Student graduates after giving birth three weeks before dissertation deadline
Lilla Lachlan’s University journey has been anything but conventional. Having started her BA International Marketing degree during a global pandemic, she then went on to plan her wedding during her third year. After getting married in June 2022, she found out she was pregnant in July, only a few weeks before embarking on the final year of her course.
Lilla said: “We didn’t have specific plans, we just thought if the baby wants to come the baby can come, and then it all just happened so quickly!
“I found out in July that I was pregnant so I knew it was going to be a tough final year of university, but it was never in my mind that I wasn’t going to finish. I just knew it was going to be hard and that I was going to finish it and everything was going to be good.”
Being pregnant during her final year at university did not come without its challenges, Lilla explained: “I was struggling more because I’m one of those students who likes to attend everything and I’m a very petite person so I was huge, I had a massive bump and I found it so hard to walk up to GCU from the train station.
“Baby brain is also definitely real, it was hard sometimes to actually concentrate but I just had a wee plan set up so I just knew how to get it done. I think that was the hardest but the most important thing I had to do.
“I think around December time when it was just coming up to Christmas and exams and I was about to start my dissertation I panicked a bit for a few days because I just didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Lilla explained that support from those around her helped her get through such a tough year, “my lecturers were all so helpful and understanding and my classmates were very supportive, they were always curious to know how I was managing and how I was feeling, they were lovely.”
She further explained that she managed to keep cool, calm and collected throughout the year by planning ahead and ensuring she could set aside time to get her work done in advance, in case anything happened that would prevent her from being able to complete her work.
“Everyone around me was also very stressed and kept saying they were stressed and that they had no idea how I was managing but I didn’t want to get stressed because it’s not good for the baby so I just had to keep myself calm and think positively.”
Lilla managed to keep up with her classes and work right up until the day her daughter was born, “It was the 20th of March, in the morning I still went into class and then my contractions started just after that. I think the advertising classes were a bit too much for her so she came just after one! It was scary but I was just so excited.”
Lilla then had to balance adjusting to motherhood with finishing her dissertation, which was due only three weeks after Elena’s birth. She said: “Thankfully I think she sensed it. She was absolutely amazing the first three weeks and then on the day my dissertation was due she had a tantrum, so it was like she knew.
“It was so cute though, so many times I would be writing and she would be next to me in a wee nest and our dog would be lying next to us too. I would be working and they would be sleeping, it was such good teamwork.”
Since Elena’s birth, Lilla has completed her degree and been awarded a BA (Hons) International Marketing degree. She said: “I don’t think I gave myself enough credit at the time but now I give myself credit. I completed my two biggest projects this year and have succeeded in them both because I’m really happy with my university results and Elena is just perfect.”
By Derry Wyllie.