Should we plan for a baby in our 3rd yr of college?
I am getting married summer 2010, after being together for 5 yrs (he will be 22 and I will be 23). We are both late bloomers for going to college. I did get certified to be a veterinary assistant, but decided to go to more schooling for more lab work. I am in my first year taking my generals to be a Clinical Lab Technician, I will graduate when I am 25 in yr 2012. He is going to school to be an Electrical Engineer and already has his first year out of the way so he also will be graduating yr 2012, at the age 24 (he may go on to grad school but isn’t sure yet). We also both said that we would like to have children at a younger age. Plus, his school has daycare for students with kids. My older sister and her husband are both in college and we have seen how they live and what they spend there money on from there student loans. My sister even said that if she got pregnant right now it would be hard but they could manage if they had an unplanned pregnancy. Her spouse and her are paying rent, a car payment, they bought new furniture, new TV, they go on cheap vacations, and have 2 cats; she only works in the summer, and he only works part time during the school year and full time in the summer the rest of there money comes from student loans. So here is what my fiancee and I were hoping to do: we want to get pregnant during our 3 yr of college so that the baby would be born in the summer going into our last year of college, and we would spend our money differently from what my sister and her spouse are, we would have daycare through his school and insurance too. My fiancee is guaranteed a job right after he graduates because he is getting his schooling paid for through the ROTC program and will have to serve in the Air Force for 4 yrs after he graduates. I feel this is a good time to start a family. We have talked about it and he said the answer isn’t a no, it is a maybe because he said he isn’t sure I’m ready to take on the responsibility. ANY SUGGESTIONS?? Would this be a good time to start a family? Does it sound like we have it planned out right?
We talked about it more and we found a way that I can possibly graduate in 2 to 2 1/2yrs instead of 3yrs. We were actually pregnant with an unplanned pregnancy while I was going to school to get certified as a veterinary assistant (plus I feel I have that to fall back on if need be). The pregnancy ended with a miscarriage though. So, I went through being pregnant and a miscarriage all while in school already (and I came out with a B 3.0 GPA didn’t drop any classes or anything) so we aren’t really worried about me being pregnant and being in school cause we have already had experience with that. Thank you for your comments everyone. We have decided that unless we can find a way for me to finish school sooner than 3yrs we will wait. My whole last semester of school would be an internship so my whole last semester wouldn’t consist of a lot of studying for me. We are hoping that I can at least be able to finish my classes in 2 1/2yrs then we don’t have to wait.
Filed under: Veterinary Insurance
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no
pregnancy and school does not mix well
wait until through school and settled into a job.
This isn’t really a yes or no answer. What if you have horrible morning sickness throughout your pregnancy and miss a lot of school because of it? A lot of things can happen throughout pregnancy. I think that it would be best once you are both out of college and can figure out what your finances will look like without the student loan income. I don’t think money is everything – but who wants to be forced to work with a newborn? I think that you have both put a lot of thought into this, which is great. Continue talking about it.
NO. Wait until you’re through college. You will have NO study time once that baby comes. If you have the baby sooner, you may not finish your degree for years!
My husband and I are both 23 right now and both finishing up college and the thought of a baby before we are done with college is terrifying to me!
First of all, you can’t really plan on when you are going to get pregnant, and even if your due date is in the summer, it is not guaranteed that your baby won’t come early as a preemie. So, you could easily end up in the situation where you are going into labor during finals week or while school is still in session. You need to take that into account. Being put on bed rest during your pregnancy is also a very big reality, which would not allow you to go to your classes.
Also, newborns allow for very little sleep. Are you both going to be prepared to get up and go to class and get your homework done on 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night?
I would also take into account that you are going to want to spend time loving and taking care of your baby. Is that really going to be possible for you both while you are needing to get homework done?
You and your husband both need to be ready to take on the responsibility of going to school and having a baby at the same time. It is definitely possible for you to have a baby and complete school, but I would not recommend it.
Good luck!
IDK, do whatever you want to do
I think you should wait until school is done. If you end up with morning sickness, that could effect your schooling. Plus you will want to take at least 6 weeks to spend with your baby. Trust me, I just had a baby 7 weeks ago. I can’t even imagine going back to work…I feel like I don’t have enough time to keep the house clean…sometimes I don’t even have enough time to shower lol. You don’t want your school to suffer, because once that little baby is here, it will be so much harder to go back to school if you chose to take a break, or end up having to drop classes.
If you are really ready to have a baby then go for it and don’t let anyone chang your mind for you but as a warning it is hard to study and take care of a baby.
I commend you for wanting to have children early. You will be young and energetic and be able to enjoy your little one(s). You have to consider though that having a child is a lot of work though – there is a lot of looking after. In addition, if you are planning on using the daycare, then you may miss out on those "moments" when your child does stuff and has his milestones. If you are considering having children early, no doubt you are thinking of enjoying your time with the baby and believe me, during the first year and in the second year, children go through a lot of stages and do a lot of things that will just melt your heart. You wouldn’t want to miss that while you were finishing off school (with the stress of courses and such). You will still be young when you graduate a year later. I would say hold off till the fourth year to get pregnant.
I may have misunderstood your query though, child support (loan) may be your most important factor in considering when to have your first child. Up to what point would a student loan make allowances for your baby? Too bad you can’t move to Canada, I think they have better social services than the US.