How Family Friendly?

[SeminoleFan3]

---

Members do not see this ad.

My husband and I are trying to figure out when we want to ahve our first child. We're both second years, and I'm Nany HPSP (with a 4 year deal). Ideally, I match at Bethesda & he matches somewhere near the area. Originally, we'd planned on having kids our 2nd year of residency (after the craziness of internship is done), but I'm recently coming to think that maybe having one in the early middle of 4th year would be nice (much more time to spend with the child before heading off into internship world as opposed to 2nd year residency).
Does Bethesda offer any sort of childcare for its workers? It's possibly my family may be living in the area at that time, so that would definitely help out a lot.

Any advice one way or another (that doesn't have to do with just not having children)?

 

[NavyFP]

My husband and I are trying to figure out when we want to ahve our first child. We're both second years, and I'm Nany HPSP (with a 4 year deal). Ideally, I match at Bethesda & he matches somewhere near the area. Originally, we'd planned on having kids our 2nd year of residency (after the craziness of internship is done), but I'm recently coming to think that maybe having one in the early middle of 4th year would be nice (much more time to spend with the child before heading off into internship world as opposed to 2nd year residency).
Does Bethesda offer any sort of childcare for its workers? It's possibly my family may be living in the area at that time, so that would definitely help out a lot.

Any advice one way or another (that doesn't have to do with just not having children)?

Having a munchkin in your 4th year is not a bad idea. Yes, Bethesda has a Child Development Center, but the DC area has plenty of options for childcare.

One additional thought. If you do decide to have a child in your 4th year, save your last AT for that time. You can arrange with HPSP to have school orders to start around your due date. Although this will limit you to one audition rotation, your planning on IM (if I remember correctly) and that is not difficult to match. The benefit of being on AT at the time of delivery is that TRICARE will pick up the part of the bill not covered under your school policy and will cover the little one should there be problems. There is prearranging that needs to be done, but not a huge deal.

The biggest downer is that you be an intern during much of your child's first year. Both of you will be working long hours, so there will not be lots of quantity time. Childcare becomes an issue when the little one is sick and you will have to coordinate calls between you and your husband.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

Having a munchkin in your 4th year is not a bad idea. Yes, Bethesda has a Child Development Center, but the DC area has plenty of options for childcare.

One additional thought. If you do decide to have a child in your 4th year, save your last AT for that time. You can arrange with HPSP to have school orders to start around your due date. Although this will limit you to one audition rotation, your planning on IM (if I remember correctly) and that is not difficult to match. The benefit of being on AT at the time of delivery is that TRICARE will pick up the part of the bill not covered under your school policy and will cover the little one should there be problems. There is prearranging that needs to be done, but not a huge deal.

The biggest downer is that you be an intern during much of your child's first year. Both of you will be working long hours, so there will not be lots of quantity time. Childcare becomes an issue when the little one is sick and you will have to coordinate calls between you and your husband.

The idea is to have the child in December-ish, therefore we have lots of time to spend with the kid before we do internship. Thanks for the heads-up about the TRICARE thing. I'll keep that in mind. I'm figuring out some things with my school regarding the situation, and then with our parents (his parents live not far away and would probably provide us with childcare when needed our 4th year), adn then mine might live in DC during our first couple years of residency (allowing us some flexible child care there).

 

[fsunavybabe]

If I were in your position (and I soon will be, but with the added complication of my S.O. being behind me a year and not a military med) I would choose to wait until either after or late internship year. This way you have good reliable health care all throughout the pregnancy (in case it doesn't agree with you), all your pre-birth check-ups, testing &/or procedures covered as well as the birth and post-care covered (for both you and the lil-one). Plus by then you'll have some idea of whether you're doing residency or GMO and what your husband will be upto as well. You also should have a bit more time and comfort in the Navy, medicine, and the area / housin you'll be in for the next few years.

Good luck!

 

[SeminoleFan3]

If I were in your position (and I soon will be, but with the added complication of my S.O. being behind me a year and not a military med) I would choose to wait until either after or late internship year. This way you have good reliable health care all throughout the pregnancy (in case it doesn't agree with you), all your pre-birth check-ups, testing &/or procedures covered as well as the birth and post-care covered (for both you and the lil-one). Plus by then you'll have some idea of whether you're doing residency or GMO and what your husband will be upto as well. You also should have a bit more time and comfort in the Navy, medicine, and the area / housin you'll be in for the next few years.

Good luck!

Well, I have health insurance. That's not a problem. The school doesn't require it, but we obviously (as medical students) feel it's important, so we have an Aetna student policy which covers pregnancy and things such as that. I'm not really worried about that aspect of it. I'm *slightly older than some of my classmates, and we don't want to wait for many years before we get started with the family. Even if I had to do a GMO tour, we'd still be having a kid that year after internship. But, never (until I finish in the Navy) will we have the time with a kid that we'd be able to have our fourth year. I'm not worried about time in the Navy and such. My dad's been in (and still is) since before I was born. The Navy's all I know. Almost anywhere we can be stationed, I've already been stationed.

 

[a1qwerty55]

Have your kid and deal.

You can't plan everything in life and there is no optimal time. Do it too late and you might find the old ovaries aren't getting it done or if not, you get to deploy when your kid is a year old. Too early and it might interfere with Internship (not as big an issue) the military does make accomodations and worst case, you do an extra year or residency thus delaying your deployment by a year.

I wouldn't try to overthink this. Kids are a blessing, if you want a family, have one.