Birth & Examinations

[SweetDreams]

Bubs is due on 1 June however between 20 June and 29 June I have 5 uni examinations to sit.

Not having had a child before I don't know how I will feel at what will possibly be only 3-4 weeks after bubs is born. I don't believe I will be able to obtain my best results at this time but am looking for some sort of guidance from those of you who have had children as to how you felt in the first few weeks.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated!

Susan :)

[bec79]

I would definately speak to the uni about postponing these exams...there is no way you will be prepared enough, or in the right frame of mind to sit an exam!!!

[aardvark]

If you are sitting the exams, make sure you take a seat as close as practical to the door, and approach one of the female supervisors, and advise them you may need to visit the loo several times, so that they are well aware of your situation beforehand.

One of the problems is that in the last 1/2 hour of an exam, no one may leave the room usually. If you are in need of frequent potty breaks, that may cause a problem.

I did the November exams for my 2nd year of my undergraduate degree while I was expecting a mid-january bub.

If you can't get the exams done before the birth, I think it would be just that much harder to do after baby is born, and you are having less sleep. I have a 3 month old, and I am currently doing one subject only towards my master's degree, and it is hard to find time to even keep up with one subject.

Good luck.

[youngbrismum]

Hi Susan,

I totally agree with bec79. My daughter was due the day I had my last exam for the semester and I was lucky that she waited another 13 days but if she hadn't there is no way I could have sat them.

The first few weeks with your new bub is going to be very full on (is this your 1st?) and you will need all of your energy just to make it through everyday not to mention baby brain.

Trust me you will want to defer those exams. I know with my uni I had the option to defer until beginning of next semester so talk to your uni about it.

All the best for the birth of your bub. What a wonderful thing you are about to experience.

Cheers

Brooke:hugs:

[SweetDreams]

Yes first bub! I am very excited! :) Not long now! :)

Your opinions have confirmed my own. I'm going to be too EVERYTHING(!) to think straight! I'm not too concerned about my own uni - I'm sure they will be fine with my deferring to 2nd semester (November) by which stage I can't foresee there being a problem at all.

I'm just concerned about the cross-institutional subject I'm doing but hopefully they will accept medical cert or some sort of documentation!

Susan :)

[Beany]

See your tutors and the student centre about this. In your situation, there should be no problem obtaining a "special consideration" status, whereby your recent birth and subsequent stresses will be taken into account should you decide to sit the exams.

They could also change the course requirements for you on the basis of that special consideration: perhaps they can get you to write essays or something as opposed to sitting formal exams or perhaps you can take the exam earlier or later (for which they'd write you a special paper).

There are options and generally the faculty staff are quite willing to accommodate circumstances like this :)

[Rhoxie]

Deferring the exams is probably the most sane way to go.

However if it was me I'd see if there was one subject I could take the exam for before the birth (ie early).
Then I'd probably try and do one on time (ie when bub is 4 weeks old)
Then I'd defer the two others.
(this is in hindsight of course because I had an April 29 baby and sat 3 exams at the end of May with my first bub- It wasn't pleasant but I passed.)

Best of luck with both your uni and your upcoming Birth! :D :D

[SweetDreams]

The other issue (and the reason I don't think I'm going to cope) is that I also have 5 major assignments due after bub's EDDand then straight into exams. I'm already tired 99% of the time!

I think I will ask at next midwife appt and see what documentation they can give me. I am only doing one unit in 2nd semester so sitting exams then shouldn't be a problem!

Susan