Nothing really new with the pregnancy. Tbh, it’s rather boring right now (which is a good thing I know). We had the nuchal tranlucency scan which was normal. And nothing scheduled for a whole month after that. That’s one of the things I’m finding the strangest – after months and months of such regularly check-ups and tests, meeting the doctor only once a month is a change of pace.
Work is insanely hectic right now. Had a paper deadline yesterday so mostly just trying to recover after that. Really annoyed with various author politics involved. And tired – I’ve been working basically 14+ hr days, 7 days a week for the last several weeks. And got pissed at co-author when he skived off when sick. And on weekends. Ok, I get that you’re sick and need rest. But why are you expecting first author status when you’ve contributed almost nothing to the writing? Also frankly, if I can work all those hours when pregnant and nauseous, you can put in weekend time. Clearly I have unresolved feelings about all this.
Pregnancy has not helped. I’m back to somewhat normal appetite but still weird cravings. Or rather weird anti-cravings. Sleep’s been the hardest hit. I wake up every night sometime between 2 and 4am and usually can’t go back to sleep for a while after that. And it’s really started to affect my overall energy level. I suppose that the body’s way of acclimating you to crazy sleep hours with a newborn? Also, given said 14 hr days, I haven’t had time to nap much to make up for that, even on weekends. Oh and a ton of family drama thrown in that I don’t want to deal with right now but we really need to address it soon.
Update: Sigh, so much for uneventful. Had a checkup with my endo today. I thought it would just be check in on thyroid and adjust synthroid doses. But nooo… he’s worried about diabetes. So off I go for a glucose tolerance test. And if I fail that (which he’s pretty sure I will), then nutritionist and daily blood monitoring. You know, I’m not even sure there’s much I could have done about it. My hba1c has been the same for .. like 4 years. Borderline pre-diabetic but not yet crossing the line. And apparently that’s enough to trigger a barrage of tests early on.
countingpinklines 
Good luck on the test! It’s good that you’re being tested early. It all sounds hectic, hopefully now you’ll get some breathing space at least on weekends…
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Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing friends again. And sleeping!
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Oh, that’s maddening about the co-author. It sounds like you got good advice from academia people above, so hopefully you can do something about it (if not this time, for the next time). I’m sorry you have to go for the glucose testing, I hope it goes smoothly with the nutritionist. And boooo to family drama. Never a dull moment!
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Thanks! Of all things, I’m probably dreading the glucose testing the most 😐 *crossing fingers*
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I would also be livid about a co-author who comes first and isn’t pulling the same weight. One of my happier grad school memories was getting a co-author kicked off a paper for doing nothing at all except writing a section (poorly) while drunk (and bragging about it). That probably makes me a terrible person, but I’m a terrible person who is hoping you can get first author status!
Wishing you more good, boring news with respect to the GD test. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.
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Oh man, I’m so impressed that you did that! That’s awesome.
*crossing fingers* for the GD test. Ugh
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Glad to hear you’re into a “boring” phase. Yup, sleep patterns are affected. Try to be kind to your body and rest (I know easier said than done). Sorry to hear your co-author is flaking out.
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One benefit of academic publications is most journals want a list of author contributions. I would write up your list and give it to your P.I. I understand people are territorial about authorship, but you can easily make a case that first authorship isn’t warranted if that person isn’t acting like a first author. State your concerns for the publication being rejected (don’t attack them). Maybe a co-first authorship is in order. This person won’t like it, but too bad.
Glad to hear things are boring. Boring is good
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Technically it’s co-first authorship. But then it goes alphabetically so I’m listed second. Perhaps I’m being petty but these papers do mean a lot for me career wise.
So .. directive about author order actually came from PI which makes it harder to argue against. Well, at least for next papers, author order is clearer.
Boring is definitely good! Kinda unexpected but good!
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