(CASEY LEE/The Daily Campus)
Megan Taylor, 19, is in the second semester of her junior year and is studying psychology. She is taking five classes and lives about ten miles off campus with her fiancé. Fourteen weeks ago Taylor gave up dyeing her hair, tanning and drinking caffeine because she realized she was pregnant.
“It wasn’t planned. It just kind of happened,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t trying, I just wasn’t doing much preventing either.”
Taylor said she had tried the pill but found it difficult to incorporate into her busy schedule. Although Taylor admitted the timing was bad, she added that she became excited once the initial shock passed. By the time she gives birth, she will be a senior and is determined to finish college while caring for her newborn.
With the support of her family and fiancé, Taylor believes her final year as a student will be successful. She takes classes during the day and her fiancé takes night classes at the University of Texas at Dallas, so one of the child’s parents will be available to care for the baby. Additionally, Taylor’s mother moved nearby in order to help out when needed and her father is supportive financially. Taylor considers herself to be in a good situation compared to others who do not receive the same kind of support.
She said she does not want to use day care, but rather she, her fiancé and her mother will take turns with the baby.
“I don’t go out much. We stay home and do our own thing anyway, so I don’t really think a lot is going to change with my daily life. I’ll probably be tired, but I think that pretty much everything will be the same.”
During her first trimester she had serious morning sickness, throwing up at least once or twice a day, and was constantly exhausted. Taylor said it started during finals last semester but is finally beginning to improve. Morning classes have been difficult for her because of morning sickness, but she hopes it will get better now that she is in her second trimester.
While Taylor has decided to remain in school while pregnant, other students at SMU have returned to school later in their life after pregnancy. Julie Stevens is one of them. She has a husband, four children, a full-time job and is a full-time student at SMU. The company she worked for started drastically closing divisions and she thought she was losing job stability. At this time she decided to return to school to study risk management and insurance. Stevens said balancing her time among her family, work and school is difficult.
“Even though you have all this stuff to do [for school] you still have a spouse and children who have needs too… There’s very little me-time, if any. Pretty much, the only me-time is in the car on the way to school, or to and from work. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I stay pretty tired.”
Another student who decided to continue her education after she had children is SMU junior Eren O’Brian, an art history major.
O’Brian said she sometimes grapples with her decision to return to school. She said that she believes pursuing an education is a selfish act because it consumes so much of her time – time she could spend with her son.
O’Brian said she is worried that he is missing out on some things. Her son is 16 years old and does not have his source of transportation and if she is too busy, she cannot take him to the places he wants to go.
Like Stevens, O’Brian said making time for her family while working and going to school has proved challenging. Fortunately for Taylor, she will already be well into her senior year by the time her baby makes it way into the world.
