How's my plan?

[dsnutter]

Why do you not want any of your future classmates knowing that you will be pregnant? There is nothing wrong with that!

Anways, congrats! You should be just fine.

[StevePirates]

I guess the only viable alternative would be to ask if you could defer enrollment for a year.  If you have a difficult pregnancy, this might be a better option.

But, assuming that your pregnancy goes well (and god willing it will), I think your plans sounds great.

The only real bummer will be losing all your section mates to 2L while you get thrust in with a new 1L section halfway through the year. 


also, congratulations!

[BeachBum]

Congrats!  You can definitely have a baby while in law school, it just takes a little longer to graduate.  Talk with an academic advisor at your school to work out the details.

We've had a few new moms in my class.  One is due right before classes start up this fall, another one took a week and a half of when she gave birth and finished the rest of the semester and the last one joined our class because she had to go on bed rest halfway through her second semester of school. 

[Sparkz1920]

Actually, now that I think about it, the girl in my class might have had a bit of an advantage because she'd done one semester of law school, seen what it was actually about, and then gotten some time to decompress and process everything. As opposed, of course, to us, who'd all just suffered through the first semester and were shell shocked, lol. Given that you'll be having a baby, you probably won't get the same sort of decompression time, but it might be beneficial in the end to be able to take that time and think about how your first semester strategies did and didn't work and work on whatever weaknesses you see. Congrats, and good luck!

Strong, if this is a flame, its totally a lame one. And its not like it really hurt to give two minutes of my time to what is probably a serious question.

Exactly

Im quite sure others have wondered the same thing too and others in the future because who knows, someone may end up getting pregnant this fall semester

[John Galt]

Sounds like a plan, though I couldn't imagine law school without caffine!

[juliemccoy]

I think you'd be a lot better off deferring for one year. So much happens during a pregnancy and in the first year of a child's life. There are emotional and physical issues to deal with, as well as the unexpected.

Just make sure that any plans you have are approved by the school.

[LS_is_for_Mommies]

I ran the plan by my school's dean of student affairs and she said that people often take that same route.  She was very supportive and said that I had a lot to be excited about.  The only thing I have yet to find out is how taking off a year is going to affect my merit scholarship and loans. 

Thanks for all your input guys, I really appreciate it!  Since my classmates will likely find out shortly after the semester starts anyway,I'm starting at UVA in the fall.  I just want to avoid nobody making friends with me because they know I'll be leaving in the spring.

Anyway, thanks again everybody!

[oscarsonthepond]

IMO (since you asked for advice), I would recommend not going to law school.  When you have a kid you realize that nothing is or could ever be more important to you than it, even if you are able to convince yourself otherwise at some future point.  Nothing could be more important to your child than having you there for it.  Let your husband earn enough money to provide for the fam, and you focus on the incomprehensibly important role of being a mommy.

Just my two, likely very unpopular, cents.

[LVP]

IMO (since you asked for advice), I would recommend not going to law school.  When you have a kid you realize that nothing is or could ever be more important to you than it, even if you are able to convince yourself otherwise at some future point.  Nothing could be more important to your child than having you there for it.  Let your husband earn enough money to provide for the fam, and you focus on the incomprehensibly important role of being a mommy.

Just my two, likely very unpopular, cents.

What if the father also realizes that nothing is or could ever be more important than that the baby, and recognizing that being a daddy is also incomprehensibly important?

[oscarsonthepond]

What if the father also realizes that nothing is or could ever be more important than that the baby, and recognizing that being a daddy is also incomprehensibly important?

Then he can stay home and the mother can work.  I, personally, don't think there's anything wrong with having a stay-at-home dad and a mom who works if that's what the couple prefers - just as long as there's one parent at home.  To me, it seems pretty clear that there are two parents by design (or natural selection) so that one can raise the children and the other can put food on the table.  I think both roles are equally important and generally equally difficult (in different ways).  Generally, it makes no difference to me who does what.

Having said that, I also think that at least for the first 2 years or so of a kids life, there are a couple of advantages to having a mother at home rather than a father.  They won't make or break the situation, but in my mind they give a slight edge to having the mother stay at home at least during that time.  It also works out a better logistically to have the mother stay home if you're going to have more than one child (so that the breadwinner doesn't have to keep taking time off for pregnancy) - that is unless of course you're working at a place w/ great maternity benefits.

Once again, I know (from previous experience) that this opinion isn't very popular on these boards, so take it for what it's worth.