Smiles

I haven’t been able to share my pregnancy news with my advisors until this past week. Although delays in scheduling conferences with them was a big part of my reason for waiting, I was also a bit reluctant to let them know I was expecting without being able to hand them something I’d written at the same time. In the event (however likely or unlikely) that they weren’t going to be thrilled about one of their grad students going off and having a baby, I wanted to be able to prove that I was still in the game. Don’t worry, you don’t need to tell me that there’s something slightly sick about that mind game: I know already. But just in case, I knew that I would be too tired out from the first trimester to handle such discouragement well.

As it happens, I’ve given my two main advisors both a revised prospectus and a paper in the past week, when I also shared my news. They were both very enthusiastic about my work and actually seemed delighted about the baby news. The first one is a rather shy, quiet guy, so I wasn’t sure I had much with which to gauge his reaction for awhile, but today he stopped by to chat as I was reading in the lounge and asked how I was feeling, was quick to assure me I should feel great soon, kept smiling, etc. It was really sweet. And my other advisor was her typical ecstatic self. She told me I had great timing (in avoiding the hot summer during pregnancy) and advised me to get cleats to make sure I had good footing during those late-winter pregnancy months. Very funny all around. I couldn’t have asked for a better reception. Big sigh of relief.

Erin