MrPootawn

Hello Everyone, Thank you very much for the advice/support and words of encouragement. It's great to hear about other examples of grad students completing their degrees while having a child. I don't mean to feed the trolls but since Pinkster hijacked this thread I'll make a couple of points in response. 1. I am doing my PhD in molecular biology, and I did my BSc in biology. I am quite familiar with how reproduction works, but thanks for the reminder. 2. we were using protection (BC) and it was being used as instructed Thank you again everyone and please continue on with any advice or examples, they are much appreciated.

Hi all, First time poster here but hoping to solicit some advice while remaining anonymous. I'm in my 4th year of my PhD. I expect I have anywhere from 15-24 months remaining before I am ready to defend/graduate (that includes thesis being written, edited etc). I just found out my girlfriend is pregnant (5 weeks or so), and lets just say it was unexpected. She works full-time for a NPO, and though we are comfortable financially we are just barely on the cusp of that category. My grad student salary is modest, her salary is respectable and we own a home together as well as 2 vehicles. If we were to have the baby, our respective parents would be thrilled and certainly help out financially but we're worried about being spread too thin. Kids are expensive and a ton of work, and though we want to have kids eventually we weren't planning on doing so this early. So any advice? Is it manageable? Will it delay my graduation significantly as well as hamstring my future educational goals? (I am considering medical school after my PhD). Any advice, anecdotal or otherwise would be much appreciated.