Babies and Nursing School

[yisy4u]

Hi!

I'd like to ask for opinions in this matter.....Can you have a baby and still going to nursing school? I've been wanting to get pregnant. I was doing the math and if I get pregnant soon the baby will be about 4 month old once I start the nursing program. So my questions for all the mothers out there. Is it too difficult to have a 4 month old baby and going to Nursing school? Have you done it? I would hate to have the baby and don't give him/her all the attention he/she requires.

Sometimes I have thought about leaving the baby for after I graduate, but after I finish with the ADN I want to go for my master. I don't think I can postpone having the baby until then.

Thanks for your advices.

[JenniferSews]

I had my third baby in between semesters. I couldn't take ANY time off without going back on the wait list for another 3 years. There was a zero tolerance policy for sick days or any sort of excuse for not passing this notoriously difficult program (including another student's near death and weeks of ICU stay after a motorcycle accident). Needless to say I didn't PLAN for a child in the middle of this but after such difficulty getting and staying pregnant we didn't really have this on the radar.

In the end it worked, but required a LOT of family help. He was born the 3rd and classes started again the 7th. Daycare's at least here can't take a child until it is 6 weeks old. With no family in state it meant I had to ask every member of my family to take as much vacation as possible and please come have their first babysitting experience with my newborn. I have never once asked for help from my family in my 35 years so it wasn't easy. I hated leaving him beyond reason. It was TOUGH to put it mildly.

I passed the semester he was born. The next semester I ended up in the hospital for 3 days after being extremely ill for 3 weeks of my 6 wk course and failed. It was one of the worst things I've ever had to do to face those people who put their lives on hold and flew out to help us. On the other hand other classmates had children and managed to get through.

IMO it depends on your program, the flexibility and your support system. Those of us who where pregnant had a target on our heads from the day they realized our situations. They told us sometimes flat out that we wouldn't be able to pass and at every turn made it hard. The 100% NCLEX pass rate was the be all and end all of our program.

I would do some serious thinking. Your baby won't remember those first few months but as a mother they were incredibly precious. On the one hand with my third we all knew we needed to push through the hard parts and make sacrifices. He had plenty of people helping and holding him and didn't suffer any ill effects. On the other hand every day I had to go to a 12 hour clinical and leave me 2 wk old at home was physically painful and I hated it. Every week I had 2 12 hour clinicals and a full 8 hour day of school plus at least 20 hours worth of reading/studying. Find out the expectations and requirements of your program before making a decision.

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

If I was you I would wait. I have to ask though if you have considered having the baby after you graduate with your ADN and then having a baby and then going back for your Master's? Most master's programs where I live want you to have at leeast one to two years experience before applying. Also you would have your career started and getting a higher degree could wait a bit. The reason I bring this up is because I got pregnant in my last semester of pre-req's and ended up dropping them. Pregnancy, especially a first one, really has a huge unimaginable effect on a person. It ending up having to put things on hold for a bit and I'm glad I did because you cannot imagiune how hard it is to leave your baby. If its possible I would wait then ns would get the attention it needs to be successful and your baby would get the attention he or she will need.