I've heard people say it's a good time to get a master's degree because you have a more flexible time schedule. Seems to me all the master's students I know are crazy busy!

What did you do while you were pregnant or had a new baby? Get a degree? Start a business? Take a huge promotion? Build a house with your own hands? :-D

I was going to get my master's degree this fall, but I would be having the baby right in the middle of my first semester. I decided to wait until next year to try.

how about I milked it for all that it was worth! I have built my own "stress free environment" and no one can break in!

1) Sleep. As. Much. As. Possible. Once you get late in the pregnancy and especially once your baby is born, "a good night's sleep" completely and totally is redefined, and the new definition ain't pretty. Besides, using your body to grow an entirely new human being is tiring work!

2) Do prenatal yoga and/or "pregnant plunge" swim classes. Get into shape gently and gradually because you will definitely appreciate a relaxed and strengthened body when (a) you're in labor, and (b) you're being the primary caregiver for a 8# and up squiggly creature who must be carried everywhere.

3) Enjoy your husband/partner while you can without having to procure childcare: see movies, have quiet romantic dinners, have lots of sex!


I cannot fathom how ^I^ could have used my "more flexible time schedule" even to finish my master's degree, much less start from scratch. You have to remember that, once the baby comes, it's "flexible" only around King Baby's needs for food, changing, comfort, and sleep, which do not do well on any sort of planned schedule.

Maybe I'm just extraordinarily growly today, but that idea seems absolutely preposterous to me!


ETA: Oh, WAIT A SECOND! I don't suppose this thread has anything to do with the date on which it was posted......? (*thinks to self: She GOT me!*)

luci_mama, what you said about the king baby reminds me..
there is a local band that does synth-techno and sings in a deadpan german accent. they have one song called "Everything is For the Baby" The lyrics go something like: What a stupid, stupid baby, It cannot do math at all, Its politics do not impress me, Inane, banal, obtuse baby.

It's really really funny to see live, since they have visuals that coincide with their lyrics.

No, luci, I meant it for real, no April Fools. Actually it was people on this board some time ago who suggested that having kids and being in school at the same time was a good idea!

And I'm not actually pregnant nor planning to be in the very near future. I'm just a thinking ahead kind of person. :-)

Well, I'm stunned.

Frankly, for a LONG time I felt as if my brains were being sucked out of my nipples as I breastfed! Somewhere during pregnancy I started getting "mommy brain" and it continued long past the baby's birth. I don't know how women work through their pregnancies, frankly, especially if they have high-pressure jobs, because I couldn't keep track of my own address some days! To this day, I would never let a pregnant doctor operate on me.

Well, that at least makes me feel a little better about something I once overheard that I thought I wanted to kick the person for. I had a pregnant coworker, and another coworker came to ask her about something. She said something like, "I know you're pregnant, but..." I can't remember her exact phrasing, but at the time it sounded horribly rude (not surprising from that person), as if she was saying that being pregnant made a person incapable of thinking! On second though, even if it was true, it was still rude.

Oh, man I was completely unsupervised at my job at "unnamed giant entertainment corporation" so I used to clock in, go back to my car, sleep for an hour or so, do some work, take a loooong lunch break (sometimes sneaking off to Mexico for lunch---WHAT? The BABY needed churros and those great chicken tacos with the spicy tomatilla sauce), come back, do some more work, sleep some more and clock out on time.

But I don't recommend that now at "unnamed entertainment giant."

Very interesting thread.....how is this time flexible and where can I get some of it? The thing I miss the most about pre-baby days is my mind...seriously...I'm so far gone when it comes to maintaining a spoken-out-loud-to-a-real-live-adult conversation, unless of course they start tantrumming....

For those who do get their master's while pregnant or newly babied....holy crap!!! That's amazing...I'm lucky to shower daily with or without the kidlets, never mind THINK....I am still amazed about this "flexible time" concept.


BTW, while I was pregnant the first time, I went to school full time and worked 3/4 time, almost got divorced (it obviously worked out 'cause we've since had another;-P )and almost had a breakdown. and I slept as much as possible.

With my first pregnancy I worked full time up to my eighth month and with my second pregnancy I went to community college for the first two trimesters, took online classes the third trimester and played lots and lots of video games.

my husband and i bought our home when i was 2 months into my pregnancy so most of my time was spent nesting and decorating..which is exactly how i wanted to be spending my time. i worked up until my 7th month. now im planning on pregnancy #2 this spring and im trying to psyche myself to do nothing but paint with any spare time i find. i want to get a few more openings/exhibits under my belt before #2 arrives and my creative time is a distant memory.