any medics - trying for a baby before FY1 or after foundation programme?

[gradmedic123]

Hi I am a 29 yo graduate medical student just starting my final year. I am thinking about trying to get pregnant in Autumn/Winter 2019 to see if we can have a Summer baby. I will be taking finals in January, and then have elective and preparing for patients stuff until June (but the big exams will be out of the way). If I did manage to get pregnant I would then plan to take a year off before starting FY1.

My question; is this a stupid idea? I know many graduate medical students who have managed to have babies, but I don't know of any who have taken a year off before starting FY1.

The alternative is obviously to wait until I have finished medical school, but I am worried it will be harder (on me) to be pregnant when I am working as a foundation doctor. Whereas if I had a baby at the end of medical school they would be nearly a year old when I went back to work.

Background- my husband is also a doctor and has just started CST in another city, so we will only see each other at weekends (if he's not working) or if he has rest days. So obviously less than ideal for TTC. I am aware that I can't expect to just get pregnant that easily, but thinking it might be worth trying and seeing what happens.

So anyone in the know; would you say it's preferable to take a year out before FY1 for a baby? Or trying during the foundation programme? Or waiting until after the foundation programme (by which time I will be nearly 33)?

Thank you for any advice!

Wait till both if you are in speciality training with training numbers and ideally in the same deanery.

Hi OP. I had a baby in between f1 and f2.

I would advice a lot of caution with your current plan. Early pregnancy can be very very hard and trying to time finals with that just sounds like a bad idea to me.

Also, if you can wait until you have worked in the NHS for ~9 months before getting pregnant then you'll be entitled to mat pay...

Yeah - the mat pay is a good reason to delay at least a few months. Also, if your DH is in another place - it would be really hard for 1 person to do both pick ups and drop offs at childcare. I guess it also depends on whether you have medical conditions or family history which may impact pregnancy (in terms of fertility or increased appointments/scans).

Hi OP,
I had a baby in CT1 but know many folks who had a baby in F2.
As a pp says if you wait and have baby during F2 you will get NHS maternity and stat maternity pay. This could make things much easier for you. I was pregnant during F2 and the start of CT1 it's very manageable, I was taken off nights and out of hours once i was 7mnths which helped as well. I'm also a post-grad doctor and I'm glad I waited the extra year or two to have my LO
So long story short I think you should wait. Any questions feel free to pm me

Definately wait till after FY2. I would suggest TTC at the end of FY1 so you can interview for ST not obviously pregnant. Take your mat leave with a number in your hand and start training LTFT.

You may both (you and DH) need to go LTFT to make it work.

Consider also the impact on career progression for both of you. Unless you want to do something seriously uncompetitive you will have loads of extra work and exams to do in order to get into training. Having a child makes that much much harder. Once in speciality training it is easy to go part time and juggle things more. Most surgical specialities need a lot of extra material on the cv that your other half’s will be having to work on in his own time for the next few years if he wants to get a surgical speciality for st3. Having a child will make that vastly more difficult unless you plan to take on all the work.

I really would devote the next two years to getting both of you into training programmes that last to cct, then have kids. If you want a speciality accessible to run through from f2, and get lucky, and your other half works hard and has a bit of luck that could be just two years off.

peadiatrics is (predictably) famously family friendly

Thanks. Yes you are probably right regarding the timing of early pregnancy and finals - it could be a disaster! I suppose my biological clock is ticking, but maybe it would be wiser to wait a bit longer.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find pregnancy during the foundation programme? and how much time on maternity leave?

Thanks for the advice! My 30th is looming so maybe that's what's suddenly made me panic about when to try and have babies. But I can see the logic in waiting a couple more years. I think I want to do GP, so not as competitive.

Its difficult OP. Negotiating medical staffing, the deanery and the individual departments to get it all to work, particularly if you want to go back LTFT, is... trying... at times. But not enough to make me wish I had delayed.

If maternity pay is something you'll need then be very careful with the dates as you need to make sure you have been employed for X amount of time and that you will go back to work for X amount of time. This makes any time out of training/locuming dangerous so you need to plan quite far ahead.

I wouldn't let on you want to return LTFT until you are given your rotation. You do need to play the game to some extent.