C.A.
Hi C.,
Alright take a deep breath. This is hard. I have two babies that I stayed home with up until the beginning of this year. The working issue had come up and come up and I finally had to bite the bullet. Our society is both pro-mom at work and anti-mom at work (confusing??).
My son has a communication disorder so I was terrified that the first day they would call me and say they couldn't take it. But no phone call and when I went running back the moment I was done I found two very happy, well-fed toddlers running around. They didn't nap, but they did a quiet time for the daycare gal. I found as the days went on it was really me and not them having a hard time.
One thing some daycares have is monitoring systems - you may want to ask about this - where they have a video camera on at all times and you can go to a website they have set up to see how your baby is doing. If they don't have this you are allowed to call and ask how everything is going (I don't recommend talking to your baby as this can cause tantrums).
The other thing to remember is that daycares are USED to children ranging from very easy to extremely difficult. They have had training if they've gone through the state for certification (you might want to ask this as well - it means background checks have been done, only healthy snacks are provided, etc.). So they will know how to deal with tantrums and so on. I found that my kiddos behaved better at daycare than they did for me!!
It will be hard for the first few weeks, but you'll find others at work who have their kids in daycare, and you'll know that it's going to be ok. As long as you've done your research on the daycare (beyond just knowing the director - it's good to know if the daycare itself is a good fit for your baby) you will find that it really just takes time to ease into this new experience.