Waiting to have our first child until after I got my first tenure-track job (which may or may not happen) seemed silly-- after all, the tenure clock presents its own set of problems, and if we want more than 1 child, I'd probably have to postpone having the second until well into my mid-to-late thirties (after tenure), which I'd rather avoid.
So now I'm 8 weeks pregnant, and I am (I think) about a year away from completing my dissertation. The problem is, as ever, the uncertainty of what comes after.
I'm due in early June of 2011. That gives us the summer, when I won't be teaching, to get over the initial shell shock. But come fall 2011, I'll be teaching part time and preparing for my first foray into the academic job market. And there are so many unknowns: will there be jobs available in my field at all? Will I even be asked for an interview? Will having a 6-month-old at the MLA convention over winter break be held against me?
But the more immediate problem: given my current extreme fatigue, will I manage to finish the writing before the baby arrives?
