Student nurse pregnant

[Mjaallen]

Hi. Have just found out my wife is pregnant and we are both in full time education. We are both mature students 29/30 I am in my 3rd year (placement) and have my final year to do September and she is currently in year 1 of an adult nursing degree.

We are both very excited about the news but are after information concerning her university financial support. Can she take a year out and still claim her bursary as well as materinty allowance when baby arrives in October??

Any other information on both of us being full time students and having a baby is very appreciated :) thanks

Also she was I'm full time work until September 2015 and then part time until present.

Firstly, congraulations!

So you graduate in September and will be qualified when the baby arrives?

Your wife can take a maternity leave type break from her course and step back on again afterwards. I think the nursing degree has to be completed within 6 years from start date (including any sabbaticals) and so as long as she sticks within that timescale, she should be fine, registration-wise.

As for the bursary, I would be surprised if she could still receive bursary if she is on mat leave. I would expect that to be frozen and replaced with a maternity payment plus any additional state benefits you may be entitled to post birth.

As ever, best to check all of this stuff with the university. As well as facilities for student parents - crèches/nurseries etc.

*congratulation

Thanks :) I'll will be starting my final year in September and the baby is due October.. Tbh for me this is great because it means I'll be at home 3/4 days a week whilst doing uni work!

I've heard of student nurses getting their bursary and being on maternity leave at the same time.. So much information to find.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I didn't realise you were doing a sandwich degree.

Congratulations! I fell pregnant in my nursing training. I was in my final year student at the time.

You get 52 weeks paid bursary for maternity leave and you can take 3-5 years off before having to begin the course again from memory (but check ).

Due to timing with the coursework and placements, I had to begin my maternity leave at 28 weeks. They were not flexible with this at all and the date was set by the nurse educator at the hospital and was a done deal. Same for my return. It was a bit frustrating as it meant I was off for over a year and not paid.

I will say I found it very hard to be a nursing student while pregnant. I was exhausted and the long days made me feel ill. The lack of regular breaks was also hard and colleagues and peers were judgemental.

Unfortunately people are generally not very nice to nursing students and I found this more so while pregnant. You can't participate in moving & handling, infectious patients, radiology etc, so you feel a bit useless and out of things.

Returning to practice after a long break was daunting and childcare was expensive (twice the bursary). Uni offer grants to help.

It was also difficult to find wrap around care for the LD's. Not sure if you are a shift worker too? Hopefully you have good family support to help. Try and support her as much as possible and all will be fine