Points of Clarification

This is not a blog about how to write a PhD.  If I knew how to do that I'd be done with mine and not writing this!  Rather, it's a collection of everyday observations and experiences about the highs and lows of combining motherhood, pregnancy and writing a PHD all at the same time.  I don't claim to be an authority or representative of either mothers, mothers-to-be or academics.  And on the academic front, this could just as well be titled, "How Not to Write a PHD (while having a baby)".  Or, "How to Write an Average to Mediocre PHD (while having a baby)".

My academic specialism is in the social sciences, and I've been at it for the best part of 6 years now (stretched inordinately thanks to bouts of extended maternity leave and the pesky interferences of Life into the pristine avenues of unfettered academic thinking).  I have a three and a half year old, another bun in the oven (9 weeks at the moment) and a semi-completed thesis manuscript that looks beautiful when bound, and has gone through a viva where the firm but fair examiners gave another 6 months to get some pretty serious revisions done.  Will I do it and get this thing in by the end of March?  Ready to put my feet up and watch day time television in preparation for Birth Part 2 in June?  This blog will chart that journey and whether I triumphantly hand in and pass with flying colours, endlessly extend till the official 18 month period is up (adding the extra dimension of thesis guilt and newborn care!) or give the whole damn thing up.

There are the heroines of combining academia and motherhood.  The tales of women who give birth whilst out in the far flung field and give a conference paper three days later with the baby in a basket beside them.  I thought of them as I shuffled to the toilet two weeks after having my first and struggled to remember to brush my teeth.  Has it been 5 days?  Really? Oh.

So this is a blog about How to (maybe not) Write a PHD (while having a baby) and also how to slowly work your way back to the point where you remember to brush your teeth again.  I rarely forget these days.  A profound achievement.