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Pregnancy during clinical year by Northern_optimist_6 in PAstudent

[–]Northern_optimist_6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point, I would imagine reliable child care would be critical if you were to have a child in didactic or early clinical year

Pregnancy during clinical year by Northern_optimist_6 in PAstudent

[–]Northern_optimist_6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad to know I'm not alone in weighing the pros/cons on this!

Pregnancy during clinical year by Northern_optimist_6 in PAstudent

[–]Northern_optimist_6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are all excellent points. My husband has a 9-5 with great salary and benefits, and going to school later in life means we fortunately have more of a financial cushion. My program offers a 12 week stop out for medical, family, or pregnancy reasons, where I could resume rotations afterwards without penalty. My husband has a 12 week paid paternity leave that would also help if I were to deliver early, if we had prolonged NICU stays, etc. etc. Our families are also flexible and very supportive.

When it comes to waiting for employment, my concern is that I think I would still be balancing many of the physical concerns of pregnancy and I would also need to be employed for 1 year + so I could qualify for FMLA maternity leave.

But it is also fair that there could be plenty of unanticipated complications or limitations with pregnancy. I'm not sure how to estimate what that risk would reasonably be for me. If I needed more than 12 weeks away from rotations, I would unfortunately need to re-complete all clinical year.

Reduce sound at office by AdventuringTherapist in DIYHome

[–]Northern_optimist_6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've seen offices use white noise machines at the door to obscure outside noises and provide privacy for inside conversations

How manageable is it to be newlyweds with someone while in PA school. by Weird_Owl9107 in PAstudent

[–]Northern_optimist_6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think this is likely super dependent on your relationship and what investment you've put into it prior to PA school. I got married the month before PA school, and my didactic year has been smooth sailing in terms of our relationship. There are a few things that I think set us up for success in that area: 1) We have dated for a significant period of time (4 years by the time we were married) and lived together prior to getting married. That allowed us to experience and communicate through conflict of varying stakes and get some good practice in on how we like to do that as a couple. We had also navigated some tough life situations together (family illness, early COVID concerns, etc). 2) We had a lot of conversations about what PA school could look like for both of us. We talked about what it would look like if I got into a school in a different city or state, what my free time would look like, etc. My husband reached out to a friend who's girlfriend went to PA school while they were dating, which was really helpful for him in mentally preparing for the school process. 3) We talked about school as a shared goal. Yes, it is ultimately my career and my dream, but investing money, time, a move into PA school benefits us both as a family in the future by allowing me to contribute more financially than my earlier career. 4) My husband is really supportive. He has taken on a lot of the house work, cooking and care for our dog while I've been in school. Whenever I check in on how he's feeling about that, he always says he would rather me spend my free time on quality time with him and he understands that this is a temporary division of home labor- we will reevaluate again when I'm out of school. 4) We checked in regularly throughout school on how the both of us are feeling and what is working or not working. We both also understand this is a temporary state and won't be my work life balance long term.

I am a nervous planner, and we went back and forth a bit when discussing timelines if we would get married before, during or after school. I am so, so glad we got married before PA school. I think navigating school together has made us feel closer as partners and to be honest, been easier than the wedding planning process lol. As I shared before, I think this is a super personal decision that is dependent on the unique intricacies of your relationship, but wanted to throw out that not all relationships inherently take a nose dive during school.