An Untraditional Finish (Part 2 of 2)

But now that I was expecting a baby, could I honestly expect a diploma as well?

Our child wasn’t due until early summer. This would allow me to complete my first two semesters without any complications. Well, almost.

During that first academic year I gained a new appreciation for things I’d always taken for granted. Commuting to class in the mornings was challenging enough. But doing so with morning sickness was a horse of a different color - often a pale green. Luckily, my statistics professor (as in MWF at 7:45am Statistics) didn’t mind me coming to class a few minutes late. Leaning over the sink to get some soap from the dispenser in the restroom had never been a problem before. Nor had sitting in those little chairs with the folding desktops. But now I had a watermelon-sized bulge on the front of me and suddenly all those little things had be reckoned with.

To make matters worse, my midwife ordered me to go on eight hours of bed-rest a day due to some swelling in my legs. I felt like I’d just been grounded, and all I was trying to do was pass college. I don’t know what I would have done without a certain girlfriend who let me borrow her bed between classes.

Fall and spring came and went and soon my son was born - all nine pounds, eleven ounces of him. No wonder it had been so hard to reach for the soap. I had two peaceful months to recover and the summer passed joyfully. Our son had even learned to sleep through the night before school started. But autumn came quickly, bringing with it my most complicated semester yet.

Due to a miscalculation the previous year, I would have to take nineteen credits in the fall to graduate on time. I had never taken nineteen credits before. And I certainly would not have chosen to do so while breastfeeding an infant. Speaking of the baby, I was going to need quite a few babysitters to pull this semester off. I couldn’t very well bring him to “Show and Tell” every day.

But God provided. I quickly recruited four babysitters to cover my afternoon classes and Jason’s boss let him work remotely so he could keep an eye on the baby in the mornings. The best part was that we didn’t have to pay the babysitters. They were willing to watch our son in exchange for a few loads of laundry or out of sheer love for children. I was grateful.

My final semester proved to be a busy one, but we made it. I met all the academic requirements in December 2007 and graduated with distinction the following spring. I am still amazed that the details of transferring, pregnancy, writing papers, finding babysitters, breastfeeding, and finally graduating all came together. By the time I left school, I had learned more than just the subject listed on my diploma. I learned that God’s got the details figured out and always provides for His children. My college career had been an untraditional journey, but it was also an adventurous one that I wouldn’t trade.