Pregnant during interview season?

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LunaLovegas

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Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Thanks!

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Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Thanks!

seriously doubt it would matter. you still have to complete your required time. you'll either use your vacation for maternity leave or delay your graduation. nobody will care either way. good luck!
 
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Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Thanks!

Every program should be accepting. If anyone says anything or moves you down the list because of your pregnancy, then I would consider that a positive for you. That program would not have been a good long term fit for you from a support and family perspective.
 
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What can you really do about it anyway? Do your best and enjoy the baby.
 
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You may want to make it very clear that you would be taking a specified minimum amount of time off to deliver the baby, recover, then would be back to work as soon as it is possible. You have no plans to take off 12 weeks for this.
 
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I would suggest bringing food to the interview to raise the question of maybe it’s just stress eating and not pregnancy.



Joking aside it’s the reality more than the exception that someone may be pregnant during residency. Also, this will all be during your largely irrelevant intern year so they should care even less.
 
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It appears absence during the base year is dependent on the policies of the institution. Absences from the CA1-3 years cannot be more than 12 weeks total for the 3 years without repercussions (Section 2.03 of the ABA Primary Certification Document) http://www.theaba.org/PDFs/BOI/2017-Primary-Certification-Policy-Book
There are changes under way to allow an additional 40 days, but only under special circumstances that require approval from the PD and chair (and maybe ACGME?).
 
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There is no good time for a female anesthesiologist to have a baby, residency or in practice.

Having one in medical school makes a lot sense: less stressful, cheaper as you make no money.

Saw so many of them having kids late, some of them almost too late.

Last: any reasonable program will be ok with pregnancy. Enjoy the baby.
 
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There is no good time for a female anesthesiologist to have a baby, residency or in practice.

Having one in medical school makes a lot sense: less stressful, cheaper as you make no money.

Saw so many of them having kids late, some of them almost too late.

Last: any reasonable program will be ok with pregnancy. Enjoy the baby.

Or can skip the whole pregnancy process and adopt. Lot of unfortunate children out there, overpopulated world, finite resources, why keep adding? Food for thought :cyclops:
 
Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Disclaimer: I'm a man.

Most of your interviewers and PDs will be men. Most will probably have some implicit bias against you due to pregnancy. It's very very unlikely it will be seen as a positive.

I think you should say as little as possible about your pregnancy and avoid saying anything about how long you intend to be on maternity leave. Nor should you take any less than you feel is appropriate.

Portraying yourself as a team player, hard worker, etc (things all candidates should do) is the best thing you can do to mitigate the unavoidable "hit" you'll take due to your pregnancy.

Best of luck.
 
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About the only thing that will impact is if you will have to delay your start. That is a pain to coordinate. Not saying it can't be done, it is just more painful. :) Plus, that means an extension of your time. Which is more paperwork (because you have to ask for temporary increase in complement from the ACGME) and sometimes can cause budget issues with the institution. So from the admin side, we rejoice that you are having a baby, that is awesome; but we are also trying to figure out/plan for possible delays.
 
I would accept you on the basis of your username alone
 
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Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Congratulations on the pregnancy!

I've got the wrong set of gonads for this, but having interviewed visibly pregnant women, I would counsel you to not stress about how the programs feel about it. The interview process is for both parties. The programs that are bothered by your pregnancy are probably not programs you would want to be in. At the end of the day, there are worse things than not matching.

I think more residencies are looking at pregnancy differently. There are more data suggesting that residents with kids tend to be happier and burn out less. There are advantages to being more mature and treating this like a real job instead of just another class. All in all, I think more folks like it, but not every residency environment has a healthy love for it.

The interviewers shouldn't ask you about it. If you bring it up, it is fair game though. I would suggest you bring it up so you can gauge folk's reactions to it and get an idea into whether this is somewhere you would want to grow and raise your family. You should have questions related to how life events like sick kids are handled. You should be asking residents or attendings with young kids about daycares. You should be able to identify someone in that program who can help you balance two supremely stressful things.

I agree about having snacks, water, anti-emetics, GERD stuff, and anything else you'll want to stay comfortable.

I would also bet that with the right fashion choices to minimize the bump, many interviewers won't notice as they'll be too stressed about looking at your NRMP packet and doing their questions.
 
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Any insights as to how accepting most programs are about a woman who is visibly pregnant during Anesthesia interviews? I understand it will vary program to program, just looking for advice/thoughts from women who have gone through the interview process while pregnant.

Thanks!

If they view this negatively, then this is not a program that's supportive! Talk to residents and attendings who have had babies and who have young children. For women who had a baby while there - and if breastfeeding is important to you - ask those residents and attendings about availability of rooms to pump. If they say they had to pump in the bathroom... then you already know.
From talking to everyone, you can get a sense of their attitude/reaction towards people calling in because they have a sick baby/child/toddler at home and no baby-sitter, and how flexible the scheduling system is to accommodate this.
 
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