The Final Push

I hate the end of the semester. It reeks of finals and term papers. As I type this, I'm nested in the library among my binders, handouts and first drafts, dutifully refilling my water bottle on occasion to keep my puffy self hydrated.

At the risk of sounding like a big whiner, I must say that being pregnant and being a student at the same time is tough. I don't want to edit my terms papers or make multiple PowerPoint presentations. Instead, I want to perfect my baby registry and read up on which pre-birth classes I should take at the hospital where I plan to deliver. I sit in the front of my classrooms, put on my glasses and take pages of notes in my loopy cursive, but I get distracted every single time my baby kicks. To add insult to injury, she likes to kick when I'm sitting still for prolonged periods of time, i.e. class.

Being a student and being pregnant at the same time required adaptation. My body is more demanding than ever before, and now is not the time to disregard the signals it gives me. I make sure I have something to drink in every single class. Ninety percent of the time, I also have a snack. I don't always need them, but nothing is more distracting than my growling stomach in the middle of a lecture. I truly feel like I've perfected the art of downing a Pop Tart and listening to international law, journalism ethics or feminist theory at the same time.

Any and all discomforts are also distracting- headaches, joint pains, feet cramps, lower back spasms, not to mention the occasional rogue kick to the wrong spot in my abdomen. Quite early in my pregnancy, I became comfortable with unbuttoning my pants during class and covering the gape with my shirt. "They" say all modesty goes out the window when you deliver a baby. I will attest that it goes out the window long before the little one debuts.

Today I sent multiple emails to my fellow group project members in which I sounded like a control freak/mother hen. I've assumed the role of matriarch over these projects, and while I apologized to my groupmates for appearing a tad obsessive, part of me just wanted to type, "I'm six months pregnant and expecting a baby has made me a compulsive planner. I don't feel like waiting until the last minute to deal with this stuff and I can't stay up until 3 a.m. working on things because my brain shuts off around 10. Thanks for understanding and tough break if you don't! Sincerely, Mama."

I feel as though I've entered a permanent state of learning. I go to class every day and soak up what my professors tell me, but I'm also preparing to be a mom at the same time. I think the greatest lesson so far has been to be patient with myself and take one thing at a time. The other day, I made a list of every test, project and paper I have to complete by the end of the semester, and seeing them laid out in order helped me to organize a plan for tackling them. Nerdy as it may be, I'm tickled every time I get to cross something off the list.

I know the semester will end in no time at all. I just have to make it through these next few weeks of chipping away at this list and tromping through campus in the midst of all these April showers. My pregnancy will be over in the blink of an eye as well, and then I'll be taking on the greatest project of all- motherhood.