pregnancy

[selonika]

looking for insight as to when would be a good (a less bad) time to get pregnant / start a family - going into fourth year, then fellowship, then new job

[jsailor1]

I have heard other people say that fellowship is an ideal time. If you're in your thirties, though, and fertility is an issue, I wonder if maybe you shouldn't postpone it too long.

[Guest]

I got pregnant in the middle of my second year and delivered my baby in Sept, in the beginning of my third year. I think that this was an ideal time for me, as the first few months for me were very exhausting, and took a lot of time to get used to being a mother. Now I am starting my fourth year, and I feel quite settled and better able to manage studying for the written boards and also preparing for the oral boards in the springtime.

I took a lot of call during the 2nd and very early portion of my 3rd trimester, which worked well for me. During this time, I wasn't too big or physically tired, and I was able to keep up with the night shifts. I must admit that around 29/30 weeks the night shifts did start to catch up with me a little.

Another issue to consider is your fluoro rotations. For the most part, fellow residents were good in covering for me, but I did encounter some resentment that I heard about second hand, but what can you do? You just hope that people understand that the health of a child is more important than covering a week of peds GU and GI fluoro.

I think that I was very sensitive about not getting special treatment b/c of my pregnancy, especially when I heard some negative comments that had been said about pregnant residents in general. I never asked for time off b/c I was feeling under the weather, and I made sure that I covered my nights. Sometimes towards the end, I would get Braxton-Hicks pretty strongly, but would keep on going, which I'm not sure was the best thing, but all worked out in the end. You have to do what feels right for yourself, but don't feel guilty about putting your baby and pregnancy first when it really matters. You may need coverage for a rotation or a day, but make sure that you pay these days back when possible, so that people do not have the opportunity to say bad things about you, b/c the truth is that some people really still do not support pregnancy during residency and think that pregnant residents "get out of a lot of responsibilities."

Having kids and being in residency is really tough. I use my time more efficiently now, and have to stay up later at night to get things done. The most important thing for me has been a supportive spouse, who I could not do this without.