Any other graduate students?

sabett

Hi! I was wondering if there were any other graduate students due in May 2015? I'm a third year doctoral candidate and hope to finish collecting my data before the baby comes. (I have a month-long research trip planned for Jan/Feb as of now...) I'd love to hear where others are in their programs and how they plan to fit together graduate school, motherhood, and (eventually) life afterward.

TarheelMama202

Me! I'm a full-time grad student and I stay at home with my son. (All of my classes are in the evenings.) I'm in the first year of my program. I'm getting my Masters in School Administration. I'll start an internship in July/August and continue taking classes next year, then graduate in May '16. It will be crazy, I'm sure, but my husband is a med student so we're kind of used to doing babies and grad school at the same time. 

sabett

That's nice to hear! My husband is in veterinary school and this is our first. We're excited, but a bit overwhelmed about the idea of doing all of this at once. Any advice?

Robinelli

I am. I took this semester off but I plan to go back in the spring part time. I've completed 2 semesters so far of a family nurse practitioner degree (MSN).

I about killed myself going through undergrad with two kids so why not finish out grad school with 3?!!! Lol.

ChanelA

I'm currently working on my master for multicultural urban education.

jennnyboomboom

Grad student here! I'm working on my masters in bilingual education. Our semesters usually end a little early, mid April, so I'm anxious to see what happens come spring semester.

I had to miss class last night because of nausea. I emailed my professor and explained (she's a mom of 3, so I think she had some sympathy for me!). I hate missing class, but I was miserable!

kayteebayb

I'm taking crazy pills and starting in Nov as part of a cohort. I already told the school that I'd be taking a break from the cohort come March and starting up again at a later date. 

SchoolPsychSteph

I am! This year, I am working full time as an LSSP (licensed specialist in school psychology) and plan to start and hopefully finish my dissertation. I'm getting my Ph.D in school psychology. Who knows when I will be finished.

sabett

Have any of you felt like your brain has been fuzzy (since the pregnancy)? I feel like every time I try to work on my dissertation or other research articles I'm drafting I can't get out an intelligible idea!

nursej519

I am! Part time Masters in Nursing student, full time registered nurse, FTM. Life is going to be busy!!

midajo

I am! I'm a 5th year doctoral student in clinical psychology. Right now I'm working on collecting dissertation data and applying to internships that will start next July and August. I'm on track to have most of my dissertation work done before baby arrives, thankfully. My biggest concern is how to manage moving out of state in June or July with a newborn and starting an intensive internship shortly after. I haven't quite figured out how it's all going to work, but things have a way of working themselves out. I'm interested to hear how others plan to balance everything because right now it feels a little overwhelming!

Ashleyspain

I'm working full time and doing grad school part time. I've done 2 classes each semester so far with no kids. But, I think I'm doing one class next semester as it gets closer to the due date. Then after baby is born I'm gonna try to do one class a semester until I graduate. Husband is also working full time and part time grad student. So our fingers at crossed that we'll graduate eventually!

sarahchrismck

I'm a full-time teacher and doing Master's classes on the side to eventually become a School Counselor. My program does one 8-week class at a time, with one ending toward the end of March. I will take the next 8 weeks off then, and possibly the next one if I need to to take care of baby. I hope I can still take classes, work, and be a good mother. We'll see.

marijaa333

I'm writing up, while working full time. Not a great mix, but such is life. Hoping to defend in January or February! Still haven't told my supervisor that I'm pregnant (way too early). What's your field?

I think writing up after birth is a great plan, since your time will be flexible; however, you will probably need to take the first 4-5 months off just to get into the swing of baby things, and then you'll need some child care so you can carve out chunks of quiet writing time (this is probably more relevant if you are writing a 100,000 words in social science than if you're writing up experiments and hoping to publish shorter articles).

Regarding your fuzzy brain question, I've found that I'm worst in the early morning (normally my BEST writing time) but by mid-day I'm fairly functional. Evening is again pretty unreliable. Also, I've found that exercise helps to some extent.

@midajo it IS overwhelming. Being veery forgiving of yourself (forget the guilt!), prioritizing (e.g. less socializing in my case) and accepting help (e.g. my husband has been cooking all the time) seem to be key. Also, taking mental breaks is important.

Leslie2003

Me!
I'm pursuing my Masters of Public Administration and should be done end of February.

I'm taking all classes online but the struggle is bad. I just want to sleep.

lecolby1

Third year PhD candidate in French Education. Just defended my thesis proposal and hope to finish collecting the data by the time the baby comes. Nice to see other grad students here.

MegsB1112

I'm in the process of getting my Masters in Education. Took this semester off, which I really think was a smart idea. I start back in January.

SchoolPsychSteph

Fuzzy brain, yes. I feel I can't speak anymore or don't speak eloquently anyway.

LottieLou15

I'm doing my internship for my Masters in educational leadership and administration. I'm set to graduate May 15 and my EDD is May 27! That's cutting it close!

allofit0815

Luckily, I just finished a master's program. Thinking of you all as you balance school and baby!

tiggyt

I'm a PhD candidate in history. I have THREE conference presentations this month, including one on Friday. Two weeks ago when I was feeling the most shitty, I was reading all these articles about first trimester fatigue, and they all said things like, "now is not the time to take on extra responsibilities at work," and I kept thinking, "grr, except in my line of work you commit to these extra responsibilities 4-6 months in advance..."

I plan on teaching up until the end of the school year and then having all summer to spend with my newborn. If I get one of the fellowships I'm applying for, then I'll have an entire year to write my dissertation from home.

DH is also a PhD candidate and he is graduating on my due date. When my doctor told me my new due date based on the ultrasound I asked, "I'll probably deliver after that, right?" and then told her about his graduation. She got super excited and said, "I hope your water breaks in the middle of the ceremony!"

newmama1986

I'm a fifth year doctoral student in an experimental psych program. I am incredibly grateful that I defended my dissertation the week after I found out I was pregnant. Luckily, my symptoms weren't horrible at that point in time so I made it through my presentation without having to puke!!

I'll be graduating in December, so I'll have a bump hidden under the enormous graduation robes.

wheninrome627

Work full-time and doing my MBA part time. Currently taking 3 classes, which is HARD! All I want to do is sleep. May take a class or 2 in the spring, depending on timing (some are flex/intense classes that are over earlier in the semester). I think regular classes, ending end of April/beginning of May could be cutting it close with a 5/13 due date.

After this semester I'll be more than halfway done, but will still have 9 more classes! Yikes!

jennnyboomboom

Ashleyspain said:

I'm working full time and doing grad school part time. I've done 2 classes each semester so far with no kids. But, I think I'm doing one class next semester as it gets closer to the due date. Then after baby is born I'm gonna try to do one class a semester until I graduate. Husband is also working full time and part time grad student. So our fingers at crossed that we'll graduate eventually!

Are we twins? We're in the same boat. Work full time and part time student. Not including this semester I only have 3 classes left and a practicum. I have 2 classes this semester and only 1 I have to take next, which is a relief. In the fall I'll take my last 2 and do my practicum next spring. DH is actually working PT and is a FT med student. He'll be done in May though, thank God!

sabett

Thanks for your hint on time of day. You're absolutely right (now that I think about it). Mornings and evenings are rough, even though I used to prefer an early start. Hmm... rethinking my schedule.

Anyway, I'm getting my Ph.D. in Comparative Education and just completed my oral exam. I have a prospectus meeting in early November, plan to collect (more) data in January/February, have my big annual conference in mid-March, and am due at the end of May. My hope is that after a summer off, I can write up and defend by May 2016. But we'll see... at this point I'm moving forward because what else can I do? You know? But yeah... clearing things off your plate/slowing your pace doesn't seem to work in graduate school.

I'm really lucky because my advisor is incredibly supportive, so that helps. Good luck telling your supervisor.

NKview

I'm currently working on my dissertation, too. This isn't my first pregnancy while working on my dissertation and "fuzzy brain" definitely got in my way the first time around, although exercise seemed to help me focus a bit. My advisor suggested doing as much writing and data analysis as possible during the pregnancy so that I could focus more on editing (at least a couple of chapters) after the baby was born.

Good luck to all of you!

locdglory

I'm currently considering a nap despite the enormous workload I have this weekend. Im SOOO damn tired. I'm getting my masters in teaching and due a week before graduation. Hoping for the best!

cosmicav

I'm in a graduate program too, for speech therapy! I officially graduate in December (if everything goes right, that is) and the ceremony is in May, a week before I'm due lol. The exhaustion and morning sickness are really cramping my style as I try to get my final clinic hours. Haven't told my supervisor yet, but I know I'm gonna have to tell soon... good luck to all of you! 

dmf1776

I'm getting my mfa in illustration. I'm 38, never been married and was told I wouldn't be able to have children, but here I am. Extremely freaked out, I work full time and go to school full time. My boyfriend has been wonderful but I've been a work a holic my whole life, and decided to make a career change. Just getting in to the swing of things when I found out I was pregnant.

jwm29

I'm a post doc! Just finished grad school a year ago

missiep86

I'm in the process of getting my Master's in teaching English language learners. I'm supposed to graduate in May 2016. So it will be interesting finishing up my degree with a newborn and a three-year-old.

veganmom13

Hello! I'm a last year doctoral student working on the last two chapters of the dissertation. I can't wait for it to be done! Hang tight mama bear. You got this!!!

dukwok

I just finished my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy, but I'm working on my post degree hours for licensure. It usually takes about 2 years to finish your hours, but I have a feeling it'll take me a lot longer...I'm not really sure how this is all gonna work out when baby comes! 

sabett

It's been nice to "meet" (read about) you all! So I had my first very frustrating morning in front of the closet and was curious to know: Where have you found good, work-appropriate clothing? I teach and like to look fairly professional for that, plus I have a few conferences coming up and my usual favorite high waisted wool pants are just not going to work... Sad... (Although, yes, it's for a good cause!)

jennnyboomboom

missiep86 said:

I'm in the process of getting my Master's in teaching English language learners. I'm supposed to graduate in May 2016. So it will be interesting finishing up my degree with a newborn and a three-year-old.

Ditto! My semester ends in April, so if I luck out and actually give birth in May (EDD 5/1) then I'll have the whole summer off to start school back up next fall for my last year. My DH graduates the second week of May 2015. Kind of nervous how that is going to pan out.

bouchaee

I'm a full-time teacher and a part-time Grad student. I have no idea how I will be able to handle everything, but the Director of the program said that every cohort has had a pregnancy. I hope my professors will be understanding as my pregnancy continues.

woody2030

My husband is in graduate scho

woody2030

I didn't mean to post that first one! But my husband is in graduate school for pharmacy and I know demanding it can be! Props to you for being pregnant and being a graduate student!

ladypanther85

Part time grad student getting my masters to become a nurse practitioner

FairfaxMom26

I am starting my 4th year in a Ph.D. program for economics in the DC area.  I haven't proposed yet, although I should be able to do that by spring.  My optimistic plan is to take the summer off and then next year look for jobs and defend my dissertation.  Worst case scenario is to take a whole nother year to graduate.  Lucky maybe that DH is working full-time so my stipend isn't the only thing keeping us afloat.  The fatigue has been getting to me a little.  Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm being lazy or if I deserve a nap to let my baby grow.  I'm also teaching one class to undergrads until December.

stephaniesee

I am! Interning now but donezo in dec (after a looooong road)!!! School psychology.