Pregnancy in nursing school

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Mar 28, 2015

Thousands of us have had babies during nursing school. However, don't count on your school allowing you to lay out a semester. ASK them if it is possible, you may be putting yourself back an entire year.

nursingjourney · Mar 28, 2015

Could you consider putting nursing school on hold for a a year or 2? That's what I did when I found out that I was expecting my little bundle of joy, and now he is 2 and I am about to start in the fall. I'm sure it's possible, but is it really the best choice to go through with nursing school and being pregnant/having a newborn? It's unlikely that your school will allow you to take a semester off, unless they have already stated so. Nursing school isn't going to go anywhere. But it sounds like your chances of motherhood might. My prayers are with you! You have to do what you believe is best.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2015

I don't know if you can sit a semester out. We currently have 3 women pregnant. 2 in the LPN and 1 in the RN. The one in the RN program, her due date is like 2 weeks before the fall semester starts. She I think is trying to schedule her csection a couple of weeks earlier so she would have like a month. She is not sitting out. One of the girls in the LPN is dropping out after this semester and I'm not sure about the third as she did not pass a class last semester and is a little behind.

ShelbyaStar · Mar 28, 2015

Can you time it so that you have the baby during summer break? Kinda my plan... maybe...

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Mar 28, 2015

I was pregnant in nursing school, and the babies very thoughtfully decided to be born right at the beginning of a month-long semester break. I missed a little school due to complications at the end, but it worked out very well in the end. It was a gamble though- there is always the possibility that you will have a complicated pregnancy or a sick newborn and end up needing to take more time off than you planned. Pregnancy/birth is unpredictable. I agree that many nursing schools will not let you just take a semester off- at my school, if I had missed a semester for a legit reason like a complicated pregnancy, they would let me retake it- but I would have had to wait a YEAR, until those classes were offered again. No rolling admissions at this school.

I think having a newborn in nursing school would be incredibly challenging (my nursing school pregnancy was a surrogacy), but I had two babies of my own in midwifery school and we all survived. If you want to make it work, you can do it. It's HARD though, and it's okay to not want to take on that kind of stress.

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Mar 28, 2015

I was admitted to a bridge program the month my son was suppose to be born. Unfortunately with all of the complications during my pregnancy, I had to turn down the program.

I have decided to be a stay at home mom since then but I don't regret it one ounce.

There was a woman who had her baby during my LVN program & came right back. If you have a smooth pregnancy, it is doable. But if pregnancy & motherhood is at the forefront right now, you should do that. Nursing school will always be there.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Mar 28, 2015

Is pregnancy/birth doable in nursing school? Sure.

Would I advise to put yourself in that situation if you can avoid it? No, especially if you've never been pregnant and had a new born before.

Nursing school is hard enough as it is. Pregnancy could be a breeze or it could be complicated. My last month I was on total bed rest. I had to lay on my left side for a month. The only time I was allowed up was to take a five minute shower or got to the bathroom. I also had morning sickness 24/7 for almost the entire pregnancy. I would have never survived nursing school. I had a c-section. That was nothing. Then I had a night owl who had feeding complications eight weeks later that took some creativity beyond what doctors could recommend but it worked. I didn't feel like a human being for almost a year (which is when she started sleeping on a routine).

I would suggest starting your family now since you seem to be pressed for time and you don't want to miss out on having a family if that is what you want in life. Like others have said, nursing school isn't going anywhere. Once you're feeling more like yourself after you have your baby, then would be a good time for school. As women, we try to be superwoman and do it all. The only thing is we also don't realize how much stress we are taking on when we are trying to do these things.

augurey · Mar 29, 2015

Some people can do it, some can't.

Pregnancy is unpredictable. Even if you've been pregnant before and it went smooth, it doesn't mean this one will be. If you're planning, it'd be best to plan at a time that isn't during nursing school. Either try after nursing school or try before nursing school if you can.

I unexpectedly found out that I'm pregnant with my second the day my second semester started. My pregnancy with my daughter was very uneventful so I figured this one would be the same. It hasn't. You have to be prepared for possible complications. From 5+4 until 7+3 I had spotting with clots. At 6+1 we saw a gestational sac only with hcg levels over 18,000. During those 2 weeks I was a wreck and really struggled to deal with that on top of school. I even went through one class having no idea what the lecture was on because I was too focused on what was going on with the pregnancy. It took me one week to realize I had to pull myself together or I was going to risk failing out in my 2rd week of the second semester.

If you have complications, it can be very hard to focus on your studies. I knew in my heart that what was going on was out of my control and I had to focus on school (with some encouragement from my husband). I knew that I still had to keep going with school. Baby or no baby, I still have to stay on top of my game. Everything was, fortunately, okay.

I withdrew after those 2 classes ended (still did well in both) because of the school's accreditation and am currently in the process of applying (and taking pre-reqs) to a regionally accredited school vs an ACICS accredited school. Just 2 weeks after being out of school, I came down with the vomiting flu followed by a sinus infection and an ear infection in both ears. Those are hard enough on their own, but throw a pregnancy in the mix, it's absolutely miserable (and I'm still trying to bounce back). I knew trying to stay on top of school would have killed me.

Just a week ago I had an unexplained bleed. Fortunately everything looked normal, but I thought about what would have happened if I were still in school. If things weren't okay and I ended up on bed rest, then that would have made clinicals nearly impossible and would have likely had to withdraw because of my failure to meet lab and clinical requirements.

Yes if I get into this new program I'll be due within the first few weeks of the start of the program, but we're in a situation where I can't wait another year. I quit my job to do this and we cannot wait any longer. It'll be hard, but we have a very strong support system in place. If I have to have a repeat csection, it's going to be even more difficult, but it has to be done. Obviously there could still be complications further down the road that could prevent me from starting the program (if I'm accepted).

So, I'm just saying that if you do decide to do both, you have to be prepared for possible complications and those complications don't always allow for full activity. You'll be on your feet a lot with labs/clinicals, and if you have to stay off your feet, it's going to be difficult to complete those requirements. If it's just temporary, your school might make arrangements, but it's not guaranteed they will. Taking a semester off isn't always an option. Some schools may have a set up that would allow for it (with good reason), but not all schools have programs set up that way. My former school and my potential school only offer these classes once a year. That's something you would even have to check out with the school to make sure that's even possible.

If you're in a now or never situation to have a baby, have a baby but wait on nursing school. Nursing school will always be there but your opportunity to have children won't always be.

TooManyCats, ASN, BSN · Mar 29, 2015

I actually have checked with my program and sitting a semester out is totally doable, though I didn't ask if it would delay graduation a semester or a year. The recommended sitting out your due date semester just in case you miss a clinical. I'm not super pressed for time on graduation though so that's probably why I didn't ask (I haven't brought home income since 2011, I'm not missing it!) I actually have two little boys now and started school when the littlest was not even one, so I am very well versed in balancing school and kids, I guess I've just gotten used to horror stories about women who have babies and never go back.

augurey · Mar 29, 2015

I actually have checked with my program and sitting a semester out is totally doable, though I didn't ask if it would delay graduation a semester or a year. The recommended sitting out your due date semester just in case you miss a clinical. I'm not super pressed for time on graduation though so that's probably why I didn't ask (I haven't brought home income since 2011, I'm not missing it!) I actually have two little boys now and started school when the littlest was not even one, so I am very well versed in balancing school and kids, I guess I've just gotten used to horror stories about women who have babies and never go back.

I think in that situation (re: stories about women who have babies and never go back) is such and individual and personal thing. Only you have that within your power to know whether or not you'll go back. It's something you would have to put your mind to and have the motivation to do.

That's great though that your school has that kind of set up and is supportive of needing time off for birth!

I think I would just say then that if you know you can handle little kids while juggling school, then go for it (keeping in mind possible complications could change things), but I think if you wanted to become a nurse bad enough, you would be okay if you waited an extra year. But it's really what you think you can do and handle. I don't think there's a wrong decision, but you just have to be comfortable in your decision.

scjaguar · Mar 30, 2015

I agree with what the pps have said. It is an individual decision. I am currently pregnant (due 6 weeks prior to classes starting) and have son who is a toddler. I am starting school this fall. I know it will be a huge juggling act for the first few months, however, my husband is extremely supportive and will do whatever he can to help. Due to the nature of my husband's career (military), waiting to go to school would likely be more difficult than getting it over with right now. Like you, I have already completed all of my general ed requirements and I am very determined to get this done. I personally believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. You know what needs to be done, so you have a choice to make. Either you can make it work with your pregnancy or you can wait until after your pregnancy to start. Only you know what you can handle.