Baby during grad school

mellzie22 · Apr 1, 2012

Interested to see the comments. I will be 28 when I graduate from PNP school.

loganc7 · Apr 1, 2012

Hi there,

I'm in a direct entry MSN/FNP program and my daughter was 5 months old when I began (she's a little over a year old now). I'm not working on the side, so I can't speak to the work/school balance. As far as school/mom goes, though, I'm not having any trouble. We're even thinking about baby #2 at the moment! I have an extremely supportive husband and good child care. I recommend talking it over with your fiancé and making sure that you're both on the same page. Also, do you have access to high quality day care? Knowing your kid's in a great place makes it that much easier to focus on school/work. All in all, I think being a parent makes me a better student and a better caregiver - I say go for it! :-)

Tinabeanrn · Apr 1, 2012

I was able to do it too. I have two older kids though (15 and 12) and I am married so between the 3 of them I didn't have to do too much and I had a lot of help. As for working, I did it for the first year but it was two hard the second year with clinicals. I would have clinicals 3 days a week and a ton of reading and a TON of papers and projects and Typhon stuff to do each week. It became too hard so I started working part time in the second year. The last semester ( which I am in now) I saved my income taxes and took out the maximum loans and used that for my bills and stuff. I only worked through the agency one or two days a month in order to pay my daughters tuition and car payment. Its do able, but even going part time (as I did) its a ton of stuff to do. Just as long as you have support. And you can do your busy work and studying when you are up all night with the baby :).

nitasarn · Apr 1, 2012

It can be possible to have a baby, but it will be very hard. Have you even taken advanced patho and advanced assessment yet? Those are 2 very reading and study intensive classes. I graduate in Aug and had planned that if I was going to get pregnant it would be during my clinicals in the last semester. Then I could be off of work on maternity leave and study for boards. Im working full time (3 12 hours) and trying to get my 500 clinical hours in. The only day of the week I have off is Sat., which is devoted to writing my SOAPs and turning in my hours. I had a + pregnancy test in Feb, unforunately I wasnt able to carry past 2nd trimester but to even make the Dr's. appts I had to either call in at work, or called off a day in clinical. Also, you get sooooooo tired during the first couple weeks. I keepwondering if my body was too stressed out. What if something happens where you have to be on bedrest or something? I will say that my friend did it in her last semester but she was stressed too, marriage was tested, then she had to PRAY that she had her baby at this time/day, so she spend time with the baby for 6 weeks, then send the child to daycare, so she could start making up her clinical hours. You want to be able to enjoy that time. And I agree with the previous post about having a supportive partner,that is crucial...

tryingtohaveitall · Apr 4, 2012

I can't speak to having a baby while in grad school but my youngest was 2 when I started working on my PNP part-time. I chose to do it over 4 years as I was/am working and homeschooling my other kids. The first few years weren't too bad but this year has been pretty rough. I feel like all I have done is make apologies and promises that we're going to have a good time this summer when we're done. They're only babies once. I'd hate to miss so much of it. Just my 2 C.

moonischasingme1 · Apr 6, 2012

Even though I know it's not an exact science that i can control, ideally, i'd like to get pregnant during grad school, so that i would have the baby right after graduation. Anyone do something similar? This would also be good for us because my husband is a teacher and would be off during the summer time. In addition, i would still be at my RN job, could take maternity leave and not inconvenience my new job?

Tinabeanrn · Apr 6, 2012

Hi again, I didn't do that ...but I did want to mention that maybe waiting until after you graduate would be best because when you are pregnant you get "baby brain" and you really cant think or process things by week 8 of your pregnancy. For me, that did not go away until long after I had the baby. Plus you are so tired and busy with doctor appointments. The demand of school on your time and energy may become annoying to you. There are a ton of assignments, papers, and test....on top of your clinicals and work schedule. It will be a struggle for sure. Also consider if the little one (Lord forbid) comes early...and you have to take a semester off. You would have to return to school with a newborn and all of the above. In a perfect world, graduating in May and having the baby in June or July would be great. But school will be really taxing, especially at the end. I feel so overwhelmed right now its not even funny :/. I am finishing my thesis and a powerpoint for class and I just can't think any more. I am so over it... And If I were preggers right now I would be a basket case. Both roles are huge responsibilities and if I could separate the two I would. Just my two cents :). Best of luck in whatever you decide to do. All things are possible to them that believe.

Sincerely, Tina

allnurses Guide · Apr 17, 2012

I didn't have a baby while in NP school (I was waaaaay too old!), but did get pregnant and have the baby while I was in another graduate program years ago. This program wasn't as strenuous as the NP program, but I still had a lot of challenges.

1. Morning sickness-mine was all day sickness for 4 months. The last thing I wanted to do was go to class, and there was no way I could have dealt with clinicals.

2. Fatigue-the first trimester was a killer when combined with #1 above.

3. Once the baby was born, I just lost interest in school. I only had 2 more classes to take, so I made myself finish, but my heart and head weren't in it. Fortunately, nothing I was studying directly affected human well-being, cause I was pretty checked out.

I don't mean to be a downer, but that was my experience combining work, school, and pregnancy/baby. There is no way I could have handled pregnancy and NP school. There were 3 women in my class who were pregnant-2 dropped out and never finished. One was pregnant during the last semester and had an easy pregnancy, and did just fine.

I would highly recommend finishing school before getting pregnant. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it's pretty hard to do both things.

NurseVN · Apr 17, 2012

Hi everyone,I won't be graduating with my FNP until May 2014! I'm currently 27 (since February) and engaged to be married in October.While I know 29 is still doable to have babies, of course, I wonder if anyone has insight on having a baby while going to school part-time for MSN and working full-time? Anyone do it? success stories, tips, etc? I see threads related to undergrad, but none with graduate school...Thanks!

I think you will appreciate my comment because I'm working full time as a RN, going to school for FNP (half way done), and am currently 25 weeks pregnant! At my hospital, we work 7 shifts/ 2 week pay period. I've been taking 1-2 classes (theory) per semester, including during my 1st and 2nd trimester. I even think of taking 1 course during Summer school which ends when I'll be 37 weeks pregnant :-)

So far, I did Advanced Patho, Advanced pharm, advanced health assessment (while pregnant), bioethics, research, spiritual care (required at my school), and advanced Roles.

I have 5 more clinical courses which I plan to finish in 2 years. So, yes, it's doable if you're type A like me, over-energized, can enjoy an semi- easy pregnany, and have a supportive husband. We have a housekeeper who comes twice a month. My husband does laundry and grocery. I cook 1-3 times/ week and we do take out when I can't. I work night shift and my husband works 7am- 330 pm so we have dinner like at 5 pm. I'm off every other weekend so we plan our going outs accordingly. After my son is born, we plan to have family help for 3 months then hire a live-in babysitter. I will also take 1-2 semesters off as my baby dues in August. Hope that helps!!!!