Graduation Festivities

By now, I think everyone knows I MADE IT!  I made it to my graduation.  I did not think I was going to make it but baby girl cooperated and allowed me to take it all in.  I had told myself it was ok if I didn't go (what choice did I have), that it wasn't a big deal but when I made it to the ceremony and sat down in my front row chair I was really glad I was there.  Like Nick had told me, it's all a blur when you go on stage but I was nervous before going up on stage.  I don't know if it was because I was afraid of fainting (I was hot in that gown and sitting so close together) but it all went away once I was on stage.  I didn't cry--I always teared up when I saw PhD's get hooded at other graduation ceremonies.  I teared up for Nick's.  It's still a bit surreal that I even made it I guess.
The chair of the department was hoping my water would break on stage and I would be on the news, my advisor was hoping I would go into labor during the ceremony so he wouldn't have to sit through the thousands of undergraduates parading through.  Neither happened.  I did have 4-5 contractions during the ceremony after I got hooded.  The baby did not move at all before and once I sat down after getting the diploma, she moved quite a bit.  I did take the shortcut out at the end of the ceremony because I really had to go to the bathroom.
The day before graduation the College of Sciences hosted a pre-commencement ceremony for the PhD graduates.  Nick stayed on childcare duty so my parents and I could attend along with my advisor and department chair.  This ceremony is nice because it's small and they read off all your accomplishments while you were in the program.  However, for us social scientists, it's also a bit intimidating because I was surrounded by mostly physicists (a BUNCH of Sheldon Coopers!) whose dissertations I couldn't even comprehend.  I was the only sociologist.  There was another non-Physics grad and she earned her degree in conservation biology.  One of the physics grad had published 24 articles, another 17 and had already been cited 271 times! Impressive. The sad part is that even they did not have any job offers at this point (which could be as a result of graduating in December when there are still many academic positions that have not been announced as universities line up their upcoming budgets).  

The Dean of the College of Sciences, Me, and my advisor on the right as my bio and dissertation info is being read off

The graduates--they assumed I wanted non-alcoholic champagne.  I was looking forward to my "real" toast.  I got one later at home! :)

On graduation day, Stacy and Chris were awesome.  They came over at 9am to watch the kids for us so we could get ready without worrying about them.  They put in a whole day shift just so we all could attend graduation without the stress of having to entertain the little ones for hours.  They were able to watch the graduation via the internet link with my grandma at home.
 
Here are pictures from graduation day:
This picture I think really highlights my bump!

Me--on the right, next to the light blue hood--sitting front row.

On stage getting hooded

My "double PhD" as my dad calls it. :)

UCF Knights Forever. (The only picture you can't tell I'm pregnant in. :) 

Today- the day after graduation- I am tired.  My ankles hurt.  I did spend quite a bit of time on my feet before and during the graduation.  I woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep.  Worked on grading for a couple of hours.  Slept in until 9am.  Then took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  I felt like I could've kept sleeping but hunger woke me up.  My mother in law says you get a burst of energy before labor.  I certainly don't feel like that today.  We did do some walking around at Downtown Disney today with the boys and I was just pooped afterwards.  Hopefully tonight I can sleep through the night.  My midwife asked for me not to go into labor tonight if possible because tonight is their holiday party.  She promised she would not drink too much just in case I went into labor.  We'll see if baby girl complies with her requests.