Tips on being in college w/ a baby? :(

Question

Okay so I'm 29 weeks pregnant and start my second year of college next week. I'm taking 4 classes, two online and two on campus. I only have to be on campus Wednesday and Friday. My due date is November 6th, I know she could come as early as October or even September (although I'm hoping she'll wait until October at least). 
I'm extremely stressed out because I wanted to graduate in 4 years. I don't want to take out more loans than I have to. And I want to get a career fast since Ill have a baby to provide for. 
With 4 or 5 classes a semester, maybe one in the winter or summer, I should be able to graduate by 2019, which would be four years from when I started. How am I going to balance being a full time college student with being a mother AND working? We have a lot of support from my boyfriends family, but he is a full time student and works part time also. We live with his parents, and I don't want to live here for any longer than we have to which is why I want to graduate and get a career asap. I just feel so discouraged. I have a 3.1 gpa which I assume is only going to go down when the baby comes if I can even finish the semester. I can't take less than 4 classes a semester or I won't get financial aid... and it'll take me forever to graduate. Idk what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Answer

My best friend has two kids and goes to school full time and works full time. She's exhausted and she works soooo hard. If she can do all of that then you can do it. It's hard and she only sleeps an hour a day. But soon she'll be done.

Answer

I would suggest dropping a class or two. I was taking 1 online class when I had my baby, and if it wasn't for the fact that I aced everything right until she was born, I probably would have done bad. She was born in october, so I still had 2 months to finish the semester.

I was super optimistic that I could do it, especially since it was only one class and online. But once she was born, the reality of how hard it really was hit. newborns need to feed about every 2-3 hours so I was so tired ALL the time and I forgot about a few assignments due to the sleep deprivation.

Thankfully I still Aced the class but it was so hard for me that I decided to take the following semester off. I'm really glad I did. I was able to bond with my baby without the stress of school for the last 8 months. I'm at community college and only need a total of 3 classes to transfer and it was so hard to make the decision to skip a semester bc now I can't transfer until 2017 when I was supposed to transfer this year! But now I'm glad I got those extra months with my baby and now get to finish what I started .

I hope this helps and hopefully you decide to do what you think is best. If you think you can take the full load, do it. Just personally,  I couldn't :(

Answer

It can be done. I had my daughter at 34 weeks on a thursday before the first day school. The counselor and professors worked with me to switch my classes to online classes. I had to come to campus to take midterms and finals. I had one class online, but it started 9 weeks later and my husband would bring my daughter to class at break so I could breast feed her. The class was 2 days a week and 4 hours long.

It really depends on how you can manage your time, your ability to work without someone physically telling you when to turn in your assignments all the time, and the amount of support you will get from your boyfriend and his family.

Some schools provide free/low cost daycare on campus that you can stop by and see your child between classes. My school's daycare allowed for study time and let me leave campus for work. But my kids could not start until they were 6 months.

Answer

I'm in the same spot! Due Nov. 16th and I'm taking five classes- three online and two on campus. My SO and I live together alone though. It's going to be hard but worth it! Just don't let the goal of graduating escape.

Answer

Trust me, it can be done. I had my son my second semester of college. I had just turned 18. I was a single parent with no help from the father. I did have support from my family though. I took the required amount of classes needed for financial aid because I also wanted to graduate on time--which I did. I also worked 20-35 hours per week. It sounds impossible but it's not. You can do it! After I graduated, I went on to complete a doctorate degree and I'm almost done!

Answer

I was pregnant my 2nd year of college and it was hard, physically, mentally, everything.

If you can, look into your college and see if it has a child care program. If it does, look into it now. When I became aware of this program (after my son was born) it was too late and there was a crazy long wait list. Also check to see if there is a student and child group in campus. You can get a lot of support from them. It really nice because they are going through what you are going through.

Also, don't be afraid to ask family members to help out. My grandparents were gracious enough to watch our child while we went to work and attended class.

When the baby is here and you have assignments to complete, I always read my homework to him. He was a baby and didn't really care if they were actual stories of if I was learning about lighting (I was a theater major).

I think the thing that help the most was being so close my husband. We really relied on each other and had to communicate a lot.

Even with classes, we would try and take them so one of us would be home with our baby for a couple of hours at least.

Tips on being in college w/ a baby? :(

Let's Glow!

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey