Pregnancy and Medical School

[Novagir18]

I have kind of an interesting situation. My fiance and I are in the same medical school (he's an MS-3 and I'm an MS-1). We are getting married this summer. I was wondering if anyone is in a similar situation and thinking about when to get pregnant. Should I do it 4th year, or wait until sometime during residency? Another consideration is my parent's age. They are both fairly young and live very close to our house; however, in 5-8 years, it might be more difficult for them to help take care of a newborn. And of course the 300K debt...Anyone? I know it's hard for a woman to get pregnant in this profession...even when one partner isn't in the medical profession.

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[45408]

The saying goes, there's never a good time to get pregnant in medicine. That doesn't mean you shouldn't get pregnant, but it won't ever seem like "Okay, now I feel ready to get pregnant." One of my classmates had a child before med school, and she was pregnant again during M1 (delivered shortly after finals). If your parents are "fairly young," another 5-8 years won't make them "fairly old," so I don't think that should be too big of a concern, but you may want to have children while you're still younger.

My wife and I want to start having children around the beginning of residency.

 

[Beau Geste]

The saying goes, there's never a good time to get pregnant in medicine. That doesn't mean you shouldn't get pregnant, but it won't ever seem like "Okay, now I feel ready to get pregnant." One of my classmates had a child before med school, and she was pregnant again during M1 (delivered shortly after finals). If your parents are "fairly young," another 5-8 years won't make them "fairly old," so I don't think that should be too big of a concern, but you may want to have children while you're still younger.

My wife and I want to start having children around the beginning of residency.

That's when we would ideally like to have ours too. We'll be somewhat older parents (well my husband will just be into his 40's and I'll be 35).

LOL we're already getting the "lecture" from our primary care doc about waiting to have kids. I told him he could pay for our nanny while I'm in med school if he really wanted me to squirt one out now

 

[Lorrayne]

I'm an MS2 and pregnant right now. Pregnancy is not that hard during the first two years because there's so much classwork and basically your time's your own. However, one of my MS3 friends is also pregnant and she is managing as well.
It's also nice to have a child during school because if you want to take some time off you probably can. I'm planning on taking a one year leave of absence, which probably wouldn't be as easy to do during residency. Or if you have children during 3rd or 4th year you can schedule your rotations to have several months off (i.e. at the end of fourth year).
To me, residency seems like it would be more difficult simply because the hours are longer, and your maternity leave would only be about 6 weeks. Not to mention the fact that other residents would have carry your hours while you're gone. However, I know many women choose this option and everything works out fine.
I'd recommend just finding a time when you and your husband feel ready. If you do, then go for it, and everything else will work itself out.

 

[Jwax]

Now that I am starting to seriously consider surgery as my field of choice, I am starting to believe I'd be better off having kids right after my fiance and I get marrried this xmas. BUT unfortunately that just won't work for me. I'm 23 and am completely not ready to be a mom. Plus money is too tight as it is, and we wanted him to be able to stay home with the kids most of the time, which is something we can't do until at least we have an income from me. So I support the idea of having kids in 1st two years of school if you're ready. I think it would be nuts to have one during third year or internship. All else is fair game and equally difficult. Right now, I'm thinking during 3rd or 4th year of residency, and hopefully the other surgeons don't kill me if I do that.