I'm new to this forum, so hello to you all. I just wondered if anyone knew about maternity pay during a phd? I understand that some funding bodies do pay 6 months maternity pay but is that the same amount as the stipend usually is or is that Statutory maternity pay. I'm in my thirties about to start the last year of my phd and just asking when will be the right time to start a family. Thanks

Just across this forum. Rigel, I believe you would have put to bed by now. Congratulations! And stick in! God is on your side. I had my son after my 1st yr of my PhD in Chemistry. I later transfered to Biochemistry in my husband schl (he is in Chemistry, 5th yr). I am now in my 3rd yr. Yes, it has not been easy, but it is doable. My husband is very helpful, even though he is more senior graduate student, he does most of child caring stuff. Bath him, prepare him for daycare/school, drop him off and pick him up before picking me up. I do the home stuff, we dont eat out (cant afford to) so I cook a lot! and good food too

My advisor is only "helpful". Even though I have only taken 2 days of since I have been in his lab (when my son ran a teething fever), he had once gone around saying he is concerned my having a son would affect my research. He is dominant, overbearing person, who is always in a hurry to get things done, even though he never gets the courage to publish the findings. He is a workaholic. 24/7 though he has 3 children. I had to wrestle my project off his hands becos he thot he was doing me a favor by doing my expts for me since I have a child. Sounds nice but I know how the story will go. I have since taken charge of my research and making great progress...

Now, I am pregnant with my second child. We are happy about it as we have planned it that way. Some people may frown at it, we dont care. People frown at a lot of other things too, even senselessly. If now is not a good time to have a family, when will? The expectations will even be higher when I get a job and then my biological clock my say "time's up ol' gal". My son have been a blessing on the stressful days of PhD. Many people may frown at it, including my advisor (who is yet to know, though I am in my ninth week). Just want to make sure I have made reasonable progress on my second paper before making the announcement. He had once said I should let him know when and if I get pregnant so that he wont let me do the radioactive stuff. But having being with him for 3yrs, I know better than telling I am pregnant just after his last manuscript was rejected for publication!

So.. I am taking it one day at a time. Thank God my morning sickness is just for 30 mins every morning unlike my first. I am trying to do as much work as I can so that there wont be too much lapses when I need to take my maternity leave. A couple of my colleagues and post-docs are also pregnant and are not working any less than the others who are not. Some of them are even working more than the guy in my lab who comes in at 11am, sits at the internet until 5pm before putting on his lab coat. Leaves the lab at 10pm to show off to the world that "graduate school is "tough", see me working late"! It is not how late you work, but how much you get done when you work. So if you must combine PhD and family, do it! It is possible with good planning and focus!

Whoops, only just found this. I've read most of the discussion on this thread and I must admit it's the situation I'm sort of in. I'm not pregnant, but I'm married and my husband has waited four years for me to finish my BSc and Masters. I now have one year until I start my PhD, I was hoping to have a child before it started but I think I was being a bit naive. I can't bear to wait another 3 or 4 years for having children, and my husband definitely cannot. Not having children is starting to really hurt him.

If it was a rigid black and white choice between kids and doctorate then I'd choose kids, but I've had to fight so hard for my education that I'm scared of what I'd be giving up. I also know I AM the best candidate for the project I'm going to do. But it feels so wrong and deceitful going into a project which I might have to suspend because of family commitments. I'm also really worried on trying to raise a family on a stipend and just my husband's salary. So what? If I do the PhD, I'm letting down my husband, his family, my own family... but if I have a baby, or take time out from my project for maternity leave, I'm letting down my supervisor, the university, and everyone who wrote me references saying I was reliable and hard working. I don't know what to do, and, quite frankly I want to cry.