Advice on best time to have a baby (please!)

vanilla bean · Nov 6, 2017

FWIW, all else being equal, we'd rather have the last baby now for a host of personal/financial/health reasons.

OK then, there's your answer.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Nov 6, 2017

You have not been accepted to a program yet. THAT's the hard part. IF you are accepted.. that will take all of your efforts.

It's another kid.. or nursing . Pick your dream.

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2017

Nursing is my dream career, and I hate the idea of being distracted by pregnancy/taking a maternity leave soon after finally landing a RN job.

I would hate the idea of being distracted by nursing school during that important and special time of raising children.

Nursing school will always be there, your children's childhood will not.

Fiona59 · Nov 6, 2017

I would hate the idea of being distracted by nursing school during that important and special time of raising children.
Nursing school will always be there, your children's childhood will not.

Can't agree more! My youngest was five when I started my programme.

Sour Lemon · Nov 6, 2017

Babies don't always come when you "plan" for them to. If the baby is important, don't wait to start trying ...especially if you're beyond your 20s.

RNperdiem, RN · Nov 6, 2017

Although the shift is 12 hours, when you add commute, giving report, getting to work a little early and sometimes leaving late, my door-to-door time is more like 14 hours.

When you graduate nursing school and work as a nurse, nights, weekends and holidays are part of most new grad jobs. Plan for them.

To make long hours work, you need rock-solid childcare. Especially if you have several kids, you need the kind of person or childcare arrangement that goes beyond simply "babysitting".

LovingLife123 · Nov 6, 2017

It's not easy at any time. Nursing school is stressful, NCLEX is stressful. But my first year as a RN was more difficult than any time spent in nursing school.

The thing is babies and young children don't understand that mom needs to study. They want your attention. Kids don't understand the stress you will be under at work. It's hard not to bring it home sometimes. Labor and Delivery is not all peaches and roses. You will deal with a lot of drug addicts, women who neglected themselves in pregnancy, impossible family members. You will deal with infant death and infants born with horrible health problems. It's stressful and will get to you.

You will have to have your masters to be a midwife which is more schooling. That's a tough road with an infant and small children.

My first year, I spent many nights late at work. It's not just a twelve hour shift. You don't leave until your charting is done. In the beginning, i never left at 1930, it was usually somewhere between 2000-2100.

If you can make it work, go for it. But you will need a lot of support. And plans in place for when things go wrong. Because it will go wrong.

OldDude · Nov 6, 2017

My #2 boy was born during my first semester of nursing school. I remember very little of his first two years of life other than staggering around in the wee hours while mom could get some rest and then stagger through nursing school because I was awake during the wee hours.

I'm with Been there,done that. If you have a choice, pick one or the other.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2017

Don't have a baby. Get a cat. Cats are awesome.

labordude, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2017

preferably as close to 40 weeks as possible... :roflmao:

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Nov 7, 2017

Whenever you can get pregnant. I was in grad school to be a teacher years ago. It took me a year longer to get pregnant than I wanted. If you want a baby have one. Life waits. :)