I'm a 26 year old phd candidate, hoping to graduate in the summer of 2008. Following graduation, I'm interested in industry or ideally government work (not academia).
I'm married and trying to figure out when to start trying to have a kid. Health concerns that make me think that if I want to have a shot at this, I really ought to start trying before I'm 30.. I'm interested in applying for government post doc positions when I graduate, but what do people think/know about being pregnant while a post doc? Is it fair to apply for post doc positions when I graduate when I intend on trying to get pregnant asap? Uggh. It's just so complicated.

Hey Aprilflowers,
I dont think it is complicated. People holding more permanent jobs dont bait an eyelid before going off the pills, so why most a post-doc? Just pray you find an understanding supervisor, especially one who has been there. You may think you are still young and decide to wait, but believe me, the waiting never stops and the timing never "right". There will always be something else to wait for and take care of. I have seen women old enough to be grandmas run off at 3:30pm to pick up there 3yr olds from daycare and still complain that it is too much stress! It is up to you to decide when you want to have your family and that should not be dictated, though may be influenced, by what job position you hold.

It's not that complicated. You can theoretically conceive children until your mid-thirties, although it is not a given. If you really want children, though, I would recommend trying when you are 32 by the latest as it could take a couple of years to work out. If you decide to embark on a career you could miss the point in time and end up being 40 and not getting any children. On the other hand, if you want to get a PostDoc post PhD completion and after six months you decide to become pregnant than this is your personal decision and completely acceptable. It doesn't matter if somebody else would have wanted that PostDoc, it's your life and you only got one shot at it and it shouldn't be structured around a step in your career. PhD so no children. PostDoc and no children. Then you are a lecturer and have not time for children.

Then you are a reader and are too old. Then a Professor. Then retired. Then your life is soon over and you ticked all the boxes on your career ladder but perhaps you haven't tried hard enough to realise your dreams. You don't have to become a PostDoc and you don't have to become children at one point in time. It's up to you. You have the full freedom, the only problem is the biological clock. Good luck

I hate this dogma of: University studies, first job, "getting on the property ladder", engagement, marriage, children, bigger house and so on.

It's a free world and nobody should tell us when we have to do what in order to be in conformity with society. I do sympathise with women though, as there are biological factors. But it's still very restrictive, this whole society game.

Thanks for the feedback. The people at work with whom I'm close enough to discuss this sort of thing are all very career-minded and not in serious relationships, so they don't understand my urge to reproduce. I know that I could theoretically wait until I'm well into my 30s, but I have some medical problems that I worry are going to make it difficult (signs of PCOS), so my feeling is growing that I should start trying sooner rather than later.
Ideally, I think I want to go off of the pill when I graduate (or maybe a month or 2 before!) and see what happens.. but I feel like it would be irresponsible to do that and not know what jobs I might be applying for, not knowing what I might end up doing, and risking that I might get a great job or post doc opportunity and then find that I'm pregnant right away.. and have to worry about immediately telling my new boss that I'm going to need to take some sort of leave in 9 months.

It really is the biggest problem with being a woman in this sort of field, I've got this one thing that I really want to do.. and I'm definitely going to need to take some time off of work to do it. I don't know how much, I mean, I'm not going to be greedy about it, I don't need paid leave and hopefully if all goes well, I won't need too much leave.. heck, I only want to have 1 kid, so I'm not going to make a habit of this! But I definitely want to try to have one kid and I want to have it relatively soon and when you're on a career path there's just never going to be a "good" time to go through all that.

Hello aprilflower, I am in the middle of my PhD and I am basically going of on maternity leave every day now. It was not exactly planned to get pregnant during my PhD. I always thought I do it like you, get my PhD, than a job and than have a child. But to be honest I think there is never the "right" time. You will always think: I first get a job, I first proof myself, I first... but your live changes so much when you are pregnant that the high flying career might not be what you want anymore and giving your child to nursary brakes your heard. Therefore I would make the desission depending on whether you and your husband want to have a child now and than try. There are always problems and there are always solutions.

I started feeling ill during the exams of my first undergrad. degree. I was still running (athlete) and I just felt dire. My Mum told me to go for preg. test. Imagine the shock, it was positive, just a few months into my marriage. I was about to finish my degree and travel overseas to do my MA with my new husband. We still went, I didn't do my MA but I got on with having children, had loads actually as some may know on here. Five years ago, I started studying again and now I am doing my PhD and my grown up children and little children are my best friends, fans and supporters. There is never a perfect time, it is what you make of the timing, that makes it perfect

as I've posted before, I waited, hoping to have more children after I'd completed my PhD, but due to unforeseen illnesses and cash crises, I'm now over 40, and still haven't finished my PhD; by the time I graduate, I'll be too old to conceive.
So, if you feel ready to have children, do it sooner rather than later, as you don't know how things are going to go in the future. Anyway, however fit you may be, it's likely you'll have more energy now than in the future - kids take a lot out of you, especially if you intend to work! We can, in theory, work for decades to come, but the same can't be said of making babies! Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your opinion :) I really feel strengthened quite a bit by the feedback here. My husband and I have decided that we'll start "trying" as soon as my thesis is completed. You're right.. if we want to have a kid, we should make that a priority, I'll have the rest of my life to work on my career.. and there will probably never be a good time when a pregnancy would not be disruptive! I hope that whoever my employer is when I do get pregnant is as understanding as everyone on this board :) But if not, there's no job I could get that would be such a fabulous once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I'd want to pass up the chance to have a child..