Law School Parenting: Emmett Hits One Year Old!

Emmett hit the first big marker in his life on February 6th at 2:46 pm. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on what it’s been like to become a parent in the midst of law school.

Tracie and I had been talking off and on about starting a family for several years. We finally just decided to quit talking about it and make it happen. We were blessed with a positive preggers test (geezy breezy those things are expensive) during the summer in between my first and second year of law school. We were so excited.

During one of our ultrasounds, doctors discovered that Emmett had some cysts on his brain. There was about a ten percent chance of babies having them, and then a ten percent chance of the affected babies having a genetic defect. Having the defect is fatal. We were devastated. We had to wait about two more months before we could do a follow-up to see if the cysts had gone away.

It was a really tough time for us and it definitely made for a tough semester. I pulled in my lowest grades of school (they still weren’t terrible). But, by the time I got them I no longer cared. Emmett’s cysts did go away and he was born perfect (except for getting my hair line (they should call it a heir line) (law school makes you tell really bad legal jokes))).

 

The last two semesters since he was born have been my best. I’m in the top 20% of the class and I still have plenty of time for family. It’s all about time management and knowing when you have to say no to the books and when you have to say no to the family (it’s a lot harder to say no to the family). You can also really rely on the other parents in law school to strategize and to just share family talk.

I can remember taking comfort in talking to another 3L parent, Adam Barney. He’s been a great friend from the first year to now. That guy’s married, has an army of children, is still rocking law school, and works part time. He drives 90 minutes one way just to get here! Anytime I start to have doubts about being able to get the work done and still hang out with the family, I simply think of Adam. It’s completely doable. 

I have also brought Emmett to the law school several times over the course of the last year. Everyone always seems so happy to see him and I think that having a baby around really helps morale during the stressful times. All in all, I’m really glad we didn’t wait any longer and am grateful for all of the support that we’ve gotten along the way from our law school family.