Can I leave my baby with a sitter

Since Cupcake is now almost 7 months, my defenses are relaxing enough to leave her with others for care.  Not that I've actually done it yet, but it's the intention that counts.

Now, before we all go crazy and assume I've had this child attached to my hip for the last 6 months (after having her attached to my stomach via umbilical cord, no less), I have to make a caveat that my parents have stayed with her several times.  Every time my mother has visited, Nate and I have taken the opportunity to go out as a couple.  When we've gone back home, we've left Cupcake with them while we grabbed dinner/ caught a movie/ etc.

So we've actually done pretty good for ourselves in terms of having frequent "date nights".  Of course my parents don't live in the same state as us, so although we've left cupcake with them on several occasions, it's still something associated with visits and travel.

But now I'm debating finding a drop-in daycare place to leave Cupcake an afternoon per week or so.  I have some licensing exams to take, and I would like to get them done before returning to work.  I don't know how long it will take until I go back into the work world; might be 6 more months, maybe another year, or more depending on when we have another kid.  Nevertheless, when the kid(s) eventually go to preschool there will be no reason for me to be home all day, and at that point I would like to be done with all my 7 exams to be a licensed professional. 

Of course I have trepidations.  I'm convinced that Cupcake will freak out, since she's largely a shy little girl who needs to be in constant contact with me when we go to social events, be they adult gatherings or mom&baby play-dates.   So I worry that if I leave her with someone else, there will be screaming tears.  And though I understand that a bit of crying never killed anyone, I think it would really hurt me.  In my sensitive little heart.

I need a bit of a break though.  I'm running myself thin trying to keep up with baby, house, marriage, self, and now adding the abstract concept of my career.  But will I actually trust my Cupcake with a total stranger?

I have no family nearby, so cousins, aunts and grandmas aren't an option.  And I'm a bit weary of one-on-one nannies that I don't "know", because really, what will they be doing at my house while I'm not there?  Maybe I need to have someone come over and take cupcake out to the playground while I stay home and study.  My neighborhood is full of nannies, how did everyone else figure it out?