PhD and pregnant - telling supervisor?

[NovemberBabyMaybe]

The short version is: do I tell my supervisors now, assuming I might get behind on my work if I get symptoms, or assume all will be well and keep my mouth shut until there's a problem?

I've recently found out I'm pregnant, due mid November if it all goes okay, and I'm in my final year as a PhD student. I'm due to submit in June with a viva in late August, although so far nothing is set (we're currently setting a date with my examiners).

I'm worried I'm going to get morning sickness or worse fatigue and I'm going to get behind on the deadline, and so I'm wondering whether to tell my supervisors now even though it's very early days. But I realise this is based on an assumption I will get behind, and maybe I'll be stirring the pot unnecessarily.

For reference, both supervisors are female, have had kids and I believe would be supportive as a whole. I just don't want to end up telling them and it being a mistake. Somehow. Also, my main supervisor and I don't meet face to face as I'm a distance learning student so it would be easy to "hide" the pregnancy. I'm completely home-based and the expectation is basically just "do the work, we don't care how or when". So far I'm taking naps when I need to and catching up later in the day.

Congratulations. You are pregnant, not dangerously ill. Being pregnant shouldn’t normally prevent you from finishing your thesis so it’s up to you if you want to share your good news especially as they don’t meet with you.

Congratulations, sounds like the timing should work well!

Afaik a lot of women don't disclose pregnancy to anyone including employers until the end of the first trimester unless there are some significant issues. Doing a PhD isn't harder than doing a full time job IME.

It'd be different if it was lab based with potential health and safety concerns of course.

congratulations. I'd tell the supervisor at the same time as you'd tell your boss in a regular job, i.e. between the 12 week and 20 week mark depending on how you feel. If you aren't in a lab and can wfh, you don't have to tell until you want to.

Thank you all. I'm not in a lab so there's nothing inherent about my PhD that adds any risk. I think I'll keep quiet until I'm further along, unless there's a specific issue that needs mitigating.

Congratulations! I know several (now finished) PhD students who had babies during their PhD. One had two babies during it. She is in a permanent academic job now. Took her a little longer but turned out well in the end professionally as well. Sounds like you'll be finished in time to enjoy your baby too. I shared my news at 12 weeks with my first but would have done earlier had I felt very tired or sick. If you're applying for jobs now, perhaps also to note that I know at least two women who were hired while very visibly pregnant and the new employer just waited till they were back from leave. Enjoy your pregnancy!

Congratulations!

I had a couple of major life upheavals during my PhD. It was hard, but I finished in the end. In fact, if I think about all the people I know who have done phds almost everyone ended up navigating other challenges at the same time. So, there’s every reason to be optimistic that your pregnancy won’t interfere with completion.

Having said that, there’s no point putting yourself through misery if it turns out to be a struggle. I had a six month interruption of my PhD while I was caring for a parent with dementia. Interruptions are common and I have never heard of difficulty asking for one. I am certain your supervisors would be sympathetic if you needed to do that. In the meantime I don’t think you need to tell them yet.

Congratulations!
Just be aware of how long it may take you to fully complete after submission. I submitted last August, had my viva in early December, didn't get the examiners report until January, and have until July to complete my minor amendments. I can't believe how drawn out the process is, but maybe that's just my uni. Good luck.

Congratulations! Honestly, in your situation I would not tell them until then time when I contractually needed to, but I would be knuckling down and getting as much done now as can with energy levels. I'm also due mid-November - I've told work early as I'm starting to show, but also because my work involves a lot of travelling and occasionally dealing with some dangerous people, but in your situation I wouldn't tell them until I absolutely had to. However, if you want to avoid an extension, you're really going to have to shift on the write-up now as when baby comes I suspect you will not be doing a lot for the first couple of months and anything you do try and do probably won't be great quality due to lack of sleep/distraction. I reckon ideally you want to aim for a full draft by the time baby comes, then you can just be tweaking based on supervisor feedback/editing to turn into publications etc rather than trying to "compose" it.