I gave my MBA exams while breastfeeding my 2-month-old daughter

Who knew I could appear for 19 MBA papers in two months while exclusively breastfeeding my two-month-old baby. It had already been more than three years since I had enrolled myself in an MBA program with a reputed college. Blame it on my tight schedule or laziness, but I didn’t give any of the 19 exams or submit the 19 assignments.

Then I got pregnant, all the more reason for me to give up the hope of doing it. I initially thought I would complete all the exams during my pregnancy, but now I had another thing to blame it on: my super-duper morning sickness. Soon I almost forgot about it and gave up.

Immediately after my daughter’s birth, my husband and I shifted to Delhi, which happens to be my city (my mommy and my siblings being there). I was high on life but had no clue about what a roller coaster ride I was going to experience soon.

It was now or never for my MBA
Just when I was struggling with the early motherhood blues, my younger brother shook me up. He and I had both started the MBA program together, and just like me, he too woke up at the last moment and made me realize that we had just two months to finish the program.

At first, I laughed at him and told him to forget about it as how on earth would I be able to study now? I was a full-time breastfeeding mother now—a sleepless mommy, a tired mommy, a zombie mommy. I had a 40-day-old girl to care for. Trust me! I had no clue how to go about it, but my brother trusted me more than myself. He pushed me hard and convinced me to go for it.

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Now came the most difficult part: studying!
We designed a schedule. Well, not actually! I just opened my books which were still packed and started to study. I used to study while breastfeeding, while cleaning poopoos, or when my baby was sleeping.

I had just a week now to hit the road. My brother and I booked our exam dates. I was scared of how I would manage, but my mom convinced me that if I pump and store some breast milk, she would feed my girl while I take my exams. We went from three exams a week to six in a week. On certain days we had to give two exams, just so that we could finish them as soon as possible.

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For two days, my daughter was with my mom at home, while I went to take the exams. Luck would have it, my baby girl simply refused to be fed by her. So, my mom came up with another great idea. We decided to take my girl along to the examination centre.

My mom or sister would sit in the car, while I would go inside the examination hall.The examiner knew about my situation and agreed to give his phone number so my mom could ring him whenever my girl would cry in hunger. He would then allow me to step out and feed my baby in the car.

With great help from my family, I did something that I never thought I could, especially while breastfeeding a two-month-old baby! All this was possible with the help of my brother, mommy, and sister and great support from my husband.

I am glad I did it! I’m glad that motherhood gave me the strength and courage to do it. I’m glad I was no longer lazy in life.

So if you have a dream, go for it, mommies. A child is never a hindrance, she/he rather gives you so much strength that you can’t even imagine. Go out. Just do it.
After becoming a mother, go ahead and live your dream, there’s always a way you can work things out. If you decide to be a stay-at-home mom, go ahead and do it—consider this time as your ME time. Do the things that you always wanted to do. Things that you couldn’t do with your school and work schedule. Trust me, it isn’t that difficult!

(This story has been submitted by Preet and originally appeared on Baby Chakra. It has been published here with permission from Baby Chakra, without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)