First Rn position, orientation and Pregnancy!?

lovendove · May 2, 2008

oh also, I just wanted to add that I'm not looking for benefits at all. My husband has a great career in computers and provides for us more than enough. I'm not looking for leave, ins or anything.

I just want to start my career and start learning without having to wait to pop out this bambino;)

I also don't plan on taking much time off afterwards....

jello18966 · May 4, 2008

I'm in the same boat. I suspected that I was pregnant when I scheduled my interview but by the time I was offered the job, I knew for sure. I start orientation in July and am trying to figure out the best time to tell. I loved the nurse manager on my unit and I would hate to get off on the wrong foot.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Btw, good luck and congratulations!

NewYorkGirl · May 5, 2008

Wow. I've got a similar thing going on. I wasn't pregnant when I was hired for a July start date, but now I am! DH and I are very excited, :yeah: but I'm unsure if I should say anything or not to management.

Before I knew I was pregnant (but when we were TTC) I called HR and asked what the policy was for maternity leave - they said if I've been working there less than a year then their "unwritten policy" is to hold the job for up to 8 weeks as long as I give them a return date in writing.

I've heard that as a pregnant nurse there are certain patients you need to avoid, certain meds you can't touch, etc.... it makes me wonder if I should tell the manager and tell her that I intend to come back to work right after baby is born...

I dunno.... :uhoh21:

lovendove · May 5, 2008

NY girl, I saw your original thread but didn't really find any info in there for us pregnant already. I've been searching and empty handed:/

I'd really love some insight here... any nurses that have been there that can give us some advice or maybe a nurse manager that can give us the other side's perspective?

TIA!

TRINI_RN · May 6, 2008

NY girl, I saw your original thread but didn't really find any info in there for us pregnant already. I've been searching and empty handed:/
I'd really love some insight here... any nurses that have been there that can give us some advice or maybe a nurse manager that can give us the other side's perspective?
TIA!

Here are some old threads:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/pregnant-new-job-should-i-tell-263153.html

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/when-tell-boss-i-m-pregnant-202544.html

lovendove · Aug 5, 2008

Just wanted to update that my nurse manager took it pretty well. She was a lil peeved that I didn't tell her but after talking to other nurses on the floor that were in my same situation years before, they told me I did the right thing and not to stress.

Things have been going well, it's finally getting harder for me due to pregnancy but I'm about 33 weeks and don't plan on stopping any time soon. We'll see.

NewYorkGirl · Aug 5, 2008

Sadly, my baby girl miscarried at 9 weeks, so I wasn't pregnant when I started orientation last month. She died of a chromosomal abnormality according to the pathology report of the fetus. :crying2:

But I'm thinking (hoping) that I might be pregnant again :heartbeat (haven't missed a period yet but I'm feeling like I did for the last pregnancy) and this morning at work I got so light headed I had to sit down and I then I ran to the bathroom thinking I was going to vomit (but I didn't).

So if I'm going to be so symptomatic like this I think I will just have to say something once I get some confirmation of a pregnancy. I'd rather be upfront about it than have them thinking that I'm showing up to work lazy or with a stomach virus!

And you know, if they're not cool with it then it's not the type of place I want to be working at!

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Aug 5, 2008

Oh NewYorkgirl, I'm sorry to hear about your baby girl. Good luck with TTC...

jsu102 · Aug 6, 2008

I wasn't pregnant when I interviewed but I found out I was about 8 weeks before I was due to start. I went through the struggle, "to tell or not to tell" and just stuck with the same advice I got from everyone else to wait until I started. I was terrified to tell anyone and had no clue how to approach it. My second day of hospital orientation my nurse educator asked if there were any changes with the new grads she should know about and I took that as my cue. So I told her and she basically passed the word around.

No one seems to be upset about it (and one of my preceptors is pregnant too), so far so good. However, my other preceptor told me that he wants to push me harder than the other new grads because he doesn't want anyone to ever have an excuse to be negative or hard on me because of being pregnant. So he said his strategy is to try to make me the best in my group. Ugh, that makes me nervous too.

I'm only 4 months right now though, so I guess I have 5 more months to prove myself.

zlatamoya · Aug 8, 2008

I'm in the same boat. When I interviewed I was not pregnant but I knew that I wanted to be shortly. My hospital has our Unit Director have lunch with us on our first day of orientation so I chose to tell her that day. I personally believe in getting things out and putting them on the table. That waythey have all the time that they need to make arrangements for at least 6 weeks of maternity leave. (As I was told that my Dr. prob won't give me the ok to return to work until a minimum of 6 weeks.) She took it really well and it was a much bigger deal to me than her...you know being a new grad on top of everything. I mentioned how it's prob not the best timing, but she said well there never really is the best time. Don't sweat it too much! I know two other new grads who are expecting and still able to start in their positions no prob! Best wishes!