I am a first year medical student at a school known to be incredibly supportive of families. Since I do not want to have a child during residency my options seem to be have one now, or have one right as I am starting my career. I want to be able to take some time off with my baby, and I want to have several children. I am looking at going in to OB-Gyn. I am young enough that age alone is not a motivating factor to start a family.

Is it realistic to have 2 or 3 children in the first 7 or 8 years of practice without negatively impacting your career? Has anyone done this and found it to be frustrating to choose between your family or not being able to fully practice the career you love and have worked so hard to attain? I feel like waiting until after residency to start a family tries to cram so much into such a short time, and since if I were not in school I would start a family now, I am tempted to go ahead and have a child during medical school.

Any advice? I'm particularily looking for input from people who have waited for that "golden time" post-residency when apparently it finally makes sense to get pregnant, did this time really ever arrive?

Advice from anyone who planned a pregnancy in medical school and would change that decision and wait if they could?

Looking for any info or input from anyone!

Have you posted to the families and parenting part where there are more folks who could comment on the long term impact of these types of questions? good luck!

I have posted there also, I thought of that after I posted here, but thanks for the suggestion.

You need to ask yourself if you'll be able to wait until after residency to have your first child. If you're already thinking about children and ready for them now, it will be really hard for you to wait 8-9 years to have your first! That baby bug is just too hard to resist.

Many women here have had children while in medical school, so it is definitely feasible. You may want to post in the residents/physicians section if you're looking for input from people who have waited. Good luck.

If your SO is going to stay home with the children then yes OB is for sure possible. Now, if you want to be extremely involved with your children then OB might be an issue. I know OBs that are called at ALL hours of the night/day to come in to deliver. I think this specialty is very very busy and might not be the "best" option for someone that wants a lot of children (more than two) and to be extremely involved. Women go into labor at the oddest times and they usually would prefer their OB to be there...
About having children there is NO good time to have kids unless you are staying home full time. So no matter when you have them you will face logistical issues.

I had 2 children during med school, and lived to tell about it. :laughing: One in third year and one in fourth- clinical years would be more challenging as they are not as flexible in terms of scheduling. I also don't think you should rule out having a baby in residency- lots of people do that (me, too, in second year) in all kinds of fields. It really all comes down to your priorities- for me, fmaily is a priority, so I had kids. Being a bigwig super power at work is really not an interest for me, but if it were that might be a different story with children. My husband was in my med school class, as well, and is also now a resident, and we are making things work well. Most times-- there are always "those" days. :rolleyes: Anyway, just wanted to let you know it can be done.

Just FYI: do a quick search and you'll find about a million similar threads.

The general consensus around here seems to be that fourth year babies are a good thing.

Personally, I had *planned* to wait until after training, and was just blindsided by this crazy yearning to become a mother. Now I'm planning to begin trying to conceive in the fall of my third year. My idea is to take a year off ("research") to enjoy being a mother. And my husband is planning to work part time or stay home during my intern year.

In my opinion, the line between a good-enough time to have a baby and a not-good-enough time probably has a lot to do with your individual circumstances (finances, family help, your partner's schedule, etc.).

GL!

Re: OB ... stick around. I've NEVER seen an OB post on mommmd who wasn't pretty miserable.

We had two children in medical school, one during my second year, and another right at the end of third year. I have to say, I feel like I accomplished all of my goals. I wanted to do OB originally and when I did the elective, I hated it. I'm doing IM right now and couldn't be more excited. I matched to my #1 choice this year, and I think that having kids actually helped me. It sounds great to be able to say, "Yes, I had kids during medical school, I did the juggling thing, and academically I still run with the rest of them." I mentioned my kids in my personal statement.

In medical school, you are responsible for your education, not really patient care. We like to think we are responsible for our patients, but the truth is, if we don't show up, things run just fine without us. So there really is no problem with you saying, "I'm sorry I have to leave early, but I have another doctor's appointment" or even, "Every day at noon I have to leave for 30 minutes to go pump."

I think this is more difficult during residency. Because if you aren't there to take care of your patients, you are really dumping it on somebody who didn't originally have that responsibility. This is less of a problem in larger programs, but it is still something that I would worry about.

Obviously I am something of a proponent of having kids during medical school. But more importantly, I am a proponent of following your dreams. Do what is right for you, and have it all!

I have three children, two bio, one adopted, all while in practice. I think if you're ready now, go for it. First of all, you can never really PLAN a pregnancy. OUr first took us 4 years. So just start trying and see what happens. Second, having children will change your perspective on your career and may help you make a better decision about which specialty to go into.
Third, there is never a perfect time so don't wait for it.
Good luck!