Pregnancy and Residency

[DCJenn]

Welcome-

The first question is who is the doctor or doctor in training or are you both?

I think you will find that question has been asked 100 different ways throughout the years and the consensus has been NOT: intern year and not the first year of fellowship. I think the last two years of medical school and the last years of residency have been determined to be easier...not easy but easier.

Of course it also depends on the specialty of the doc- some are a little more family friendly than other.

Jenn

[fluffhead]

Welcome! (welcome...welcome...welcome... <---- that's the echo in the Mr. MD forum, as we blow the dust off the countertops)
What is your fiancee doing - i.e. where's she at in the process? I think it's generally agreed that MS4 is a good time to be pregnant. We've done it in MS4, PGY2-3 and PGY4-5. None were terribly easy, but MS4 was definitely the easiest.
How flexible is your schedule/life? Be prepared to change your plans.

Oh sorry, guess I should have stated that she is the one in medical school at the moment. I'm planning on heading back to get my undergrad and am actually exploring the possibility of heading to med school myself. She is finishing her second year of med school.

I'm not sure what all those acronyms are for lol. Thanks for the replies.

Chris

Acronym explanation:

MS4 (med school yr 4)

PGY = post graduate year 1,2,3,4,5, etc. it can go on and on and on ...

Welcome. Is your fiance a 1st year med student?

We should have a sticky around here somewhere w/our common abbreviations. Or we should get right on that.

Acronym explanation:

MS4 (med school yr 4)

PGY = post graduate year 1,2,3,4,5, etc. it can go on and on and on ...

Welcome. Is your fiance a 1st year med student?

We should have a sticky around here somewhere w/our common abbreviations. Or we should get right on that.

sorry about not responding last night. I tried to chang my email and I messed it up and now my account is inative, but this is koganinjachris, so I had to make a new one. She is a MS2. I didn't even think to look around for a list of abreviations, I will make sure to check for one around here. thanks.

If you want your former username, PM me and I will fix your username. That has happened to a few people -- just a glitch, nothing personal.

sorry about not responding last night. I tried to chang my email and I messed it up and now my account is inative, but this is koganinjachris, so I had to make a new one. She is a MS2. I didn't even think to look around for a list of abreviations, I will make sure to check for one around here. thanks.

No worries. And I'm not sure that there really IS a sticky for acronyms ... I just know that we've talked about it, and if there isn't one already we should REALLY GET ON IT!

[Mrs. McPads]

Hi everyone!
I am having the same question/issue as Chris. My fiance is the soon to be general surgery intern, and we got engaged a couple months ago. We are trying to find out when we can have the wedding, but can't know until he gets his schedule in August. The issue of pregnancy is a big one for us. We are both 26, which seems young I am sure. But I have had alot of surgeries, and getting pregnant in the first place will be a challenge. We want to start the process, so that if it takes years or doesn't happen at all, we can still be parents (perhaps through adoption) earlier rather than later. However, there is always that chance that it will happen MUCH easier than my surgeons said it would, and the thought of having a kiddo during intern year makes me nervous. For general surgery residency, does the rule hold for NOT during intern year and NOT during fellowship year? When might be a better time? What kind of hours would he have during PGY2...i.e. would it be any better than PGY1? I have read conflicting reports that it might actually be worse...

Thanks for any advice. Chris, congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, how exciting!

[Flynn]

However, there is always that chance that it will happen MUCH easier than my surgeons said it would, and the thought of having a kiddo during intern year makes me nervous. For general surgery residency, does the rule hold for NOT during intern year and NOT during fellowship year? When might be a better time? What kind of hours would he have during PGY2...i.e. would it be any better than PGY1? I have read conflicting reports that it might actually be worse...

All the clinical General Surgery years are brutal. Sorry, no other way to put it. Plan on your husband working the maximum of 80 hours per week. Hopefully there will be lighter rotations in your specific program -- a VA hospital or a cake private hospital that still has some residents. In a "light" rotation hope for 65 hours per week. It will feel like a vacation.

Is your DH doing a fellowship for sure? I ask because the lab years (required for most fellowships) would be the BEST time to have a baby. My DH had lab years after his PGY 3 year.

[Laker]

DW and I have been talking about when we should try for a kiddo. She has been looking at her schedule over the next few years to try to "fit" it in. Additionally, because of potential radiation exposure, she can't be pregnant while working with certain attendings who do certain procedures. Residency sucks.

Anyway, it will be hard for her as the year after next she has boards at the end of the year, as well as the following 2 years.

Anyone know if practice groups would hold it against her if we waited until attending-hood to have kids? I was hoping that we get started at least towards the end of residency. I don't want to be too old of a dad.

I thought I'd share my experiences with this. My DW is pregnant with our second baby, due in September, and she is a PGY2 in OB. We got all the, I can't believe you got pregnant during medical school business three years ago and to tell you the truth now there isn't as much of that, but it still exists. She is in a fairly family friendly program, but this is allegedly the toughest year and some of her colleagues have wondered, why now? Anyway, when you have a spouse going through this, when is a good time? You adjust to what is given you.

We decided now is the right time for us to start a family (both children planned). It has worked out well for us. Our 2-year-old sometimes gets frustrated when his mommy is gone, but we have found that being honest with him -- Mommy's sleeping or Mommy's working -- actually keeps him calm. And as for me, even though there have been tough moments as a "single parent," I'm not sure how I would have made it through the past few years without my son. Two is going to make things even more interesting, but we'll adjust again.

Having kids can be tough any time, but if it's well thought out and there is plenty of support, residency or medical school is just as good a time as any. We're pretty happy with the choice.

[reciprocity]

Our plan right now is to shoot for the end of the PhD years. One of the labs courting her is saying her project could be done in three years, which would give her some flexibility with that fourth year before returning to MS3.

[Flynn]

Anyone know if practice groups would hold it against her if we waited until attending-hood to have kids? I was hoping that we get started at least towards the end of residency. I don't want to be too old of a dad.

I think it would depend on the specific job and speciality but my first reaction to this is no. I've seen LOTS of female docs start their families between the ages of 33-42.

Like everything in medicine though, it depends.

[pstone]

I always say don't wait, it is your life. When you want kids, that is when you should have them, irrespective of other things. Kids are life, life is life, don't wait.

Peter did I miss an announcement?

SAHD to 33 month Old & Week11

Did we ALL miss an announcement?? If so, congrats!