ThePhdMom

After passing over one milestone in my adult life in January of 2009 (passing my quals), I came across another "life" altering benchmark in 2010. I found out I was expecting my second child!

Looking back (my son is three months now) I know it would have been extremely helpful to blog throughout the entire pregnancy process. However, I know you will all understand me when I say, "I was extremely busy juggling the rest of my life around." :) Between work, home-life, doctor's appointments, and research here and there, I was completely fettered. Now that I am somewhat settled in a routine, I have found the time and wherewithal to begin blogging...and I couldn't think of a more fitting topic than Pregnancy and Graduate School.

In June of 2010 I received an email from a graduate student discussion list I subscribe to titled "Pregnancy and Graduate School." Let me start by saying the email could not have come at a more opportune time. The day before I received the email, I had just accepted the Smith College Mendenhall Fellowship for the 2010/2011 academic year. I had also recently found out I was very very pregnant. Seeing as my condition had drastically changed since applying for the fellowship, I was a little apprehensive about accepting the fellowship, after all when I started graduate school all those years ago, my eldest son was at least somewhat self-sufficient.

Anyway the email raised several important questions, that I am sure I will ask and answer throughout my process, and it also offered some practical advice for dealing with pregnancy during the graduate school process. To say the least it helped me feel comfortable about accepting the fellowship at Smith College.

The following questions were asked and some where answered quite thoroughly by other follows of the list. Because I deem them highly important to all PhD moms everywhere they will be the subject of next couple of blogs over the upcoming weeks/months. As I navigate through the process myself I will keep you all updated! Please feel free to comment on any of these questions yourself if you have any experience relating to them-until we chat again...

1. What was like being pregnant then having a very young baby while trying to write your dissertation?
2. How soon after birth is it practical to think about resuming research and writing? How many hours a day?
3. How supportive and accommodating were your fellow classmates, faculty and department?
   
4. Is it possible to balance staying on track academically (close to it, anyway) with
   doing what is right for the baby, and for yourself as a parent?
5. What do you think of accepting funding, whether teaching assistantships, research fellowships, internal to the university, or from external sources, if you already know you are pregnant?