Pregnancy and Nursing School

[Daeny]

Hello All -

I just recently found this message board and have been reading and educating myself. You all sound so knowledgeable and caring....

My question relates to the issue of pregnancy in nursing school. I am currently first semester in an ADN program. I also just got married in November. My husband and I are both in our 30's and would like to try to have children right away instead of waiting 2 years for me to finish school. We have been together for 6 years already and we plan on having more than one child and I really don't want to get into the "high-risk" category by waiting too long.

I would like your honest opinions on whether it would be realistic to attempt 2nd and 3rd semester while pregnant. I already know that the instructors discourage it and will not allow you into certain patient care settings such as psych. I also am aware of all of the physical discomforts (nausea, fatigue) that accompany pregnancy and will probably be exacerbated by the stress. And yes, I obviously am aware that the truly "smart" thing to do would be to wait until school is done. I do have some acquaintances who have done it, but I get mixed opinions on just how difficult it was to handle.

Am I foolish to think I could handle both things at once? Have any of you carried this off successfully (no pun intended)?

I would like to hear both pros and cons - so give it to me straight -I can take it!

Thanks in advance for your input!

Daeny

[det01]

I disagree that instructors do not care. At least in my case. I had an appointment that was going to be close enough to a skills lab that I was afraid it would cause a problem. 2 weeks before the appointment, i asked if I could come to one of the other skills labs that were doing the same thing. They let me.

I do have an uncomplicated pregnancy (other than horrible morning sickness the first trimester) and the timing was right - iI will deliver right in the middle of summer vacation. I also have a great support system and a wonderful SIL that will keep my daughter while I am in class and clinicals, though. It is a little harder to be in class after the heartburn, kicking, ect has kept you up all night. I am sure it is just as bad or worse with a newborn - but if you feel you can do it, then it is doable, just different. There are several in my class who are pregnant or just had babies and all are making it. There are several more with small children and they are doing good as well. My advice would be to just look at your life and evaluate if you can do it. Like a PP said though - always remember that not every pregnancy is easy, you could end up on bedrest. You just have to decide for yourself.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Originally posted by det01

I disagree that instructors do not care. At least in my case. I had an appointment that was going to be close enough to a skills lab that I was afraid it would cause a problem. 2 weeks before the appointment, i asked if I could come to one of the other skills labs that were doing the same thing. They let me.

I do have an uncomplicated pregnancy (other than horrible morning sickness the first trimester) and the timing was right - iI will deliver right in the middle of summer vacation. I also have a great support system and a wonderful SIL that will keep my daughter while I am in class and clinicals, though. It is a little harder to be in class after the heartburn, kicking, ect has kept you up all night. I am sure it is just as bad or worse with a newborn - but if you feel you can do it, then it is doable, just different. There are several in my class who are pregnant or just had babies and all are making it. There are several more with small children and they are doing good as well. My advice would be to just look at your life and evaluate if you can do it. Like a PP said though - always remember that not every pregnancy is easy, you could end up on bedrest. You just have to decide for yourself.

count yourself lucky. most don't. read the student nursing threads and see how hard most have it.

your school is a rare exception. most instructors will tell you they don't have time to deal with this stuff. they are overworked, understaffed/underpaid and really DO NOT HAVE TIME to accomodate pg women. We all have issues, deaths in the family, pregnancies, divorces, for us military, it was a lot of deployments. IF EVERYONE with a special condition had to be accomodated, no one would be able to graduate on time. Instructors in most colleges have precious little time and/or patience for this stuff. To the OP, I would get a good feel of how your instructors are...IF they are kind and understanding, like in this post, you MAY be able to pull it off. It is indeed up to you but expect something to have to give. It always does.

[det01]

Actually this is the second school I have been at that cared. (I had to transfer int he middle of a program due to my husband being in the AF) ALso as students we usually try to get it done ahead of time.

I know it is fortunate that they will work with us in that way. However, some pregnant people ahve dropped out, but we still have several there. However, we do have to be eligigible for clinicals. If the doc says no - well then I think you have to sit it out for a year, but I am not sure. So far though everyone I have seen has been pretty lucky about uneventful pregnancies and we all pretty much had good timing on when the babies are due. Mine was just a one time thing - after that I always schedule my appointments after class.

[SmilingBluEyes]

i think you made it clear luck has a lot to do with it. i never make decisions like this, leaving things to chance myself. not when so much is at stake....a baby's life, family life and getting thru nursing school.....

having a baby and nursing school are each by themselves momentous and stressful....for most they just do NOT mix.

btw, my dh is in the USAF, too!!!

[det01]

You see, I really want to be a nurse, but I also have a previous degree to fall back on if necessary.

Also having a baby IS more important to me than nursing school. If I was forced to make a choice the baby would win. Yes, being a nurse is important to me, but being a mom is a much more important and to me even higher calling.

I do agree thoug that the OP should feel out the teachers and even talk to people that are ahead of her in the program. I am lucky to have instructors that care. Something else to realize to is that if they do care - not to take advantage of it. YOu need to be able to work your schedule around classes if at all possible.

I really wouldn't suggest having a baby outside of a break, either. You have to realize that even an uncomplicated pregancy can end in a C-section. If I had not gotten pregnant where it would be during summer, we had already decided we would put off trying for awhile. I think the God worked with us because he has a plan for Savannah's life.

BTW, which base are you stationed at if you don't mind me asking?

[SmilingBluEyes]

I PM'd ya.

[SnowymtnRN]

Well let's see.

I got pregnant (unplanned but welcome) with my first son in my last semester of nursing school. I will say it was good timing as far as SCHOOL went, but bad timing for me personally. But i dealt with it. Let's see, i had very little morning sickness, but to drag my butt outta bed every day for lecture was TORTURE. Plain TORTURE. All i wanted to do those first few months was sleep, all the time. Just sleep. But i managed. I went to my instructors at 6 weeks pregnant and told them i was preggo. I also knew NOT to expect any "special" considerations either like blue eyes said, because if you can't hang with the expectations of the program, then you can't be there. Its just that simple. I asked them if there was anything i COULDN"T do clinical wise, and they said they would look into it.

I did all my clinicals. I went to halfway houses for unregulated schizophrenics during psych, i went to AA meetings for psych, i did bedside care for med/surg and ER rotations, and the ONLY thing i chose to remove myself from was exposure to a peds patient with Chicken Pox (i've never had it.) My instructors didn't say anything, but i more than made up for it with OTHER cases/patients.

I graduated at almost 6 mths pregnant, and after that went to work as a new grad RN until my son was born. I didn't get paid maternity leave because i hadn't been there long enough. I worked out daycare with a friend and went back to work part time, and lets say that lasted for about 4 mths. Then i realized it wasn't working and chose to stay at home. HONESTLY i can't imagine having him and then going all the time i was going while in clinicals, lecture, etc...and leaving him with sitters, etc...as a newborn. He's MY child, and my DH and i wanted to be the ones to raise our children, not other people. So that's what we did. Now i've been at home for almost 3 years, am having my third baby, and ready to go back to work prn.

For ME the sacrifice wasn't school but my career. it was put on hold, and i'd do it again in a heartbeat. I was 27 when i got pg, 28 when i delivered. If i had to do it all over again, i'd wait until i had worked for a year, then done it. But oh well that wasn't God's plan for me!

I think IF you could wait, at least until your last semester to GET pregnant, that would be the "better" choice. But as many have pointed out, you have to expect the unexpected and the worst. You didn't say your exact age, but maybe make an appointment with your OB/GYN and discuss your options of having a baby if you are 35 or over (or will be when you graduate.) Just see what their input is and decide.

Good luck in whatever you do, but no matter what, if you DO get pg while in nsg school, don't expect people to bend over backwards to help you or accomodate you. Because they just won't. And its not fair to others in your program if they cater to you (not that you expect that or said that, i'm just pointing that out! :) )

HTH!!!

[futuregaspasser]

Just another thought. I had an uncomplicated pregnancy. In fact, I loved every minute of being pregnant, no morning sickness, ect. When, out of the blue, my water broke at 7 months. No explanation for it either. My dd was born 2 months early and stayed in the NICU for 3 1/2 weeks. So, even if I had planned this pregnancy around break, it would never have worked.

On another note, one of the girls in my class went through the end of her pregnancy during the first semester of nursing school, and delivered him 2 weeks before she had to be back for spring semester. She has her sister watch him while she was at class/clinical, but says it is VERY hard. It is yet to be seen if she will make it all the way through, but she has a strong determination.

[VaKidPN]

I got pregnant unexpectedly my pracitcal nursing program. I had no idea if I would make it through or not.I was told I was expected to do everything that everyone else was, I totally understaood that. I did my work, I never missed class, I worked my butt off. I stood on my feet for 8 hours sometimes more, my ankles were over my shows some days with swellilng. I was assigned a MRSA pt with full protective gear and 12 bed sores to pack along with a busted colostomy bad,, this was right inthe middle of my nausea lol.... well i made it anyway..... i had the baby eight hurs after graduation.

[VaKidPN]

ooops... so sorry for all those typos...

[futuregaspasser]

Originally posted by VaKidPN

.... well i made it anyway..... i had the baby eight hurs after graduation.

WOW! Now that is cutting it close! CONGRATULATIONS!!

[pkmom]

I think one could probably survive pregnancy and nursing school simultaneously, it has been done, but oh my, I certainly would not plan it that way. I couldn't imagine coming home from the hospital with a new baby and then leaving him to go to school all day. It takes months, most of the time, for them to learn to sleep through the night and there is no way I could learn without sleep. I had my son at midterms, before I was a nursing student, and my A average fell to a C, and I was only taking two classes that don't even compare to the time required of nursing classes. I like the previous posters advice reguarding which worst-case senario you could most likely deal with.

Best wishes with whatever you decide.