Help!! Maternity scrubs?? Are they necessary?

[RNin2007]

Anyone who can offer advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I am pregnant and finding my normal scrubs difficult to fit into. They are very snug in the waist, and the shirts are snug around the bottom. I will only need scrubs until I am about 20 weeks along (I am 11 weeks now, but this is my third kid so you know how much faster you pop out...). I am in my last term of nursing school and only need them for clinicals so I only want to buy one pair. I googled maternity scrubs and only found a few pair and they seem so ugly. Would it work to just buy one size up? I don't want to look dumpy...not that scrubs are flattering to begin...but...you know...

So any ideas ladies? Thanks so much!

Joni

[TazziRN, RN]

13 shifts can be unbearably long if you're not comfortable!

[MissJoRN, RN]

I lost my first post. The summary- Maybe it was just the way my baby was positioned but I needed elastic. In the OR, I either wore a BellaBand over bigger pants or looped an elastic band around my back when I got too big for the BellaBand. (My Bella was actually an ebay knock-off)

When I worked on the floor, I wore upsized elastic pants (usually from thrift shops), a white maternity T, and a regular jacket or snap front top. By the time I was a week overdue, I was tugging everyting anyway, didn't matter. Colored scrub pants look odd under white pants, IMO, since even dark ones like navy have a white panel. I looked odd enough without that.

[fussy_lass]

How far into your pregnancy are you allowed to do clinical placements or work in the hospital? Judging by this thread, it seems like quite a while.

[KellNY, RN]

How far into your pregnancy are you allowed to do clinical placements or work in the hospital? Judging by this thread, it seems like quite a while.

Allowed? They can't not let you, it's discrimination. You're "allowed" to work until the baby slides out.

[MissJoRN, RN]

Unless Mom is on bedrest there's no reason she can't work if she wants to. As I hinted, I worked on my due date (Silently grumbling everytime I heard the lullaby played on the intercom for other babies) and I worked the day before my baby was born the next week- while contracting. I don't even think school have any limitations- I went to school with some women who were "due any day" by the end of the semester.

Maternity leave is so bad in the US (6 weeks, I think? I'm perdiem so I'm not sure) that working up until the first contraction is the best way to maximize your time with the new baby.

[fussy_lass]

Thanks for that. I'm getting married in April next year and not due to graduate till November so I've been wondering how to fit in possibly being pregnant with doing clinicals. I can imagine I'd be rather nervous about knocks and infectious diseases.