Trying to plan pregnancy around school

[committedtonursing]

For all who have experienced pregnancy, I have a question:

I graduate 5/18/2007 and am thinking about trying to conceive a few months before I graduate. I have clinicals up until then, and don't want a pregnancy to interfere with clinicals or taking my NCLEX-PN (namely, don't want to get pregnant too soon and have my big belly get in the way, or nausea). My main fear is nausea. My main goal is to be done with nausea before I take my NCLEX (by end of May) and also have it be done before I begin my nursing career (I'm expecting that sometime in June, July 1st at the latest I will have a job as a nurse). I've done some research on WebMD and if severe, anti-nausea meds can be taken if home remedies don't work and nausea is too severe. I want a Mom's experience (I know everyone's pregnancy is different): could I reasonably plan to get pregnant a few months prior to graduation and NCLEX, without having it interfere with my clinicals? Any advice from mom's would be helpful! Thank you so much for anything you can offer :) My main reason for wanting to start before a career starts is I don't want nausea to interfere with those first weeks/months on the new job, either! Also, does anyone know when an employee, esp. a healthcare employee, must tell an employer that she is expecting? Thanks again for any info. and/or opinions offered:)

[Lurksalot, BSN, RN]

I know plenty of people have had babies during or shortly after nursing school, so it absolutely can be done. You could get pregnant exactly when you plan to, have a super pregnancy that never gives you cause to miss a day of clinical, NCLEX studying/testing, or your first job. It would all work out perfect.

But the bottom line is that there are a lot of things that can happen with pregnancy, morning sickness is only one of them, and if you could hold off I think it would be better for you. Any number of things could cause you to miss a clinical, not be able to study as much as you need to, or miss important time.

What would you do if you were a week away from graduating and got put on bed rest? I know a girl this happened to, and she ended up having to repeat the entire semester a year later because she could not meet the clinical objectives.

How would you feel if you were one of the women who get nausea NON-STOP during pregnancy? It's out of our control how it affects any one of us, and medications are a last resort.

Do you really want to enter into a job contract expecting to go on maternity leave in a few months? And would you be okay with not being covered under FMLA when you do take leave? Lots of issues with maternity leave, it could be rough. I known an employer can not ask if you are pregnant, but if you get pregnant in February or March, you may be showing a bump when you start your job. And in addition, you really would only be working a few months before maternity leave, so you have to consider how an employer will feel about you professionally if you do not tell them you are pregnant and get hired, and very shortly need maternity leave.

It's a tough call for someone else to make for you. You have to decide if you would be willing to risk that it might not all go as you planned. I think if you can make a plan "B" for how you will deal with bumps in the road, it could work. But don't get pregnant and be crushed if school, NCLEX, and a job have to take the back burner for a bit. If you would be okay with some change happening if needed, go for it.

I say all this as one who was pregnant during school, with a May due date right after graduation this year. Unfortunately, the pregnancy did not work out, and as devestated as I was, now that I am facing graduation/NCLEX/new job, I see how tough it would have been. But the bottom line is if you have the baby-ache now it's kinda all over. I think once the "Need a baby-itis" comes on, it's incurable. I know it was for me.

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[NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN]

If you're planning on waiting until a few months before graduation, you might as well wait until you are done. It would be a shame to have to repeat your last semester when you are so close to graduating. A few more months isn't that long to wait in the grand sheme of things. It would be different if you were just starting and had two years to go before graduation. Just my .02.

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

If it were me, I would try to postpone a pregnancy until I was in my new job six months. That way school/nclex would be done and forgotten, and you would be somewhat comfortable in a job. You would not have to hide your pregnancy when interviewing. AND you can then get FMLA leave. And from my own experience, you may change your mind about when and how much to return to work after the baby arrives. I planned on being off 6-8 weeks, as I thought we could not afford for me to stay home. It is almost 7 months later, and I am still home with the baby. We chose to adjust our lifestyle (spending habits), so I could stay home. Your priorities may change. I liked working before and having extra money, but now nothing is more important than spending time with my baby. I NEVER though I would be one of those moms!

[Pbe]

If I were you, I would wait until after graduation and possible after passing the Nclex and having worked for 6mos to a year. This way if you dont have a good start you dont have to worry about missing class or clinicals and being sick. Also if you wait until after you are working and that is with benefits, insurance will be a great thing to have. I must say that one of my best friends found out she was pregnant while we were in school and her baby was due two months before we graduated. With support she held on. I helped her when I could during clinicals and kept telling her that she was going to make it. She went into labor during clinical one night and the funny thing it was just as we had planned and hoped. It was during the middle of the week and it only caused her to miss two days of clinical two days of class with the weekend in the middle and that Monday was a holiday. She was back and rolling again. She'll always have a story to tell about that one.