For a while, the plan worked just as imagined. But gym memberships, it seems, become optional when people are feeling financially squeezed. With gym-goers dropping off almost daily, the Rockville couple closed the fitness center in August.
Initially, Couch, who's 35, welcomed the chance to spend more time with her 3 1/2 -year-old, Rebecca, and Miranda, her 16-month-old. The girls, essentially raised on free weights and exercise machines, were starved for quality mom time, she thought.
But the one-salary lifestyle just wasn't tenable. "The price of everything was going up. It got to the point where we were like, 'Hey, we're going to end up in some trouble here if we can't bring in more money,'" Couch says.
Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute, says that the economy always drives behavior, including that of mothers who believe in staying home. During the widespread corporate downsizing of the 1990s, she points out, the rate of mothers working spiked.
"With men being downsized, and job insecurity more rampant, women went into the work force to support and protect their families," she says.
Facing mounting bills, Couch became a nanny in February, taking in another little girl during the day. That gave the family some breathing room.
But not enough.
Night and day
So she started back at the hotel for a couple of days a week. The former operations manager - one of the biggest jobs at the hotel - was now taking reservations at the front desk. Quickly she realized that she needed more money, more shifts.
Now Couch works eight-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays; on weekdays, after playing mother and nanny all day, she heads to the hotel at 5:30 when her husband gets home. It's midnight before she sees her girls, who are, of course, sleeping and don't see her.
She hasn't had to choose between her children and an income, yet still, Couch feels that she's losing the battle.
"It's horrible, to be completely honest with you," she says. "I don't get to tuck my kids into bed at night. We used to have a ritual of dinner, then bath and a story. Now Daddy's doing more of that 'cause Mommy has to go to work at night."
jill.rosen@baltsun.com
