Any Mamas in school and working?

[Freedom~Mama]

I work 30 hours a week as a Montessori teacher, plus I am a full time student (taking 15 credits this semester).  I have two kiddos that are in elementary school and a supportive Fiance.  I still feel very overwhelmed though.  Anyone else in a similar boat?!  How do you deal with the exhaustion and stress?

[Ameliasmommy124]

Oh, me, me! I work 30 hours a week and am in school for my bachelor's. I'm currently taking 9 credits this semester and am taking 12 in the spring. I have a toddler who's almost two and we're in the midst of trying for another.

I have clearly lost my mind.

I have no advice on the stress and exhaustion cause I still haven't figured out how to manage. But, I try to remind myself that this is only temporary, right?

[desidoesit]

Wow, you both ROCK!  I am thinking about going back to school and you 2 just inspired me!

[greenwitchymama]

I'm not working.. yet. But I'm taking 15 credits this semester and planning to launch a blog soon that I hopehopehope I can monetize. Which means I'll have to work on that quite a bit. I never really knew how much work it could be to blog... 

Advice on stress and exhaustion: go to bed at night. My worst enemy is the lure of late night tv watching in an attempt to find some solitude. It never really is worth it in the end. 

Also, my husband and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends. I get Saturday morning to sleep, then I take DS for the afternoon while he gets things done. Then he sleeps in on Sundays and takes DS in the afternoons so I can get stuff done. It's a really helpful arrangement and gives us both some time for solitude if we need it.

[birthjunkiemom]

Yes.  Came to this forum looking for those who might know about pumping and working.  I am a full time teacher, and am taking 2 classes this semester as well.  I have 4 kids, and am due with #5 in January.  I was a SAHM until a couple of years ago, so this working and pumping thing is going to be brand new to me.

[angelove]

Another one here. I work full-time and am taking two classes this semester. I have two school-aged kid and a really supportive husband. What I found really help:

-Give up on having an organized/clean house. Too most people my home looks great but it is not up to the standard that I would prefer it to be.

-Getting enough sleep and exercising a few times a week. My kids being older, I can sleep in on the weekend which is a lifesaver as I am a big sleeper!

-Having the support of my employer who gives me a day off to study when I have an exam.

Still sometimes I am also stressed and feel overwhelmed but I try to remember that it is only temporary.

[Ragana]

Originally Posted by greenwitchymama 
Advice on stress and exhaustion: go to bed at night. My worst enemy is the lure of late night tv watching in an attempt to find some solitude. It never really is worth it in the end. 

Yup! I agree wholeheartedly. Gee, doing that now!

I have two school-aged kids, work full time and take one class per semester (this semester will be a lot of writing & my job involves writing). Being self-employed, I can work my studying into my day because I save time by not commuting. Otherwise, I try to do catch-up work/studying at night (hard for me) or early mornings on the weekend.

My only other advice is have school-aged kids... OK, not very helpful. But when DH was in grad school, we had one in school and put one in preschool - it was that time that he used to study.

[SplashingPuddle]

I tried to work 1/2 time and do fulltime school my first semester of graduate school, while I had 2 children. It turned out not to work very well. I had to cut back, and I decided to do school 1/2 time as well. That has been far more manageable. It will take longer, but I just wasn't coping with the various pulls on my time/energy.  Now I am hoping to complete my next semester before giving birth. I have no idea what happens if I give birth part way through a semester - anyone have experience with that?

[Indigo73]

I work full time and go to school full time.  Admittedly my kiddo is almost 11 so he is probably older than your wee ones.

[JollyGG]

I'm working full time and doing graduate school full time. It's going much better than I thought it would. Right now I have a A in all three of my classes. All of my classes are online. I typically do my reading after the kids are in bed during the evening and do my assignments on Saturday and Sunday. This is my first year of school and I'm done with my job at the end of the fiscal year (June 30). I'm looking forward to next year when I plan to just do school and not work. But I'm making it work for now. I made sure my advisor knew that I was still working full time when I registered for classes and so we tried to find some of the easier classes for this first year. 

Edited to add - my house is an absolute disaster. I've decided to be okay with that. I only have so many hours a day. I devote them to work, my kids, and my schooling. 

Edited by JollyGG - 11/6/12 at 2:49pm

[MyGarden]

I work in a university with students who are also parents, perhaps these online resources can be helpful, check them out at your convenience. Although in some instances the context is clearly Canadian, I find that student parents' needs are universal - what varies is the degree of support they can receive.

Webinars:

http://hosting.epresence.tv/FCO/1/watch/63.aspx
http://hosting.epresence.tv/FCO/1/watch/26.aspx
 

Student stories:

www.familycare.utoronto.ca/student_parents/ohp_intro.html

Tips for student parents:

www.familycare.utoronto.ca/student_parents/index.html

[betinabean]

Yup, I was in my third year of part-time grad school, while working full time, when I had my son. At the time, I was just taking two evening classes. I was very obviously pregnant, and I made sure to introduce myself to my professors on the first day of class and tell them when I was due. I also made friends in both classes who would email me what I missed. In truth, everyone was pretty excited.

My little Logan was born on a Friday. I missed the following week's classes on Mon and Tues, and the next week's Mon class, and was back in the Tues class. It was a relatively uneventful birth (ie, no C-section, NICU, etc.), so I think that's why I was able to jump back in the saddle. I also have an amazing fiance who stayed home with the baby those two nights.

I was exclusively breastfeeding, so that was a little tough -- we got one 15-min break from class each night, so I'd go out to my car and pump during that time. I also pumped 10 min each morning so I had a decent freezer stash and enough for him to be fed (one or two bottles? I don't remember) while I was out.

For me, the timing worked out pretty well, since he was born in Feb so for the bulk of the semester I was on maternity leave, and only had to worry about baby and school, not baby, school, and work.

[goodygumdrops]

I am just finishing my semester, yet hank goodness. I was taking taking 11 credits and working full time. I'm so utterly exhausted its unreal.