Is this just what it’s like as a single working parent?

Relax, once you get into a routine it will be fine. However, as a single parent you'll need to have some kind of contingency plans for what happens if the nursery calls you to collect the child (eg with fever or throwing up) and you can't immediately drop everything at work, or like you say, if you're stuck in traffic.

The answers are usually simple, you could ask friends if they would mind being the emergency contact, and make friends with other families in the nursery so you could call on them for a favour if absolutely needed. In my experience married parents are usually in awe about how single working mothers cope and are happy to help out in an emergency. I also find as a single mother it's important to build a "buffer" into the schedule so I'm not trying to beat the clock on the commute to arrive in time.

Hope it all goes smoothly - you've got this!