I've seen a lot about male PT students with kids, but females not so much. Are there any female PT students out there that are/were pregnant while getting their DPT? If so, when did you do it during schooling? Any info would be appreciated, as I'm trying to figure out when to have my second child. I'm 34, so I don't want to wait till I graduate or establish a career. My sister did that and went through 6 long, stressful and heartbreaking years trying to get pregnant.
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Pregnancy and the FEMALE PT Student
- Thread starter Phatmomma
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one thing to keep in mind is that pregnant women cannot participate in anatomy dissections labs because the chemicals used for preservation can be teratogens. depending on your schools curriculum, you may want to wait until this course is over.
i haven't started school yet so i don't have any other helpful advice for you, but best of luck starting your family!
i haven't started school yet so i don't have any other helpful advice for you, but best of luck starting your family!
To add on top of doglover's post, pregnancy is a contraindication for many modalities used in physical therapy. So, in labs you can use ultrasound or electrical stim on classmates, but they can't be used on you. It might be a minor detail, but in this situation I wouldn't want to use something on a patient that I haven't felt on myself. Feeling is knowing, blah blah...
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During an interview day at one of the schools I visited I asked a current student if any of the students had children. She said that a few did, and one was currently pregnant. She was in her second year and was just going to reschedule her summer clinical, and be back to school in the fall. I think the most important thing is to attend a school that is family friendly. In my experiences interviewing at a few schools this year, I got the impression that some are and some are not.
Phatmomma,
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm 34 too, going to PT school in the cominig Fall and thinking about having a second baby. Not only concerned about the restriction due to pregnancy but also worried about how to coordinate schooling and at least the first few months after the baby is born. My plan is the get baby born at the first spring semester which presumably doesn't has as tight schedule as the fall and doesn't interfere with the clinic practice usually occuring in summer. But I think this heavily depends on the curriculum of individual schools. Do you have some idea if schools allow you suspend the semester in such situation?
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm 34 too, going to PT school in the cominig Fall and thinking about having a second baby. Not only concerned about the restriction due to pregnancy but also worried about how to coordinate schooling and at least the first few months after the baby is born. My plan is the get baby born at the first spring semester which presumably doesn't has as tight schedule as the fall and doesn't interfere with the clinic practice usually occuring in summer. But I think this heavily depends on the curriculum of individual schools. Do you have some idea if schools allow you suspend the semester in such situation?
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I realize this post is old, but in case this is helpful for others....not pregnant now but I have 2 little ones and we have considered a 3rd.
You can do cadaver lab, my school required a pregnant student to wear a special mask thing with a filter.
My piece of advice is plan to get through your first year before deciding to get pregnant if you can. You will learn so much about your program and schedule and be better able to evaluate. Plus the first semester was a family nightmare in my case (I have 2 kids....just going back to school, scheduling and the like). I can't imagine trying to do it pregnant. If you can wait until a few semesters in to get pregnant, you can adjust first. Also, some schools are stricter than others. If you happened to give birth early and couldn't finish a semester for example, you might have to roll back a whole year.
This biggest downside I see is that you can't get a maternity break. If you have your kid in school you don't get weeks off like at a job. You literally might have to find daycare and be back in a few days. We have a short summer break and have considered timing for that but that's very hard to do obviously. Our current plan is to consider my final year and maybe plan to have a baby immediately after graduation. It's not ideal age wise but it mighty have to do. (I'm 34 now and in my first year)
You can do cadaver lab, my school required a pregnant student to wear a special mask thing with a filter.
My piece of advice is plan to get through your first year before deciding to get pregnant if you can. You will learn so much about your program and schedule and be better able to evaluate. Plus the first semester was a family nightmare in my case (I have 2 kids....just going back to school, scheduling and the like). I can't imagine trying to do it pregnant. If you can wait until a few semesters in to get pregnant, you can adjust first. Also, some schools are stricter than others. If you happened to give birth early and couldn't finish a semester for example, you might have to roll back a whole year.
This biggest downside I see is that you can't get a maternity break. If you have your kid in school you don't get weeks off like at a job. You literally might have to find daycare and be back in a few days. We have a short summer break and have considered timing for that but that's very hard to do obviously. Our current plan is to consider my final year and maybe plan to have a baby immediately after graduation. It's not ideal age wise but it mighty have to do. (I'm 34 now and in my first year)
