It is the end of the semester
and, as I have done for the
last three years, I have been
trying to wrap up last minute
assignments and prepare for
finals.
The difference being that,
this semester, I am seven
months pregnant and I am
feeling the effects of my condition.
Finals are always a hard
and stressful time for a student,
but with so much else
on my mind lately I have
found it doubly hard to concentrate
on my studying.
Every time I sit down to
type up a paper or prepare
for a test, I find myself having
to walk off a cramp or run to
the bathroom.
Soon, I find myself in the
nursery trying to straighten
up or putting together some
new baby item.
The next thing I know, it is
10 p.m. and I am ready for
bed, never having gotten
back to my studies.
Even as I write this column,
my final piece for the
Centurion, I find myself wandering
off to take care of
other, more pressing issues.
I have to keep reminding
myself that I am in the home
stretch. I am about to finish
my last classes here at Bucks.
I am finally graduating and
will not having to work fulltime
while going to school
full-time.
I wish it were true that,
once classes are over, I’ll have
more time to get things done.
But the truth is, once classes
are over, I will only have a
few weeks left before the
baby arrives and then, of
course, I will have zero free
time.
As has been the ebb and
flow of my life, as soon as one
thing ends, another begins.
I will be moving on to bigger
things and new experiences,
just like the rest of the
students in my graduating
class.
For most of them, it will be
transferring to a four-year
college or entering the work
force. For me, it will be entering
in to motherhood, and
taking on the next stage in my
life.
It was never in the plans for
me to get pregnant while I
was in college.
When I started at Bucks I
wasn’t even that serious
about dating the man who
would become my husband.
I thought that, like many
others at Bucks, I would head
off to Temple after Bucks and
get my bachelor’s. I thought I
would rent a small apartment
near the campus and work
part-time to make ends meet.
As it turns out, the cosmos
had other plans for me. I may
eventually make it to Temple,
or another school to finish my
degree, but for right now I
will be focusing on my career
and my family.
That is what needs my
attention the most right now.
At least when my son
grows to be a bit older I can
talk to him about how he
attended his mother’s college
graduation.