My body temperature has definitely been warmer during pgcy. I am the kind of person who is usually cold. Paul and I are in more agreement about the thermostat these days, LOL! He has been surprised quite a few times how warm I am when he touches my skin. He's used to me having ice cold hands! Well yesterday I had an intense hot flash. I didn't know if that was common or not, but I looked it up online today and found it is very normal. If I have any more hot flashes, I hope I keep having them at home as it's a lot easier to cool down at home!
Paul got very good news yesterday - his first acceptance into a PhD program (chemistry). We weren't expecting to hear this soon as the University of Delaware's deadline for applying is February 1. He applied at 6 schools, but based on this acceptance we have already eliminated at least 3 from consideration. Of course this prompted a lot of discussion between the two of us as to our future plans - particularly for my employment. We shall see how it all turns out. If he goes to Penn State for his PhD, I'll probably work part-time (teach 2 night classes a week) for a couple of years through taking half-time unpaid parental leave (I'd still be in my tenured position presuming I am granted tenure in a few months). I can take up to 4 years of unpaid childrearing leave should the President grant my request. That will likely be the route I'll take if he ends up at UD. My tenure (and promotion should I also be granted that this spring) are portable within the state system (14 universities) so I'd really rather not resign in case after Paul finishes his PhD (we're hoping he can finish in 4 years) he ends up with a teaching position in PA then I could go back to work and not need to go through applying for tenure again (and possible already be at Associate Professor as well). Well it will be interesting to see how many acceptances he gets, but he only needed one, and this was the one of the six his advisor was most hoping he'd get so he's off to a great start! I'm proud of my hubby! In addition to the accptance email, he also got an email from a prof who does the same kind of research he is doing with his advisor now in his Master's degree. It was obvious she is hoping Paul will accept the offer to come to UD and also choose to work in her research group. It's nice to feel wanted!!!
His area of research for any of you out there who are at all into physical chemistry is solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy which is abbreviated SSNMR. Speaking of which even though it's a Saturday and the spring semester hasn't started yet (his classes start on Wednesday), that's where my hubby is right now - at school running the NMR. Today he is running sodium samples. Most of the time over the past year he's run zinc samples. He often has to grow the crystals and use the x-ray diffractometer in his research so he also works with a crystallography professor in addition to his SSNMR advisor.
Well I think it's time to eat again. I feel like I am perpetually eating, but I am trying very hard to eat healthy foods. The last thing I had was an apple for example. When I weighed myself yesterday I was down one pound so maybe all I've gained so far is 3 pounds. I know the weight gains will increase more rapidly in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters (unless I am like Lynn - thanks for sharing that info, Lynn). I know some people shed the pgcy weight very easily after giving birth, but given my usual battles with my weight, I have a sneaking suspicion I will be one of those who has to work very hard to shed all the pgcy weight. So I am trying to not gain any more than necessary.
3 comments:
Comgrats to Paul! Matt and I are both UD grads. We love the area and are considering moving back there once all of his medical training is done (in 2.5 years)! It sounds crazy, but it's not too early for him to start applying for jobs and there's one in DE that we're already looking at. We really loved our church there and would love to return to the area. If you guys do go there, let us know if there's any way we can help you out! Congrats, congrats!
Come to think of it, Matt was a chem major there! Now that was undergrad obviously, but he's familiar with the department and the faculty. If you have any questions that we could help with, please let us know!
Wow, it's a small world after all, LOL! The prof whom Paul will work with if he goes there is Tatyana Polenova. Did Matt know her? If we end up going out there I am sure I will want to know what church you went to, etc. That's wild that you might be moving back to that area yourselves in a couple of years! We shall see where Paul ends up going in the fall. If UD was as close to home as PSU is, I am sure he'd pick UD in a heartbeat. If PSU makes an offer it comes down to whether he wants to go to UD badly enough to be willing to live off of about $30K a year for 4 years. I am 50/50 at this point. I would of course love to be a SAHM but on the other hand if I was working 50% (teaching 2 night classes a week) things would be a lot more comfortable financially so I am fine with that too.
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