Hello everybody and especially Sara,

I read your article in Frontiers in Ecology and Environment (and by
the way discovered this group :) and found it very useful for young
scientists and young mothers/fathers. When deciding to have a baby, it
is extremely hard to know how you will able to continue to work while
the baby will be here. Families are not always visible in the
workplace and colleagues tend to avoid to say that they must leave
their work early because of their children. Most of my colleagues also
waited to have a permanent position to start to think to a family, so
they had their first child around 35 years old. I am 26 years old (so
will probably be the youngest mother in my lab), have finished my PhD
this summer and I am pregnant (3 months). I will try to find a post
doc starting 2-3 months after my baby will be born. I must say these
three last months of pregnancy have been extremely hard considering
my work (I am finishing my papers on my PhD). I could not at all work
8 hours a day, because I felt very tired, sick all the day and only
could sleep a lot. I don't know at all how it will be when the baby
will be here, but I feel it more secure since I read your opinion (the
message is finally : yes, it is possible to be young scientist and
having children, and other parents experience it).

Do other mothers have experienced difficulties with their work during
the pregnancy? How did you manage to continue, and how was it
perceived by your supervisors and colleagues?

Thanks

Flore



--- In scienceandfamilies@yahoogroups.com, "sescanga" <sescanga@...>
wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm a Ph.D. candidate and the mother of a 2 year old. I'm writing up
> my dissertation while taking care of my son at home--with help from a
> babysitter 3 mornings a week. It is very inspiring to read the
> thoughts people have posted.
>
> I'm writing an article on the balance of career and family to be
> submitted to Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment at the end of
> the month. My article is based on feedback, obtained through
> informal conversations and a score of answers to a formal survey,
> from other ecologists at all stages of career. I finished my draft
> yesterday and was perusing the literature to see what others had to
> say about this topic, and found Carolyn's article (2007, Bulletin of
> ESA), and then joined this group.
>
> The topics that are of most interest here (and in Carolyn's article)
> are those that are also of most interest to the people who provided
> feedback for my article. It seems as though a lot of these issues
> are pretty universal, and don't have easy answers. In developing my
> article, I was encouraged to see that both men and women shared a
> keen interest in the topic.
>
> Members of this group might also be interested in the articles
> Science has compiled on the topic:
> http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issue
> s/articles/2800/scientists_as_parents_feature_index/
>
> I'm planning to cite Carolyn's article in my article in the hopes
> that we can perhaps use it as a second jumping off point for further
> fruitful discussions in this group.
>
> Sara
>