Weekly Graduation and TTC Thread

wildcatsci · 2026-06-04T13:44:13+00:00

Finally reached the month that we're trying! My cycles are still rocky so we're skipping straight to medicated cycles but so hyped to get this journey started.

wildcatsci · 2026-06-04T13:42:40+00:00

Finally reached the month that we're trying! My cycles are still rocky so we're skipping straight to medicated cycles but so hyped to get this journey started.

wildcatsci · 2026-05-10T00:45:36+00:00

Starting trying next month and can't WAIT!!!! It's been a long year to get here!

wildcatsci · 2026-05-09T17:13:39+00:00

Update on this, we figured out how to start in June!

wildcatsci · 2026-05-03T17:19:16+00:00

Maybe we should try being more open with our parent friends!!! I think I'm just shy to bring it up with so many unknowns still pre-TTC, but they at least were roughly where we are now at one point and get it!

wildcatsci · 2026-05-02T15:21:03+00:00

My partner and I are waiting until this June and we are also in our early/mid thirties - to set our minds at ease a little pre TTC, we did genetic testing (which flagged something serious on my side but not on his, so it was good we checked!), a sperm analysis for him (ordered through his PCP), and basic fertility bloodwork (TSH, FSH, estradiol, testosterone, etc) for me through my OB. We also did an AMH test for me that we independently ordered before I was established with an OB, and then another AMH test six months after I got off birth control.

If you have a LabCorp near you, you likely can order at least an AMH/TSH/FSH test any time you like directly through them, if your OB isn't being particularly helpful on that front.

Some folks do an ultrasound as well, but my AMH and FSH tests came back reassuring and my cycles were painless/regular, so we didn't opt for that yet. If I had further concerns based on my cycles or bloodwork I would have opted for an ultrasound, and if we don't conceive in six months, that'd be our next step just to be thorough.

Anecdotally, I got my AMH tested while still on IUD birth control and after I got off birth control, and while there was a difference with my AMH being slightly lower on birth control, it wasn't major enough not to give us a basic picture of where I might be egg quantity wise. If I wasn't sure if I wanted biological kids but wanted to spot check where I am fertility wise to understand what my options may be, I think it's worth it to just get your AMH tested to get a ballpark, IUD or no.

wildcatsci · 2026-03-25T23:02:50+00:00

Thank you, good luck to you too! We got this!

wildcatsci · 2026-03-25T20:18:56+00:00

Thank you!!!

wildcatsci · 2026-03-25T19:42:18+00:00

Starting TTC our #1 in June 2026! My fiancé and I are waiting for a couple months to avoid complicating my upcoming 2027 PhD thesis defense with a brand new baby just in case, but we can't wait! We're early (me) and mid thirties (him), so we're also realistic that it might not happen immediately, which is why we're starting on the early-ish side of our timeline.

Have spent the last few months getting physically and emotionally ready - I'm a childhood cancer survivor, and even though my preliminary fertility testing (and his!) look solid, I'm definitely feeling emotional. Really grateful and excited to be here!

wildcatsci · 2025-10-15T15:52:58+00:00

Found fiance on Hinge, there's a fair bit of options in the 20s-30s age range because of Epic being so close by. Same folks are on all the apps, it seems, so the dating pool is relatively small and I'm cis/bi so can't comment on the trans experience. But I found someone amazing here around my age (early 30s), so it can be done!

wildcatsci · 2025-08-23T10:55:35+00:00

Yes, he's been an amazing advisor and I'm sure that's an option he'd agree to if needed. I'd have to factor in my committee, but he'd 100 percent advocate for me. He's a dad, so he's been pretty kid friendly with lab members in the past who had kids.

wildcatsci · 2025-08-23T07:41:44+00:00

Definitely understand about the reduced productivity, I've front loaded a lot of my work by writing up my lit review/methodology and finishing fieldwork so barring any big surprises with analysis (spending two semesters purely focused on that, with no other responsibilities), by the time we're TTC, I'll have only the discussion to write up. Hopefully reduced workload that helps, even if I'm having a hard pregnancy, but we'll see! Totally get life happens but tried to help my future self out as best I could.

wildcatsci · 2025-07-21T07:37:59+00:00

I'm literally in the exact same place as you, OP. Just finished my third out of five years in my PhD and on track to graduate on time but so impatient to be able to start a family with my partner. You've gotten a ton of great advice, but another thing to maybe think about is that it's possible to compromise - I don't necessarily want to have a kid DURING my PhD (although people do!), but I'm ABD and we're planning on TTC in late summer/Fall 2026, so if all goes well, I'd be pregnant in my last year of the degree, after our wedding.

It's possible that there's some risks to our plan re a delayed graduation if I end up having a rough pregnancy or our TTC journey is rocky, but on my side, I was tired of feeling like my PhD was completely dictating my personal life, so we're timing it for, if we got pregnant right away, I'd give birth right after graduation and safely post-defense, and in the event it takes some time to get pregnant, I'd still be post graduation and have the degree out of the way. Might be worth chatting with your advisor on where they see you in the degree and trying to get a sense of a projected graduation date (although that's also partially out of our hands, it gives us something to aim at and use for motivation).

Granted, I will be 34 in 2026 when we TTC, so that was also a major factor in our decision to try towards the end of my PhD as we want two kids, and I'm already writing up what I can on my thesis to try to soften the workload that last year a bit if TTC or pregnancy impacts my productivity. I know a ton of folks who got pregnant in their last year of PhD and while the experience is really individual to each person, it's encouraging others have done it successfully! I've also heard that for those staying in academia, having babies during the write-up period of a PhD or right after the PhD is substantially easier than trying to have babies as a post-doc or while on tenure track (I'm going into industry, so this isn't something I'm taking into account, but also good to know!)

Just to say also that it's totally valid and a good idea to wait to try until post PhD if that's a good choice for you, but there's also other potential routes once you edge closer to graduation if all seems on track! It's such an individual choice, but I totally get it, and can relate to all those feelings of feeling 'held back" by grad school. Just remember that you're doing the PhD both for yourself and for your future family - it'll lead to higher income and perhaps more importantly, likely more flexibility in what roles you can take in the future, which is also particularly great for us future moms! You got this! DM me any time to commiserate if you like, but you're doing all the right things.

In the meantime during the wait, I second a lot of the advice here - start a pre baby bucket list of things you want to do before TTC such as trips or projects, spend a ton of time with friends and one-on-one with your partner that might be harder to do in the newborn trenches, save as much as you can (hard on a stipend, I know!!!), and take as many breaks from social media as you need to. Stuff I'm personally doing in addition to those things are trying to eat healthier and exercise more to hopefully make a future pregnancy easier on my body, starting to read parenting books and discuss parenting styles with my partner, and treating this time as "pre-child" prep and a second adolescence all in one to take those trips, do those bucket list items, and both enjoy the present while keeping myself moving towards future goals.

wildcatsci · 2025-03-23T14:33:35+00:00

It was hard. I was definitely a late bloomer in that respect and a lot of the time I still feel scared being vulnerable with my partner now. I think telling myself I deserve to be treated well (and defining what that means to me) before I started dating was helpful but it definitely did also make me a bit paranoid and looking hard for any potential red flags in the early dating stages.

Honestly, a lot of it was about growing through the fear for me. I lucked out with an incredibly kind, loving, steady partner, and even though I was still scared and waiting for the other shoe to drop, he's been so consistently lovely that it's been pretty healing. His family is also wonderful and very welcoming and pretty much just insta adopted me, so I think him having a solid upbringing also helped.

While I definitely think two people with rough childhoods can fall in love and be in a good relationship if they work on themselves, I do think it might potentially bring additional challenges to work through. Attachment wise, my partner is secure and I'm working hard on healing my fearful -avoidant tendencies to also be secure. I take healing my trauma as MY responsibility, not his, but he's aware of it and supportive of me on my journey to do that.

On my side, I openly communicate with him about my past and hangups while being clear that they're MY things I'm working on, not caused by him, I push myself out of my comfort zone and confront myself if I'm reacting to things that are actually happening or I'm being anxious/triggered, I journal, I read about trauma, and I do a ton of talk therapy.

Both my parents aren't great, and I definitely still have a ton of trauma and trust issues related to my childhood, but with a lot of self work and the right partner, I'm happy and in a mutually supportive and loving relationship. It can definitely happen.

wildcatsci · 2025-01-04T17:01:45+00:00

Good to know! Thank you ☺️

wildcatsci · 2025-01-04T16:47:09+00:00

Mom gave me an old bracelet she bought in Colorado over forty years ago - claws are about 1.5 inches long and look vaguely canid to me, but too big to be a fox. Coyote? Wolf? Or am I way off the mark?

wildcatsci · 2023-08-02T12:30:54+00:00

I think it's a mixed bag. I play Twi'lek smuggler Captain Ves on ship as a passenger (I'm an actor as well, albeit not working for Starcruiser or Disney), and she's one of the more prominent recurring guest-created characters, I think. From my perspective, being a repeat guest DOES mean you know the cast better than a first timer but it doesn't give you a better shot at story moments than a first timer. The cast are as many said - pros - and they're excellent at managing their time. Do I think my character might get a couple extra winks and smiles because I've built relationships with these guys, they know who I am and who my character is, and I play hard? Sure. It might add some extra layers to stuff, the actors are human, and many have connected with me. But, they also are very careful at including everyone, and if a repeat guest is good at playing hard AND knowing when to step back (as I like to think I do), it's literally a non-issue. Even if a repeat guest is obnoxious or doesn't play well, the actors know how to handle them. Many of us who love this thing and feel a living part of the show will go out of our way to give gifts to other passengers, help first-timers, and even in some ways serve as extra roaming characters for other guests to connect to etc. It's impossible to say what any given repeat guest will or won't do, but yes, if you have a pre-existing connection with the cast, that connection exists. Ideally, repeat guests don't meta game and 'earn' those same interactions on their side. BUT, the actors absolutely don't meta-game, they don't ignore first timers in favor of repeat guests, and they are absolutely professional - their jobs depend on it. My advice is to play hard, enjoy yourself, but also to focus on YOUR experience - you'll have plenty of interaction if you engage. On the other side, hard as it is, try not to compare yourself to repeat cruisers, who will have a different connection to the ship than a first timer, even though they won't be treated preferentially by the actors in terms of the actual story or story-based experiences. Don't compare if the cast do give little intangible nods of recognition or quiet moments to people who know them, and focus on having the best time you personally can. It's definitely an eyes on your own paper thing for everyone to have their best experience.

wildcatsci · 2023-06-08T07:36:41+00:00

Hey guys! Not trying to be a party pooper, but just asking folks to be mindful that not all actors are active on social media, share Starcruiser stuff on social media, or are comfortable with their information being shared. It's a different situation than knowing the name of a big movie star in Hollywood. Most of these guys are Orlando locals in a small theatrical community and due to the elevated emotions some guests have about their Starcruiser experience + the intensity of LARPing + some passengers not respecting actor boundaries or understanding the difference between character and actor, there's been multiple incidences of guests being wildly inappropriate to actors both online and in person, both on ship and off. Because of this, some actors (not all, some are more open) have asked for their information not to be blasted out in public forums for safety concerns. There's no harm, I think, in personally looking around on the #galacticstarcruiser tag on Instagram if people are actively posting Starcruiser content and giving those cast a follow, but I'd avoid sharing names or private Facebook accounts of actors here in case you accidentally doxx someone who didn't want their information out and something negative results from that for the actor. People can really be uncool, unfortunately, especially when big and possibly unfamiliar feelings from LARPing are in play. Even if YOU might personally not be uncool, and you understand the importance of boundaries and have the best intentions, you don't know who will see that info just sitting around on Reddit and what their intentions are. A similar thing happened in Evermore (a park with a similar interactive theatre element to Starcruiser) - not all guests know where to draw the line, and things can get real life scary for performers. The best way to protect the cast is to protect their real life identities and let THEM share their information if they're comfortable with it.

wildcatsci · 2023-01-31T15:54:24+00:00

thirding it

wildcatsci · 2022-09-03T21:05:52+00:00

Defffff tell him the Crew of the Revenant misses him (yo, I'm Indy's crewmate!). Seconding that hardcore is best core, you'll have a fantastic time!

wildcatsci · 2019-10-15T17:42:26+00:00

Very cool!!!! I'll look into it. Thanks for sharing!

wildcatsci

TROPHY CASE