Pregnant during nursing school

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Hello all. I am currently a nursing student about to start my 3rd semester in the fall of a 5 semester program. My husband and I know for sure we want one more child but are trying to decide when the time will be right. We already have an 18 month old currently. Due to certain circumstances we cannot wait anymore than I would say 5 years at the very maximum for another baby. With all that being said, I am currently in a good job in terms of maternity leave (3 months full pay vs most places is 6 weeks) but I also want to get into a PCT position before I graduate to get my foot in the door. My thought is if I were to plan it just right I could have the baby end of next May, go on a maternity leave from my job, and then get into a hospital after the maternity leave for my last semester of school.

SO....looking for success/not so successful stories on those of you have have any experience with this or know someone who has? Curious how it worked out for others. Thanks in advance:)

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I strongly recommend you wait to have another child until after nursing school. You already have a toddler and you have no idea if complications may arise with a future pregnancy. At best, you will need a week or two off, and probably more. Very hard, if not impossible, to make up missed work and likely, you will have to withdraw a semester if any complications do arise. Wait until the end of school before you try to conceive for best success in school. Good luck.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

We did have 2 gals who got pregnant during school. One had to drop our for a semester, the other did not get pregnant til the last weeks of school and finished on time. I can tell you, there is no way on Earth I would have gotten pregnant during school. I waited til I was at my new job for a year. It worked out well, because I had to go on bedrest with that pregnancy due to preterm labor. You just never know how a pregnancy will go. PLUS your toddler needs your attention, of which there will be a limit as you will always have your nose in a book. I do urge you to wait.

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Specializes in Cardiac Step down/ LTC.

My recommendation is to wait till you are done with school. Here's my story: The last semester of school found out I was pregnant. I wasn't worried because I was not due till September and I graduate in May. I figured I'll graduate,study for NCLEX and test before I'm due then look for a job after I have the baby. I had never had any complications with my other pregnancies, so was happy to be having another baby and graduating at the same time.

Well at 22weeks went for routine ultrasound. Discovered I had a serious complication and was put on immediate bed rest. At this point in the semester I was 4 weeks from graduation. I had to do a medical withdrawal because I obviously could not finish the last 4 weeks of my clinical.

Everything worked out I did end up having to have an emergency c-section at 32 weeks and had an amazing little boy. He was in NICU for a month, but he did awesome and today you would never even know he was 2 months premature. I went back in the fall and redid my clinical,graduated in December and passed boards. The point of my whole story is you never know how a pregnancy is going to go. Wish you the best with school!

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

We had a classmate give birth 4 weeks in to the first semester. She only missed 2 days of school. I don't know how she did it (with a 2 year old at home, too) and still made a 4.0 in the class. She is Wonder Woman in my book!

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

I'm sure it can be done, but why risk it?? You don't know if you'll have a normal, healthy pregnancy. You will probably be very fatigued. Raising a newborn while dealing with the stress of nursing school sounds like pure hell to me, personally. I'd rather have the time to focus on my schooling, and then the time to focus on getting to know my newborn by taking maternity leave while working as a nurse! Plus, when you get home from work, you don't have to write for 2 hours about your patients and read 10 chapters in 2 days and coordinate a group paper. You get home from work, and it's just your family and everyday life. Be patient and wait it out.

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Bad idea.

Potential complications. Pregnancy brain. Recovery period may be longer than you think. You might not eat as well as you should because of the added stress.

All sorts of things can go wrong. I definitely wouldn't do it on purpose, thats for sure

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Specializes in Med/surg.

(I'm not yet a student nurse, but I want to throw in my 2 cents.)

As others have said, wait until you're done. I'd like to throw in one more reason to the pile... postpartum depression. You never know if it may happen to you, even if it didn't happen with baby #1. I thought when I was became pregnant and was due in my second semester of college that I would just take two online pre-reqs the semester I was due, take off summer and hop right back in come fall.

Nope. :no:

PPD hit me hard, and even with a support system, it took years to fix my academic and emotional state. You're in the middle of school, and you just never know what could happen physically or mentally.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I think it's highly individual and only you really have the answer for that. That being said, like pp have mentioned you don't know if there will be complications and have to be prepared for that. We have had 2 girls pregnant and give birth while in nursing school in our co-hort. Both have small children under 3 as well and missed one or two days each before coming back to class. They are amazing and strong women in my book, I can't imagine how hard it is for them to balance it all. So it can be done, but really depends on a lot of things. Good luck with your decision.

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Specializes in ER.

Are you taking into account the risk of having a difficult pregnancy? What if you are placed on bed rest a month before the due date? Would you have to drop that entire semester? How many clinicals are you allowed to miss? What if the baby comes premature and ends up in the NICU for a month?

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I just did it. With 3 terms (of 12) left. I just finished my first term with the new baby (and big brother). Clinicals were tough to get up so early after having been up and down through the night, but it's possible! I'm also breast feeding, for an extra challenge. The baby is now 5 months and I only have 2 terms left! It was a timing issue with us too, so we went for it!

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I had my 5th baby at the beginning of semester 2 of a 5 semester accelerated BSN. I had her on a Tuesday and I was in clinical in Monday. It worked out because I had an easy pregnancy and an easy delivery. You can search my posts to read more details about my situation.

In my opinion, the opposite of all of the concerns others have raised here is that you never know what of a myriad of things could happen that could derail your education. I don't think that's a reason to postpone school. And what if it takes longer than you expected to get pregnant, it could throw off your timeline anyway.

Worst case scenario you have to defer and finish the next semester. I say if you have a deep support system, go for it!

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