diff --git a/packages/pg/lib/client.js b/packages/pg/lib/client.js
index 926fa6bb..7f1356e9 100644
--- a/packages/pg/lib/client.js
+++ b/packages/pg/lib/client.js
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
   _connect(callback) {
     var self = this
     var con = this.connection
+    this._connectionCallback = callback
+
     if (this._connecting || this._connected) {
       const err = new Error('Client has already been connected. You cannot reuse a client.')
       process.nextTick(() => {
@@ -122,50 +124,7 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
       con.startup(self.getStartupConf())
     })
 
-    // password request handling
-    con.on('authenticationCleartextPassword', this.handleAuthenticationCleartextPassword.bind(this))
-    // password request handling
-    con.on('authenticationMD5Password', this.handleAuthenticationMD5Password.bind(this))
-    // password request handling (SASL)
-    con.on('authenticationSASL', this.handleAuthenticationSASL.bind(this))
-    con.on('authenticationSASLContinue', this.handleAuthenticationSASLContinue.bind(this))
-    con.on('authenticationSASLFinal', this.handleAuthenticationSASLFinal.bind(this))
-    con.once('backendKeyData', this.handleBackendKeyData.bind(this))
-
-    this._connectionCallback = callback
-    const connectingErrorHandler = this.handleErrorWhileConnecting.bind(this)
-
-    const connectedErrorHandler = this.handleErrorWhileConnected.bind(this)
-
-    const connectedErrorMessageHandler = this.handleErrorMessage.bind(this)
-
-    con.on('error', connectingErrorHandler)
-    con.on('errorMessage', connectingErrorHandler)
-
-    // hook up query handling events to connection
-    // after the connection initially becomes ready for queries
-    con.once('readyForQuery', () => {
-      self._connecting = false
-      self._connected = true
-      con.removeListener('error', connectingErrorHandler)
-      con.removeListener('errorMessage', connectingErrorHandler)
-      con.on('error', connectedErrorHandler)
-      con.on('errorMessage', connectedErrorMessageHandler)
-      clearTimeout(this.connectionTimeoutHandle)
-
-      // process possible callback argument to Client#connect
-      if (this._connectionCallback) {
-        this._connectionCallback(null, self)
-        // remove callback for proper error handling
-        // after the connect event
-        this._connectionCallback = null
-      }
-      self.emit('connect')
-    })
-
-    con.on('readyForQuery', this.handleReadyForQuery.bind(this))
-    con.on('notice', this.handleNotice.bind(this))
-    self._attachListeners(con)
+    this._attachListeners(con)
 
     con.once('end', () => {
       const error = this._ending ? new Error('Connection terminated') : new Error('Connection terminated unexpectedly')
@@ -182,10 +141,10 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
           if (this._connectionCallback) {
             this._connectionCallback(error)
           } else {
-            connectedErrorHandler(error)
+            this.handleErrorWhileConnected(error)
           }
         } else if (!this._connectionError) {
-          connectedErrorHandler(error)
+          this.handleErrorWhileConnected(error)
         }
       }
 
@@ -213,6 +172,19 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   _attachListeners(con) {
+    // password request handling
+    con.on('authenticationCleartextPassword', this.handleAuthenticationCleartextPassword.bind(this))
+    // password request handling
+    con.on('authenticationMD5Password', this.handleAuthenticationMD5Password.bind(this))
+    // password request handling (SASL)
+    con.on('authenticationSASL', this.handleAuthenticationSASL.bind(this))
+    con.on('authenticationSASLContinue', this.handleAuthenticationSASLContinue.bind(this))
+    con.on('authenticationSASLFinal', this.handleAuthenticationSASLFinal.bind(this))
+    con.on('backendKeyData', this.handleBackendKeyData.bind(this))
+    con.on('error', this.handleErrorWhileConnecting)
+    con.on('errorMessage', this.handleErrorMessage)
+    con.on('readyForQuery', this.handleReadyForQuery.bind(this))
+    con.on('notice', this.handleNotice.bind(this))
     con.on('rowDescription', this.handleRowDescription.bind(this))
     con.on('dataRow', this.handleDataRow.bind(this))
     con.on('portalSuspended', this.handlePortalSuspended.bind(this))
@@ -283,7 +255,7 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
 
   handleAuthenticationSASLContinue(msg) {
     const { saslSession } = this
-    sasl.continueSession(saslSession, self.password, msg.data)
+    sasl.continueSession(saslSession, this.password, msg.data)
     con.sendSCRAMClientFinalMessage(saslSession.response)
   }
 
@@ -298,6 +270,23 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   handleReadyForQuery(msg) {
+    if (this._connecting) {
+      this._connecting = false
+      this._connected = true
+      const con = this.connection
+      con.removeListener('error', this.handleErrorWhileConnecting)
+      con.on('error', this.handleErrorWhileConnected)
+      clearTimeout(this.connectionTimeoutHandle)
+
+      // process possible callback argument to Client#connect
+      if (this._connectionCallback) {
+        this._connectionCallback(null, this)
+        // remove callback for proper error handling
+        // after the connect event
+        this._connectionCallback = null
+      }
+      this.emit('connect')
+    }
     const { activeQuery } = this
     this.activeQuery = null
     this.readyForQuery = true
@@ -307,8 +296,8 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
     this._pulseQueryQueue()
   }
 
-  // if we receieve an error during the connection process we handle it here
-  handleErrorWhileConnecting(err) {
+  // if we receieve an error event or error message during the connection process we handle it here
+  handleErrorWhileConnecting = (err) => {
     if (this._connectionError) {
       // TODO(bmc): this is swallowing errors - we shouldn't do this
       return
@@ -324,14 +313,17 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
   // if we're connected and we receive an error event from the connection
   // this means the socket is dead - do a hard abort of all queries and emit
   // the socket error on the client as well
-  handleErrorWhileConnected(err) {
+  handleErrorWhileConnected = (err) => {
     this._queryable = false
     this._errorAllQueries(err)
     this.emit('error', err)
   }
 
   // handle error messages from the postgres backend
-  handleErrorMessage(msg) {
+  handleErrorMessage = (msg) => {
+    if (this._connecting) {
+      return this.handleErrorWhileConnecting(msg)
+    }
     const activeQuery = this.activeQuery
 
     if (!activeQuery) {