Anyone sat an exam whilst heavily pregnant?

[nunnie]

I have my final exam on the 20th of October and my baby is due on the 28th.
Just wondered if anyone has ever sat an exam this late into pregnancy, and if there is anything I need to know or do before I go.

Thank you in advance x

Have you talked to your uni about it? You'll need to know what the procedure is if you go into labour beforehand - have numbers to contact on DP/Dh's phone, etc. Might be worth asking about toilet policy in exams - as you're heavily pg, you may need to go more, and this may eat into your exam time.

Actually, you may also be uncomfortable, etc, so it's well worth talking to uni to see if you'd have to go into the exam hall, or if you can have a special circumstances arrangement which means you sit exam in an office or other room, so that you can move around, change position, etc.

Good luck!

Also make sure you have all necessary nos on your phone. If you're in an exam hall, you won't be allowed your phone, so make sure you know exactlyt where your bag is, and where phone is in bag! Talk to the invigilator when you go in, so they are well aware of your situation.

The toilet policy is escorted for no more than 30 minutes at a time, no limit on the number of the visits luckily, however this will mean my exam time is shortened by how ever long I am gone.
Unless I have a high risk pregnancy there will be no special privlages so will have to sit in in the exam hall with everyone else.

If I go into labout before the exam I just have to provide a copy of birth certificate or doctors/midwife letter to confirm the date the baby was born, and I will be deferred to the April exam.

I can do this now if I wish, just have to send a letter from midwife with due date on it, and they will defer me till April. But due to the nature of my course this would make things very awkward if I fail the exam, so i want to avoid doing that unless absolutely necessary really.

Thank you for the advice.

You should be able to ask them to take into consideration the fact that you're 39 weeks pg - if your mark is borderline, this may be raised as a mitigating factor at the exam meeting. DH is an academic - when he gets home I'll ask him if he's ever had this as an issue.

In fact, there are lots of academics on MN. Might be worth posting on Further Ed if there are more specific questions you have.

Hello. No advice I'm afraid but I share your concerns; I have a very important exam on Thursday although I will only be 33+5 at that point. I'm pretty big though and very uncomfortable a lot of the time. They have given me an extra 30 minutes to account for toilet breaks - I told them it would be sex discrimination to not give me extra time to account for nature calling... I am also in a room by myself with an invigilator - although this might be because there's just me sitting the paper... I haven't asked!

To be fair they have been very nice to me as I am the first pregnant woman to sit this exam and they have never had to deal with this before so they are all a bit embarrassed about it. I am certainly captialising on their squeamishness. I also have no option to defer so I'm ensuring that I do everything I can to make things as easy as possible.

I would ask them to rethink the toilet breaks policy. Everyone is entitled to a toilet break in an exam, whether they take one or not is another matter, but at that stage in your pregnancy you will almost definitely have to go and quite possibly more than once. Accordingly you will have less time to sit the paper than your non-knocked up colleagues. That is not fair. That's what I said and I got my way which is just how I like it.

Best of luck with your studies. My brain is full now and doesn't want to play ball any longer.

Ruby makes a very good point - talk to student welfare services and see what they say.

I'm an academic and 40 weeks pg and I think you should take up the no special privileges policy with them. You should be absolutely fine, but at 39 weeks you may need extra time for toilet breaks, and you may also feel quite uncomfortable if you have to sit still for a long period of time.

I went to the cinema and started having false labour (irregular but painful contractions) last Sat night (at 39+4). I managed to sit through the film and found the contractions went away as soon as I was able to walk around. If something similar happened to you it could affect your performance and could easily be remedied by allowing you to sit your paper alone with an invigilator present so you can get up and stretch without disturbing other students.

Also you might want to bring cushions to sit on (a birthing ball would be even better) and at my uni you would need to get this cleared ahead of time (god knows why - even if you stuff the cushion with your revision notes there is no way you would be able to absorb the info in them through your bottom).

Raise this with them now. Allowing you to sit the paper alone is a standard proecdure for students with specific learning disabilities, there is no reason why they couldn't offer the same to you if need be.

Hi. Haven't read whole thread but I am a lecturer/tutor at a post-graduate college and have in the past been in charge of special needs and learning support.

You should find out who is in charge of this at your college/uni and get in touch with them.

They should be able to put in place special arrangements which might include:

• extra time to take into account extra toilet visits and/or needing to get up and stretch /walk around etc;

• suitable seating arrangements e.g. an extra large desk so you can put all your papers on the desk rather than having to bend over to pick stuff up off the floor, or a particular type of chair/birthing ball to sit on etc;

• sitting in a room on your own to facilitate all of the above.

They will probably request medical evidence of your pg as a formality but will probably accept something like a copy of your maternity notes.

HTH.

My mate sat a law exam whilst very heavily pregnant on a hot Summer day and they sat her next to a full length window she said the biggest problem was the pen slipping through her fingers because of the sweat. She passed though.

Just seen your 2nd post nunnie, sounds like they are being arses difficult over this and you need to put your foot down. Get your GP (or consultant if you have one) to write a note stating you NEED special arrangements as a matter of medical necessity.

Havent read any of the other post but sat uni exams 2 years running with bump.
The first year my exam was on the tuesday and Ds was born on the saterday after.
Dont stress if you go into labour before hand. this happened with dd and i missed my last exam. I was able to sit the resits but the counted it like it was my first attempt.

The examiners were really nice to me. I had to have severaal loo breaks but they offered me extra time at the end. They also alowed me a short break as I was havingn braxton hicks and couldnt sit still. wasnt funny at the time lol.
Oooh I was allowed a cushion too!

I took my maternity note with me too incase dc decided to make an early appearance and also wore my scruffiest but comfiest clothes..... I was tempted to go in my pyjamas!

I was at uni when I had my dd. Admittedly, it wa only first year so the results weren't as important, but they let me submit an essay for my final assignment, about a week before my due date, instead of sittign the exam. They said it would have been too difficult for me to be comfortable, and also to spare the person who would have had to accompany me on trips to the loo
Worth asking I think.

Ah, I've just read they will give no special priveledges. I cannot believe that is even legal tbh, when I was at work and pg with ds I had to have all sorts of health and safety bollocks done at my desk to make sure I was 'safe' to sit there all day . They have to accomodate the fact that you are pg whether they like it or not. If they don't, you have a case for discrimination

I had DD1 in my final year. At my Uni they had an exam taking room for special cases like me! There were some other people who had broken legs, diabetes etc who may have needed extra help to complete the exams (some of mine were 6 and a half hours long). It was staffed by lovely old ladies from the library who annoyingly asked me every 5 minutes if I wanted a glass of water or needed the loo! No advice, just wanted to reassure that it may turn out to better than you think!

RubysReturn pg is not an illness per se, no, but it DOES warrant special consideration on health and safety grounds: being pg (particularly heavily pg) DOES impact on your physical abilities and functions even if you have a "normal" pregnancy. Matters like needing the loo more, not being able to bend over to pick things up off the floor... these are all facts of pregnancy that a learning support officer MUST take into account when considering what special arrangements are appropriate.

Thank you everyone. I would be entitled to special arrangements if my pregnancy was not classed as "normal".

Will ring them tomorrow and ask about seating plan though, as it would be better for other sitters if I can be near the door I suppose.

Water and snacks are fine have taken them into all my previous exams.

Will see what they say tomorrow.
I know toilet breaks don't warrant time added in "normal" pregnancy.

Will make sure they are aware I am 39 weeks pregnant so they can let them know before my arrival, and hopefully prepare them for the worst .
Will request phone be kept near.

Thank you everyone.

(I'm a university lecturer, and deputy exams officer in my department). Mitigating circumstances and special consideration are not just given for medical conditions, they may be given for other exceptional circumstances as well (e.g. death in the family). Examinations officers also usually have quite a bit of leeway, and I would suggest being 39 weeks pregnant is definitely grounds for you to be permitted to sit the exam in a separate room, with the clock stopped during loo breaks.

Your university have responsibilities to you under equality and diversity legislation as well as health and safety. Not allowing you extra time for frequent loo visits could give you a UTI, which could affect your labour and the health of your unborn child. You have a serious case for contesting their refusal to give you extra time.

Take this up again with your examinations officer. Get your GP to write you a letter stating that on medical grounds you need extra time to allow for loo breaks. If your exams officer still says no, you need to tell them you will be taking this higher.

Your department, or above that your school or faculty, should have an equality and diversity officer, and there may be an examinations board at a higher level than your department as well. You should talk to them about your department's refusal to give you extra time. If possible, get the equality and diversity officer or the women's officer of your local branch of the National Union of Students to advise you, and/or Student Welfare.

Your department is completely out of line on this.

RubysReturn I think I misunderstood your ref to "special consideration" (apologies if so). I was meaning it in terms of the practical arrangements that should be made for actually sitting the exam, not in terms of marking the paper.

nunnie I still think you should kick up a fuss re the extra time. And the desk size if you are going to have papers/text books etc that would normally have to go on the floor with one of those miniscule desks in your average exam hall.