I'm planning my fourth year of medical school and my husband and I are ready to start a family. I'm concerned that I might not get pregnant right away. What happens if my due date is later in the year, like around the start date of residency? Does anyone have experience with this? Are residency programs required to give you time off? Or, do they have the option of "firing" you? How does this all work? I don't plan on disclosing a pregnancy during interviews if I am pregnant.

thanks!

Do you really want to be pregnant and/or have a newborn during internship? That is probably the most difficult time during all of your professional training and career in which to have a baby. If you are just in the planning stage right now, maybe you could plan NOT to do that.

really? I thought that 4th year was suppose to be the best time as far as a pregnancy goes because of the flexible schedule...

For the actual pregnancy and maternity leave and breastfeeding and waking up every night with a newborn, 4th year is supposed to be the best time. But I don't think that applies equally throughout the whole 4th year. If you have the baby on the last day of 4th year, your internship will be very difficult, especially at the beginning. You will miss out on orientation and will be behind your peers, they may resent you for taking maternity leave and making more work for them from the start, when you return from maternity leave you will be exhausted not only from the 80-hour work week but from the waking up at night that is typical of newborns, breastfeeding and pumping are additional demands on your time and on your body, and childcare becomes more complicated because of your long and strange hours. If your baby is older (born earlier in 4th year) and is sleeping through the night by the time you start internship, it would be somewhat better, but some of those factors still apply. Some people even take a year off between 4th year and internship so as not to cut it too close. There are people here who (unlike me) have actually had babies during 4th year and could tell you more about it.

Take a look at this post about things to consider when planning a baby during your education and training:

http://www.mommd.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/72624/1

Thanks for the link. I guess what I'm wondering is if your due date does happen to fall around the start of residency (however un-ideal as that may be), what do residencies do? Are you given maternity leave before you even start? Or do residency programs have the right to kick you out? Anyone have experience with this specifically?

Look, don't do this. Avoid conception during the months that would put your due date smack on top of the start of internship.

It's crazy. Obviously.

Are you concerned about being too obviously pregnant during interviews?

I agree.

Nope, my own physician did this, and ended up taking off a year of residency after she realized she didn't know her baby-then-toddler. (Obviously some people do 4th year babies just fine, but this was her experience.) I think it depends on what residency you're going into, but in general, intern years are brutal by design.

Definitely-don't do it if you can avoid it, for so many reasons. Intern year is hard enough without adding a newborn onto the very beginning of it. You will be tired and very emotional just from being an intern, and to add a new baby, that would be a big stressor.

In terms of the legality, I don't think they can fire you for this since you sign a contract and that is outright discrimination. You are entitled to 6 weeks unless emplyed for a year, then 12 weeks by FMLA, but your fellow interns will not be happy with you and you will be behind if you take time right away. Behind in terms of knowledge and experience, and in terms of getting to know the lay of the land, where things are, the nurses, etc. If you are that pregnant that you know when intern year is going to start that you will need time at the very beginning, it would be good to tell them so they could make plans with you as to how they would voer you, etc. They may suggest extra time off, or sometimes you can do learning blocks to get some time in the beginning, but it will make the end of your intern year harder. I.E. you might have all ICU blocks close together instead of being spread out.

What type of specialty are you pursuing?