I've been advised not to mention it as well.

Also, I've been advised not to publish parts of the thesis as chapters of a book, but journals are good, of course.

Thanks for all the response! This is really helpful to hear and so is that link to family life.

A lot of what I end up coming back to is, "there is no good time" or "it's always a good time," depending on how you look at it! I guess it also depends on how sick you end up feeling while pregnant. That could be a very productive research time or a terribly difficult time. Also, I guess flexible time means it's easy for something else to take over your time if you really care about it (like a baby I would hope!).

It also seems funny to "calculate" as you say, but I find myself doing the same thing. I have been trying to figure also in terms of semester dates for teaching and all, and when I can travel since I am an international student. The biggest thing I'm trying to do now is attend some conferences and work extra hard on my publications to give myself a cushion since I wouldn't be able to get as much done with a newborn.

Well, I think we will get married first then talk and think about things this summer. I'll see how far my research gets before then! More opinions would be great to hear as well. I'm know there are others out there in limbo, including a few people I know.

Good luck to all of you!

Hi-

I've found reading many of these forums quite helpful! The students in my program don't talk that much, I guess since it is purely a research degree.

I'm in the first year of a 3 or 4 year research degree (after the MA), getting married next month, and trying to decide if it would be a good time to start a family. I'm 31 now and my boyfriend is very supportive of my degree and around the apartment (cooking, cleaning, etc). We want to have 2 or 3 kids eventually. Part of me thinks even trying to have 2 before the degree is finished might be better than when I am starting a career as a professor somewhere, but another part of me thinks it would be a difficult time. I guess I feel very busy (like all of you!) but a lot of it is time at home reading and writing. I'm in comparative literature, so my only on campus activity is a lecture or two and TA sessions which I'm quite comfortable with since I have teaching background.

Any experience and advice appreciated! Thanks! :-)