what to do in autumn?

What to do about September? I am nearing completion of my thesis; I'm over 50% done. I need a job - a teaching position. I've taken 2 years off from the work force - except for research and teaching assistantships - and it's time to earn a regular paycheque, and a pension, again. Government's been paying my way all this time, but still. Time to put what I've learned in this master's degree to work in the classroom. Time to stop being self-absorbed; i.e., combing the Internet for IVF info. Time to overcome my fear of the classroom (I've had every experience you can imagine, including death threats, attempted child abductions, etc., so I think I'm entitled!).

Finding a job will require moving back west. Grooooan. I miss our friends and family back there, but I do not miss the dreadful weather and the lack of interesting winter activities. I also worry that moving back to my conservative community will mean that I'll stop writing, but that's another story. And if the IVF doesn't work, I'd be extremely limited in infertility care choices - basically, I wouldn't have any. Moving back there also means that DH will get laid off every winter again, due to the nature of his job. These are not complaints; just things we have to consider.

DH doesn't really want to move back because he likes his current job. But he doesn't make enough for us to live on, especially not in the event of a pregnancy. He makes a good wage, and it's steady work - it's just that we live in a very expensive part of the country. We could make it work, but there'd be no room for frills, including his sports and automotive hobbies.

But what if the IVF is successful? It means that I'd be due in January 2010 (that feels weird to write). I'd have to quit a job one semester after I've begun, pretty much. That makes me feel bad for my potential students and principal. But, as DH reminds me, it's my right as a woman, pregnant or not, to take a job, and that that's a right for which many feminists have fought long and hard. He said I'd be flying in their faces to not accept what I wanted because I might be expecting. True.

But then if I were on mat leave, and DH would likely be laid off until spring ... urgh. Would I have worked long enough to qualify for maternity benefits, so that our combined unemployment incomes would be enough to live on until the following spring? I'll have to check that out.

Anyway, one temporary high school English position has been posted, as well as 2 permanent Middle Years jobs. I have to decide within the next few days. I also applied for a position as an Education professor; no idea if I have a shot at that, but was the pay ever good! And I had the qualifications, so we'll see.

If I knew I'll be blessed with a viable pregnancy, I'd hope for the high school position, since mat leave would coincide most conveniently with the end of the first semester, so I wouldn't really be inconveniencing too many people. If I knew that I'll not be blessed, I'd apply for the other jobs, or even wait it out for a full-time Grade 8 position, preferably teaching English and 1 or 2 other subjects.

I don't know what I should do! So many decisions, and not enough background information to go on. I do know that I don't want to exist complacently in the land of IF - I have to keep living my life.