Interviews, new jobs, etc--is there ever a good time to TTC???

[ruffgirl]

Hi everyone. I am nearly 29 and DH and I are ready to TTC our first. My only (big) concern is how the heck I am going to handle this with my work plans. I am about to start a 1 year positition, which will end in August 2011. At that time I will be highly qualified for lots of jobs and don't anticipate having too much trouble finding a position. We have been thinking if we start TTC soon, we can aim for a baby at the end of the 1yr job and have me take a few months off before starting a new position. But, of course, this means I will have to interview pregnant as well as start a new job with an infant. Or if TTC takes a while means I would be stuck with having a baby during the first few months/year of the new job. The only alternative I can think of is to wait until I have been at a new job for a while to TTC...but that delays things so much. We hope to have 3-4 kids. I know I am overthinking this but would love to hear some advice from working mamas who have dealt with these issues...does anytime ever feel like a GOOD time to TTC???

[marinak1977]

balancing career and family planning is a hard task. I think there is never a good time if you're trying to keep a career going. You just have to go with it and take the plunge. Everything else will fall into place as you go. At least that how it went with us. Just my 2 cents of course.

[Carita]

i found interviewing very pregnant better because they knew i'd have the baby before the job started, so they didn't have to worry about me having the baby a few months into the job, ykim? i let them know the due date & they were relieved, and it was great to have a few months off instead of just a few weeks

[sparklett]

I was 29 when we started TTC our first, and I was just 3 months into a new job. I got pg on the first try, in October 2006. I didn't tell my boss until I was about 5 months along. I worked for a large department within a large municipality, so everyone was fine with it. I ended up not being able to go back to work, but if I had, my due date would have been right when FMLA would have kicked in, so I would have taken my 3 months off and gone back to work.

If you are planning to do this, I would wait to TTC until you have a job so you can take advantage of FMLA, which protects your job while you're gone; if you don't have FMLA, they can let you go.

If you want to get pg now, then why not go for it? If nothing happens within the next 3 months, then take a break until the end of your current job, and then try again once you're a couple of months into the new job, which would allow FMLA to cover you in the new position.