Degree drama

I originally had my thesis defense scheduled for July 6^th, at least three weeks before I was due with Jacob. This gave me plenty of time to make revisions to my thesis after the defense (assuming I’d pass) and submit my application for graduation before the end of the summer term (Sept. 20).  So I sent out a final draft of my thesis about 1 ½ weeks prior to my defense so that my committee members could review it and come up with a list of questions for me.

Drama #1: ONE of my committee members was over his email quota, so my thesis kept getting bounced back to me. I called his office and his cell to get an alternate email address. I left messages on both and followed up…It was Friday before my defense and still NOTHING from this professor! I needed him to be the required fifth person on my committee. Argh! If he just didn’t want to be on my committee anymore, I would have understood, but he didn’t even have the decency to shoot me an email or call.

Since my defense was only three days away, I had to POSTPONE my defense because there was not enough time to find a replacement. Plus, only giving this replacement three days to review my thesis would have been unfair.

I wanted to postpone only two weeks but my advisor was afraid I’d go into labor and have to postpone again. We decided that I’d defend 4 weeks after my due date, which looking back really wasn’t that much time to recover from labor and delivery. Luckily, I delivered a week early, so I had 5 weeks to rest before thinking about my defense.

My defense went fine and I passed but then Drama #2…well, not so much “drama” but a challenge…

There are no words to describe the amount of physical and emotional strength that is required to take care of a newborn. Not only did J eat every 2-3 hrs, he wanted to sleep in your arms between feedings. And he knew if I was typing at the computer…that didn’t count! After my defense, I had a lot of revisions to make on my thesis. PLUS, I had to gather all of these required signatures when I wasn’t even on campus anymore! Thankfully, I had an understanding advisor and a VERY HELPFUL officemate who did A LOT of the legwork for me (praise God for them!). AND, my WONDERFUL husband AND family came over to watch Jacob while I revised my thesis.

I finally got every form signed and submitted on Sept. 27^th and received my diploma in the mail about 6 weeks later. Glad to be done, but I still feel like I’m in graduate school because the work I do now is also pretty independent.