New Grad going on Maternity leave--yikes

[nulife4good]

I graduated May '11, got pregnant in July with my second child and started a job in November. My pregnancy has been uneventful (very healthy) and hasn't been an issue throughout the program; the orientation ends literally 2 weeks before my due date. I'm really concerned about my ability to get permanently hired onto a unit floor despite receiving positive reviews and good constructive criticism from my preceptors/mentors. I plan on taking the least amount of maternity leave in order to remain viable but I'm trying to anticipate what could happen. My husband thinks that I could possibly get a part time position but I don't know if they'd even offer something like that to a new grad.

Any other RNs out there deal with a similar situation and how did it turn out for you?

[fsh1986]

I'm in the same boat... I'm 3 months pregnant, start March 5th with a 1 week hospital orientation, 4-6 week preceptorship, and a 3 month orientation to my telemetry unit. I'm determined to finish my preceptorship in 4 weeks so I can get onto the orientation faster, but I'll still be due about a week and a half after I finish orientation.

I'm thinking, worst case scenario, I'll ask for a one week off when I have the baby.. and since it's only 3 days a week, it won't kill me. With my last child, I HAD to go back to work after a week and a half because my fiance had been laid off. Wasn't a big deal. I just don't want to risk not permanently coming on even though I was told that my being pregnant wouldn't be a problem.

Hopefully we can get some responses from nurses who have already dealt with this, or know someone who has :)