Marriage, babies and unemployment: A graduates worst nightmare or dream come true?

Well..as you can probably tell by the title, a lot has changed in my life since my last post in October! I have well and truly arrived in the real world, be it a completely different 'real world' to the one I originally envisioned when I started this blog.

When I created this blog I was still in university and full of hopes and dreams for my future career, whatever it may be. I am still excited about my future but the well paid, graduate job I longed for when I started university has had to be put on hold for a few years as I am expecting a baby!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Oli and I are getting married this year. So, instead of 2013 being the year I kick start my amazing media career, it is instead the year I become both a wife and a mother. I am really happy and excited about what this year has in store for me but if I could change one thing it would be my employment status. 

After graduation I spent months searching for a job and finally, after several failed interviews, in November I bagged myself a full time job, starting in January. The job was by no stretch of the imagination the graduate job I hoped for but it was an office job where I could gain the valuable office experience I had learnt most employers insist upon.  

It may not have been my dream job but I enjoyed the work and loved the money, unfortunately my time in the office was short lived. After a month of working for the company I decided it was the right time to reveal my pregnancy. I wasn't expecting to be greeted with big smiles and lots of congratulations, but then again I wasn't expecting to be sacked either. 

My first ever full time job lasted a grand total of 4 weeks and 4 days and I am now back on the job hunt. However, this time round I am 5 months pregnant and considering the fact I am yet to be offered a single interview, things are not looking good. 

Marriage, babies and unemployment, surely this is the life of women in the 1950's not that of a 21 year old with a first class degree in 2013? Multiple Google searches have taught me that sadly several women still get sacked every year due to pregnancy in the UK, such as Art teacher Rebecca Raven who lost her job after revealing she was pregnant. 

Don't get me wrong, I am over the moon about the wedding and the baby, I have got the perfect Disney fairy tale happy ending. However, my prince charming is not a loaded prince and we don't have a castle where we can live rent free happily ever after. I am desperately searching for another job as I need to be employed, I enjoy work, the whole reason I went to university was so I could get a good job.

On the one hand, all my dreams have come true but on the other hand being unemployed does feel like a nightmare! Things will be different when the baby is here, I will have something to fill my days instead of watching awful daytime TV and applying for jobs that I am probably never going to get. 

The wedding of the year (!) is in 2 weeks and 6 days and our bundle of joy in due on August 7th. I can't wait to be Mrs Reynolds and a mummy but I also can't wait to start my career, even if it's not for another year or 2! 

I am now counting down to a whole new type of real world...so expect lots of posts about married life and being pregnant in the near future. I will of course keep you up to date on my job search as well!

If, like mine, your life has taken a dramatic U-turn or you have been up to something interesting since you graduated please let me know. I would love to hear your stories.

Thanks for reading :)