Can’t get pregnant? Get your MBA.

(I know that I’m really drawing this out but it just seemed a bit trite to condense the first years of our infertility struggles into but a couple of posts. I’ll pick up speed, after all, as you know, there are two stories in this saga. Oh, and just because I NEED to spit another 13 things out, they are way down below…)

There would still be a few months before we got to see the fertility specialist. So we plodded along as usual, hoping, but not really expecting much. And trying to stay sane in the meantime.

Things were going all right for me at work. I had an interesting boss (read: one that most people could not stand; I gave her the benefit of the doubt as I think a lot of the problem was purely cultural, but really, she could be a supreme bee-atch). She happened to like me. And she liked that I knew what I was doing and could make her look good (read: do her job and get paid thousands less). The work itself was challenging enough, but let’s face it, ambition has got to rear its head when you’re in this situation.

I had wanted to study business for a while; primarily because I hadn’t taken one single business course throughout high school or university. It was always maths and sciences, and I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do something related to marketing and business. Of course even back then, an MBA wasn’t worth its weight as much as it used to be say, even 10 years earlier. But it certainly couldn’t hurt career-wise.

My boss also had an MBA and to her credit, was big on women improving their skills and education. It was fairly easy to get her on board to recommend that the company pay for my program. She also provided what I can only guess was a glowing letter of recommendation to the school.

I studied for my GMAT for several weeks straight before sitting for the exam, which was tough after not having been in school in 10 years. And I wrote a “masterpiece” of an application to the university. I got accepted into the program which would take about 3 years to complete while working full-time.

I remember having a chat with a friend who was now located in the US, catching up about “stuff”, telling her I was thinking about doing the MBA, and also about my struggles with infertility. She suggested I really think hard, because she’d had friends do the school & work thing and they basically disappeared from the face of the earth for a couple of years. And then she told me that she was expecting her second child.

So really, in order to take away the stress of trying for baby and not being successful, I embarked on a totally stress-free activity called “business-school-on-evenings-and-weekends-while-working-full-time-not-going-to-have-a-life-and-man-I-still-wanna-get-pregnant” mission.

Did I mention that I’m a freakin’ nutcase?

Or at least Clumsy.

(and how amazing is it that this hot guy is actually a dad of 2 now, with another on the way with his beautiful wife. And they give back too. Brangelina, eat your heart out.)

Thirteen things I learned while getting my MBA...

1/ Beer before, during and after an assignment isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
2/ “Greek” and “Texan” can go together and provide a cheap meal including a beer, honkin’ huge pork chops and Jello as dessert. Our hang out before class on those long haul Friday evenings after work.
3/ It’s a good thing to let the ball and chain loose a little. Hubs loved his free weekends.
4/ Even adults can be slacker students. I guess high school attitude doesn’t always die.
5/ Statistics were still impossible. Thank goodness for the engineer in the group.
6/ Homework and exams still suck. Especially in conjunction with “real” work assignments.
7/ I never want to create another survey. Ever again.
8/ It’s a bit depressing when your profs are around the same age as you.
9/ Laptops are one of the greatest inventions ever made.
10/ Coffee is the new Coke.
11/ Girls night out meant getting together with two gal pals and cranking out a 1000 page report and analysis of the drug industry … over wine and cheese of course.
12/ You can make lifelong friends with people that you spend most every weekend with for three intense years. It’s been almost 7 years since we graduated, and we still try to see get together 2 -3 times a year.
13/ Don't put your life on hold for something that seems unattainable...


(further details, of course, will follow ... I know, I am very, very mean)