When to Have Kids as a PA: Timing Your Family

By: Savanna Perry, PA-C

TL;DR

There is no perfect time to have kids as a PA, so the best approach is to weigh your priorities and just decide. You can have a baby before PA school, during it, or after, and each path has real tradeoffs around finances, school policies, and support. Most PAs choose to wait until after graduation when they are settled in a job, but plenty of families make the other timelines work beautifully.

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Is there a perfect time to have kids as a PA?

Honestly, no. I learned this from personal experience, and it is something I tell applicants all the time. You can plan and think about it as much as you want, but things rarely go exactly the way you map them out. Something is always going to come up, whether it is starting school, moving cities, a new job, a friend's wedding, or a long-awaited vacation. There is always going to be a reason to wait and always going to be a next thing.

Eventually you just have to make the decision that now is the time. I tend to plan and think about things way in advance, so I get the urge to have it all figured out. But pregnancy teaches you pretty quickly that you are not in control of much. For the Type A personalities that tend to become PAs, that can be hard, and I felt that anxiety myself during my pregnancy. The good news is that whatever you decide, it will work out, and you will end up with a sweet baby you love.

In this post:

What if I want kids before PA school?

Having kids before PA school is a great option for a lot of people. Pregnancy is unpredictable, so doing it during the pre-PA phase can give you more flexibility to adjust your timeline if you need to. You may also get to spend more time with your little one while they are tiny, since you are not yet locked into the demands of a program.

The tradeoff is that it might push back your timeline for becoming a PA, and that is where you have to weigh the pros and cons against your own priorities. There is no single right answer here. Some people want to be established in their career first, and others want to grow their family first and start school a little later. Both are completely valid. The key is being honest with yourself about what matters most to you right now and what you can realistically manage at this stage.

In Our Experience

In our experience coaching applicants, this question comes up far more than people expect, and it is not just from women. I had my daughter after I was established in my dermatology job and my husband was through med school, and even with all of that lined up, the timing never felt perfect. The applicants who handle this best are the ones who stop waiting for perfect and instead make sure they have support and a plan in place.

Can you have a baby during PA school?

You can, and people do it, but I will be honest that it is tough. PA school is hard, busy, and rigorous, and most new PA students feel completely overwhelmed even without a baby on the way. I personally cannot imagine having done it, though if it had been my situation I would have made it work because it would have been my normal.

A lot depends on your program's policies. At my school, you could not miss class without a doctor's note, and even then it was looked down upon. With pregnancy comes appointments and days you do not feel great, and that unpredictability could mean missed classes, a requested leave of absence, or an extended timeline. A girl in the class above me got pregnant on rotations and was due the week after she took her PANCE. The expectations for her were the same as everyone else, including standing for hours in surgery while very pregnant. If you go this route, you will need a ton of support. The PA forums and accounts from PA student moms are great places to hear real stories.

Every Pre-PA Should Know...

There is no ideal time to start a family as a PA, so the best move is usually to line up your support system and just go for it.

Why do most PAs wait until after PA school?

Waiting until after PA school is what I did, and it is what most of my friends did too. Right after graduation we had a wave of weddings, and then a few years later a wave of PA babies. I would not change a thing about how I did it. If anything, I might have had my daughter a little sooner, because I cannot imagine her not being part of our lives.

I used to be the person who swore I would take a short maternity leave and rush back to work. That is definitely not true now. I want to spend every second with her. Money is worth thinking about too, and being financially stable helps, though I do not think babies are quite as expensive as everyone makes it sound. There are plenty of ways to save, even if I do have a bit of a baby clothes addiction myself!

What about childcare and support once you have the baby?

Whether you have a baby in school or as a working PA, you need a real plan for childcare and backup support. The question that trips people up is not the everyday routine, it is what happens when your baby is sick or your sitter cancels at the last minute.

I work as a dermatology PA, and I often have 35 patients on my schedule. Rearranging that day is a big deal, and I would absolutely do it if I had to, but I am also lucky to have parents-in-law nearby who can step in when something comes up. Think through who your people are before the baby arrives. Knowing you have a network to lean on takes a lot of the pressure off, and it lets you focus on enjoying this season instead of scrambling every time life throws a curveball.

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Listen: The Right Time for Family: A PA's Perspective

Jocelyn asked a question I get a lot but rarely see answered honestly: when is the right time to have kids if you're going into PA school?

Episode show notes & key takeaways

Jocelyn asked a question I get a lot but rarely see answered honestly: when is the right time to have kids if you're going into PA school?

I just had a baby, so this one is personal. Here's my honest answer: there isn't a perfect time. There's no window where school is easy, work is calm, money is settled, and your body cooperates on schedule. Waiting for that window means waiting forever.

What matters more is your support system and being clear-eyed about what you're taking on. Pregnancy doesn't follow a plan. Programs have different policies about leave. Talk to people who've done it, and know that plenty of PAs have kids during school, during their first job, and everywhere in between.

This is your life, not a checklist. You get to decide the order.

What I cover

Whether there's a "right" time to start a family
Having a baby during or right after PA school
Why your support system matters more than your timeline
Talking to programs about leave policies
Being realistic about what pregnancy does to a plan
Deciding what you actually want, not what looks tidy

Resources

Follow The Pre-PA Club: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · All episodes

Listen: Pregnancy and Family Planning as a New Grad PA: An Interview with Alex

"When is a good time to have a baby?" There isn't one. Have it anyway.

Episode show notes & key takeaways

"When is a good time to have a baby?" There isn't one. Have it anyway.

Alex got pregnant during her first year out of PA school, which is supposed to be the year you put your head down and prove yourself. She came on to talk about what that was actually like.

We get into how she told her group, how her schedule and clinical responsibilities shifted, and how much of the experience came down to whether the people she worked with were decent about it. A supportive practice makes an enormous difference here, and being upfront with your colleagues early made things easier than she expected.

This question comes up constantly from women in this profession, so I wanted a real answer from someone who lived it.

What we cover

Being pregnant during her first year as a new grad PA
Telling her employer and coworkers
Managing clinical work through a pregnancy
What a supportive work environment actually looks like
Thinking about timing when there's no perfect timing
Work-life balance as a PA with a family

Resources

Follow The Pre-PA Club: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · All episodes

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