1 hour and 40 minutes in admin feels like about 3 hours... and sometimes even longer than that.
I just sat and "studied" for 3 hours and only read 1 part of 1 section of the 1933 Securities Act. And it was a really short section. I looked at the clock in amazement- what had just happened?! How could it be 4pm?! Surely I had done more than read Sec 2(a)(3)...
...and I had! The internet, being the beguiling little seductress that it is, tricked me into reading story after story on msnbc, checking all my favorite celebrity blogs, going through some old emails to see if I could delete them, researching maternity options to my friend's bridesmaid dress choices (style L5707 is my fave), and booking our spring break vacation to Mexico. So I have proven that the old adage is true: time flies when you're having fun.
And then, instead of buckling down and reading Sec 2(a)(4), I decided to write a blog post about it. Now on to the Securities Act!! (or a quick perusal through some shoe sites...)
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Missing wine, part II
I am a proud member of the Hemingway Society at the University of Chicago Law School. This noble group is dedicated to the appreciation and knowledge of fine wines (and cheeses). Wineries see us a future customers, and come to us with crates of their finest vintages- we learn how to swirl, smell, and taste- or at least how to give the appearance that we know what we're doing when the waiter pours that first sample sip from a bottle. Last night I attended the Hemingway Society as an observer- it was enormously unsatisfying. A South American importer came to talk about (and share) Chilean and Argentinean wines. I Love those wines! The smell, the color, the cheese pairings- they were all calling to me. But I was good and sipped my water.
It seems that some doctors will give you the green light to have the very occasional glass of wine later on in your pregnancy. Does anyone have experience with that? My midwife gave the blanket statement of "we can't assure you that any amount of alcohol is safe." While I know that is true, I feel like having a glass of wine on a special occasion at 7 months is really not going to affect anything. But then again you know that if anything happens it was completely preventable and completely your fault. The constant quandary of the pregnant woman.
Admin is also a time of day where I greatly miss alcohol of any kind. It has become the bane of my law school existence- much like antitrust last quarter. I know I will sit in there every day and wonder why on earth I didn't drop the class. Luckily, if you look around Classroom IV everyone looks like they're in pain, so its not like I'm the only person who desperately needs a cosmopolitan at 10:30am.
It seems that some doctors will give you the green light to have the very occasional glass of wine later on in your pregnancy. Does anyone have experience with that? My midwife gave the blanket statement of "we can't assure you that any amount of alcohol is safe." While I know that is true, I feel like having a glass of wine on a special occasion at 7 months is really not going to affect anything. But then again you know that if anything happens it was completely preventable and completely your fault. The constant quandary of the pregnant woman.
Admin is also a time of day where I greatly miss alcohol of any kind. It has become the bane of my law school existence- much like antitrust last quarter. I know I will sit in there every day and wonder why on earth I didn't drop the class. Luckily, if you look around Classroom IV everyone looks like they're in pain, so its not like I'm the only person who desperately needs a cosmopolitan at 10:30am.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Being a pregnant law student (1st trimester)
When I was thinking about thinking about having a baby in law school, I scoured the internet searching for blogs of women who had done the same thing, hoping to get some information on what it would be like. This is pretty much pointless because anyone will tell you that no pregnancy is like another and each law school is different, but it was an obsession anyway. I'm sure I'll have more to say on this topic later, but I figured that I'd write about things so far:
The absolute biggest complaint is exhaustion. I had a severe case of mono in college and I was nowhere near this tired. Its the kind of tiredness that comes out of nowhere and absolutely knocks you out. I will get 8 hours of sleep, be awake and perky all morning, and then around 2pm my body will start shutting down. There is pretty much nothing I can do about this. During those first few weeks I used to worry it would happen while I was driving because I wasn't sure it was safe for me to stay on the road (I live less than 20 min. from the law school). I also had 2 afternoon finals and I was terrified I would involuntarily fall asleep halfway through. I read everything I could find about the dangers of caffeine while pregnant and decided a few diet cokes wouldn't hurt anything. Diet coke combined with sheer will got me through those exams. I'm now at 11 weeks and the exhaustion has gotten better- I still get really tired, but I can push through it if necessary. The reading takes me longer, but I don't actually slump over the library table in a narcoleptic fit.
I have been very fortunate with morning sickness. While I woke up every morning feeling like I'd been out all night drinking (and then hugging the toilet), I never actually threw up. I credit this partly to the Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy which told me, in its infinite wisdom, that unlike when you've drank too much, throwing up because of morning sickness does not actually make you feel better. I hate throwing up, so even though my body was pretty sure I should, I would force down flat ginger ale and try to remember the days where I woke up to an alarm and not nausea. (I was quite lucky- some of my friends couldn't keep it down no matter how hard they tried.) The queasiness continues off and on, but pretty much went away by the time classes began (I was 9 weeks). There is still a lot of food that I feel like I'll never want to eat again (basically anything that isn't a carb covered in cheese), but I am able to choke down salads and fruit. A benefit is that things like cake, ice cream, and brownies all sound terrible, so while I eat pizza for most meals, at least I don't add on dessert!
Two of my professors know of my "condition" as do a lot of my classmates. Pretty much everyone has been quite congratulatory (even while thinking- "she is nuts")- in fact, my worst reaction so far remains my own family. Even the in-laws were thrilled. One of my professors, who has a 2-year old himself, wrote an incredibly kind email about how wonderful it was and how this matters so much more than school. I have saved the email to remind him of his wise words come exam time...
So that's about it. The hardest thing is battling the urge to fall into a deep, long sleep every afternoon. I can't imagine being pregnant while working- at least now I was able to schedule all my classes to be over by 12:10pm. If I go home and sleep all afternoon, all it means is that I have to hide behind my laptop when the professor calls on people the next day. I have no clients or partners who need me to be productive. I really don't know how they do it.
The absolute biggest complaint is exhaustion. I had a severe case of mono in college and I was nowhere near this tired. Its the kind of tiredness that comes out of nowhere and absolutely knocks you out. I will get 8 hours of sleep, be awake and perky all morning, and then around 2pm my body will start shutting down. There is pretty much nothing I can do about this. During those first few weeks I used to worry it would happen while I was driving because I wasn't sure it was safe for me to stay on the road (I live less than 20 min. from the law school). I also had 2 afternoon finals and I was terrified I would involuntarily fall asleep halfway through. I read everything I could find about the dangers of caffeine while pregnant and decided a few diet cokes wouldn't hurt anything. Diet coke combined with sheer will got me through those exams. I'm now at 11 weeks and the exhaustion has gotten better- I still get really tired, but I can push through it if necessary. The reading takes me longer, but I don't actually slump over the library table in a narcoleptic fit.
I have been very fortunate with morning sickness. While I woke up every morning feeling like I'd been out all night drinking (and then hugging the toilet), I never actually threw up. I credit this partly to the Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy which told me, in its infinite wisdom, that unlike when you've drank too much, throwing up because of morning sickness does not actually make you feel better. I hate throwing up, so even though my body was pretty sure I should, I would force down flat ginger ale and try to remember the days where I woke up to an alarm and not nausea. (I was quite lucky- some of my friends couldn't keep it down no matter how hard they tried.) The queasiness continues off and on, but pretty much went away by the time classes began (I was 9 weeks). There is still a lot of food that I feel like I'll never want to eat again (basically anything that isn't a carb covered in cheese), but I am able to choke down salads and fruit. A benefit is that things like cake, ice cream, and brownies all sound terrible, so while I eat pizza for most meals, at least I don't add on dessert!
Two of my professors know of my "condition" as do a lot of my classmates. Pretty much everyone has been quite congratulatory (even while thinking- "she is nuts")- in fact, my worst reaction so far remains my own family. Even the in-laws were thrilled. One of my professors, who has a 2-year old himself, wrote an incredibly kind email about how wonderful it was and how this matters so much more than school. I have saved the email to remind him of his wise words come exam time...
So that's about it. The hardest thing is battling the urge to fall into a deep, long sleep every afternoon. I can't imagine being pregnant while working- at least now I was able to schedule all my classes to be over by 12:10pm. If I go home and sleep all afternoon, all it means is that I have to hide behind my laptop when the professor calls on people the next day. I have no clients or partners who need me to be productive. I really don't know how they do it.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Missing wine
Last night JP and I treated ourselves to Brazzaz (one of those Brazilian churrascaria/steak houses- my personal favorite one because they serve grilled pineapple and have by far the best salad bar). So far I haven't really missed alcohol. Since college I haven't been a big drinker (except for a few notable occasions: night after fall 1L finals, law school prom... perhaps I'll blog about those on a later date), but I do enjoy a good glass of wine with a nice meal. JP had a delicious glass of Brazilian merlot (I know it was delicious because I snuck a very small sip while he was at the salad bar) and I had a virgin daquiri. The daquiri was in a cool glass and had fruit on a pretty toothpick, but it was really not the same. 7 months to go...
Friday, January 12, 2007
Trans-fat ban
NYC has already passed a trans-fat ban effective for the entire city, and in Crain's Chicago business newsletter yesterday there was an article about Chicago considering the same type of law. I am a big supporter of the smoking ban because your smoking affects other people. I choose not to inhale carcinogens, so I do not want to breathe in the ones you are blowing out. However, I think the trans-fat ban is entirely different- its crossing the line of government paternalism.
I am all for education about food and your health. Adult and childhood obesity rates are sky rocketing and this ultimately has an affect on our economy due to rising health care needs. Type II diabetes is now being diagnosed in younger and younger kids and doctors have no idea how early the typical complications will begin manifesting in children and teens. I ate at McDonald's yesterday (blame the baby, it wanted a burger) and saw that the french fries container had the same nutrition label you see on packaged food at the store. This kind of information is good- people see what goes in their food and can decide whether or not they want to eat it. I saw that it had 380 calories and way too much saturated fat, but I ate it anyway. This isn't McDonald's fault, I just wanted them (still blaming the baby). I could support a law that required restaurants to say which items had trans-fat in them- I wouldn't campaign for it, but I wouldn't have any objections. When you're eating out you often don't know what was used to cook your food and the scientific evidence on the dangers of trans-fat is pretty clear.
We are a society centered around public choice and as long as what you choose to do doesn't affect others, you're generally free to go on doing it (except things like illegal drugs, but that's a whole other issue). Yesterday I wanted my fatty fries from McDonald's. I appreciated the fact they told me what was in them and I made the choice to eat every single one anyway. The baker interviewed in Crain's was saying this would change the ingredients, taste, and cost of nearly all of his goods. I don't think a city should be able to impose a ban on an ingredient and method of cooking food.
I am all for education about food and your health. Adult and childhood obesity rates are sky rocketing and this ultimately has an affect on our economy due to rising health care needs. Type II diabetes is now being diagnosed in younger and younger kids and doctors have no idea how early the typical complications will begin manifesting in children and teens. I ate at McDonald's yesterday (blame the baby, it wanted a burger) and saw that the french fries container had the same nutrition label you see on packaged food at the store. This kind of information is good- people see what goes in their food and can decide whether or not they want to eat it. I saw that it had 380 calories and way too much saturated fat, but I ate it anyway. This isn't McDonald's fault, I just wanted them (still blaming the baby). I could support a law that required restaurants to say which items had trans-fat in them- I wouldn't campaign for it, but I wouldn't have any objections. When you're eating out you often don't know what was used to cook your food and the scientific evidence on the dangers of trans-fat is pretty clear.
We are a society centered around public choice and as long as what you choose to do doesn't affect others, you're generally free to go on doing it (except things like illegal drugs, but that's a whole other issue). Yesterday I wanted my fatty fries from McDonald's. I appreciated the fact they told me what was in them and I made the choice to eat every single one anyway. The baker interviewed in Crain's was saying this would change the ingredients, taste, and cost of nearly all of his goods. I don't think a city should be able to impose a ban on an ingredient and method of cooking food.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Making it Better... and a bit on marriage
After hearing the wailing sound I made while checking my secured transactions grade last night, JP took note and and brought me home a few surprises last night - chocolate cake, a dozen roses, and a very sweet card. (He's a keeper!)
The best thing about 1L was that we got married a few weeks before it began. That excitement, love, and additional dimension to my now dimension-less existence, kept 1L from being the worst year of my life. There were times when I was definitely depressed. However, I had JP to go home to every night- to remind me there was SO much more to life than law (it was alarmingly easy to forget that when you're in the law library for way too many hours a day). I remember talking (ok, crying) to my mom on the phone during the spring quarter and saying if it wasn't for JP, I probably would have quit and gone home. He ran errands, cleaned, cooked, gave me pep talks, and didn't freak out when the rational, relatively unemotional woman he married became a weepy, self-doubting mess. (I've since returned to my normal self.)
I've been thinking a lot lately about marriage and the roles we play in it- especially with the baby coming this summer. The traditional roles in marriage are something I've always feared. While I was home for Christmas my mom kept saying how worried she was about me trying to be a law student and a new mom. About how the 2 years she worked after I was born were so hard- she would hate waking up on Saturday because it meant a day full or errands and cleaning. What I couldn't explain to her is that my marriage is fundamentally different from hers (while my parents' very happy marriage is something I've always hoped for, there are parts of it that wouldn't work for me)- JP goes to the grocery store, he cooks, he cleans, he runs errands, he secretly enjoys shopping for clothes with me- he doesn't see any of those chores as "mine". It's something I can thank my mother-in-law for. She has always had a career and JP really doesn't see gender roles the way I feared (and constantly talked about leading up to our marriage); it was always understood I would have a career and that we would work together as equals in raising our family. His mom thinks nothing of me continuing on my plan to be a lawyer, whereas mine is probably worried sick about my "inevitable" hospitalization for exhaustion.
I think what a female attorney told me at a lunch last year is so true- she said it was important to her that her daughters see her working, but it was even more important for her sons.
The best thing about 1L was that we got married a few weeks before it began. That excitement, love, and additional dimension to my now dimension-less existence, kept 1L from being the worst year of my life. There were times when I was definitely depressed. However, I had JP to go home to every night- to remind me there was SO much more to life than law (it was alarmingly easy to forget that when you're in the law library for way too many hours a day). I remember talking (ok, crying) to my mom on the phone during the spring quarter and saying if it wasn't for JP, I probably would have quit and gone home. He ran errands, cleaned, cooked, gave me pep talks, and didn't freak out when the rational, relatively unemotional woman he married became a weepy, self-doubting mess. (I've since returned to my normal self.)
I've been thinking a lot lately about marriage and the roles we play in it- especially with the baby coming this summer. The traditional roles in marriage are something I've always feared. While I was home for Christmas my mom kept saying how worried she was about me trying to be a law student and a new mom. About how the 2 years she worked after I was born were so hard- she would hate waking up on Saturday because it meant a day full or errands and cleaning. What I couldn't explain to her is that my marriage is fundamentally different from hers (while my parents' very happy marriage is something I've always hoped for, there are parts of it that wouldn't work for me)- JP goes to the grocery store, he cooks, he cleans, he runs errands, he secretly enjoys shopping for clothes with me- he doesn't see any of those chores as "mine". It's something I can thank my mother-in-law for. She has always had a career and JP really doesn't see gender roles the way I feared (and constantly talked about leading up to our marriage); it was always understood I would have a career and that we would work together as equals in raising our family. His mom thinks nothing of me continuing on my plan to be a lawyer, whereas mine is probably worried sick about my "inevitable" hospitalization for exhaustion.
I think what a female attorney told me at a lunch last year is so true- she said it was important to her that her daughters see her working, but it was even more important for her sons.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Ouch!
Secured Transactions, the grade I feared the most, was just posted and it was BAD. Really Really Bad. So bad I can't stop staring, its like a particularly gruesome car wreck.
Repeat to self: "I already have a job, I already have a job, I already have a job."
Repeat to self: "I already have a job, I already have a job, I already have a job."
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Baby's First Picture!
We had our first appointment on Tuesday morning- it was so exciting to see the little heart beat! Apparently I have a tipped/tilted uterus which made it very hard to find the baby with the ultrasound at such an early stage. There were a very scary few minutes while the midwife was trying to find the baby. By the next ultrasound the baby should be big enough so that the tilted uterus won't be an issue any longer. Our dilemma of the past few days has been the first trimester screening test- it's an ultrasound and blood test to screen for disorders like trisomy 18 and Down's syndrome. Apparently its like MSAP testing but it has a better detection rate with fewer false positives. We went back and forth on it, but ultimately decided not to do it. With our ages and lack of any family history- its more likely that any positive result would be a false positive and just cause (lots of) unecessary worry and stress. I'm definitely someone who obsesses over things so I don't need any ratios to worry about for the next 7 months. Besides, the amnio, which would be the next step with any questionable results, carries a 1/200 chance of miscarriage- a risk that is likely to be much higher than any disorder.
We have our next appointment on January 30th, so now I get to look forward to that!
Monday, January 1, 2007
Non-baby post
And now a post about law school... I got VERY good news from my Corporations professor over the holiday- I got a high A on the final. This is my first A in law school and this was a very very hard class (and I want to do corporate law), so I was So excited to hear that. Finals were really tough this quarter- I had four of them (including 2 in one day) and I was newly pregnant and totally excited and exhausted. I don't know any other grades, but at least that one is good and can help offset the C I'm scared of getting in secured transactions.
I also cannot decide what to take next quarter. Due to the good news from Corp, I'm going to take the professor's Securities class. I really liked him, but his ridiculously hard final scared me off. I'm also taking a seminar on "Higher Education and the Law" and perhaps administrative law. That leaves one more spot- tax? commercial transactions? I have no idea and I have to go buy my books tomorrow and do my reading for class on Wednesday (can you believe we start this early?). Ugh- I really have no idea what to take...
I also cannot decide what to take next quarter. Due to the good news from Corp, I'm going to take the professor's Securities class. I really liked him, but his ridiculously hard final scared me off. I'm also taking a seminar on "Higher Education and the Law" and perhaps administrative law. That leaves one more spot- tax? commercial transactions? I have no idea and I have to go buy my books tomorrow and do my reading for class on Wednesday (can you believe we start this early?). Ugh- I really have no idea what to take...
Sharing the Good News
The story of telling my parents they're going to be grandparents...
JP and I had agreed to wait to the 20th (when he flew in to Houston) to tell my family the big news because he wanted to be there, but I ended up telling everyone the night I flew in on the 16th. The whole fam, and my grandparents, were out to dinner for my sister's 21st birthday. My sister mentioned she wouldn't be coming home until the 23rd, and I knew I wouldn't see my grandparents again during the holidays, so I snuck to the bathroom and called JP. He gave me the go-ahead to tell them that night. After the official birthday celebration was over I said, "I have a bit of an announcement- I'm 8 weeks pregnant!". And the response was... SHOCK. Total shock and disbelief. Apparently we did a good job hiding out family plans.
Luckily my grandparents were there and were immediately joyous. My dad said something like "how did this happen?". My mom just looked shocked. I had a VERY hard time convincing everyone it wasn't an accident or unplanned. My siblings didn't look like they really cared. All-in-all it was not exactly the reaction I had planned. I called JP and said "I'm not sure people are happy." He responded that he was glad he was safely back in Chicago. The rest of the night and at brunch the next morning, we pretty much talked about other things. It was really quite strange.
Later, my mom told me that August 9th (my due date) was exactly the same due date of her first pregnancy which she miscarried at 14 weeks. I think that partially explains why she looked like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her when I told them. I just don't think she can get excited until we've had our first ultrasound and see the baby's heart beat.
A couple friends and I watched "Father of the Bride II" the week before I went home and I guess I was expecting my family to be more like Nina (the mom) than George. I have a family of Georges. The good thing is that George did come around and ended up more excited than anyone. I'm guessing that will happen here. The downside to their reaction was that it totally killed any desire I had to tell anyone else. I never called any aunts and uncles and in the end my grandma "accidentally" told everyone.
JP's parents were immediately quite excited (he is 2 years older, so maybe that helps? 25 seems like more of a parenting age than 23?). I can already tell that planning holidays and baby visits are going to be a giant pain in the neck with two new sets of grandparents in different parts of the US. His grandmother's response was "Well, for Heaven's sake!" - not sure what that means, but I'll take it as happiness :)
Anyway, it was an interesting visit home. Our ultrasound is tomorrow and we can't wait. I have all our Christmas (really New Year's) cards addressed, stamped, and written in, but I didn't want to mail them with the news until we had that appointment. For one of the only times in my life, I'm hoping my life does not mirror my mother's. I won't even print out the Christmas letter (although it is written- including a sentence about how amazing it was to see the heartbeat ;) I'll post the news tomorrow!
JP and I had agreed to wait to the 20th (when he flew in to Houston) to tell my family the big news because he wanted to be there, but I ended up telling everyone the night I flew in on the 16th. The whole fam, and my grandparents, were out to dinner for my sister's 21st birthday. My sister mentioned she wouldn't be coming home until the 23rd, and I knew I wouldn't see my grandparents again during the holidays, so I snuck to the bathroom and called JP. He gave me the go-ahead to tell them that night. After the official birthday celebration was over I said, "I have a bit of an announcement- I'm 8 weeks pregnant!". And the response was... SHOCK. Total shock and disbelief. Apparently we did a good job hiding out family plans.
Luckily my grandparents were there and were immediately joyous. My dad said something like "how did this happen?". My mom just looked shocked. I had a VERY hard time convincing everyone it wasn't an accident or unplanned. My siblings didn't look like they really cared. All-in-all it was not exactly the reaction I had planned. I called JP and said "I'm not sure people are happy." He responded that he was glad he was safely back in Chicago. The rest of the night and at brunch the next morning, we pretty much talked about other things. It was really quite strange.
Later, my mom told me that August 9th (my due date) was exactly the same due date of her first pregnancy which she miscarried at 14 weeks. I think that partially explains why she looked like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her when I told them. I just don't think she can get excited until we've had our first ultrasound and see the baby's heart beat.
A couple friends and I watched "Father of the Bride II" the week before I went home and I guess I was expecting my family to be more like Nina (the mom) than George. I have a family of Georges. The good thing is that George did come around and ended up more excited than anyone. I'm guessing that will happen here. The downside to their reaction was that it totally killed any desire I had to tell anyone else. I never called any aunts and uncles and in the end my grandma "accidentally" told everyone.
JP's parents were immediately quite excited (he is 2 years older, so maybe that helps? 25 seems like more of a parenting age than 23?). I can already tell that planning holidays and baby visits are going to be a giant pain in the neck with two new sets of grandparents in different parts of the US. His grandmother's response was "Well, for Heaven's sake!" - not sure what that means, but I'll take it as happiness :)
Anyway, it was an interesting visit home. Our ultrasound is tomorrow and we can't wait. I have all our Christmas (really New Year's) cards addressed, stamped, and written in, but I didn't want to mail them with the news until we had that appointment. For one of the only times in my life, I'm hoping my life does not mirror my mother's. I won't even print out the Christmas letter (although it is written- including a sentence about how amazing it was to see the heartbeat ;) I'll post the news tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
