Thanks for reading.
This blog is an opportunity for me share my thoughts, feelings and experiences of being a first time mum AND doing a PhD. Crazy I know.
I'm 23 and I live with my partner of three years, and our kitty cat, Ollivander. He works full time as a head chef, and I'm on the long road of studying to become a professor. We are currently expecting our first baby.
Academics has always been massively important to me. Even as a child I couldn't imagine that one day I would stop wanting to learn about things, explore theories and write my own papers and books. I'm on the path towards becoming a lecturer/researcher/full time social science nerd and I'm so excited to see where this takes me.
I graduated last summer with a BA (hons) in Sociology and am currently working on my dissertation for my MA Research Methods in Science, Technology and Society (bit of a mouthful I know). We call it MARM for short. Although the MARM is teaching me hugely valuable skills i'll need for my research career, I have found it a major struggle. The hardest part has been trying to apply the abstract things I've been learning in a practical sense and the dissertation - which is an extended research proposal rather than a research project - has actually been the bane of my life. I'm so glad it's almost over.
In October this year, I will be starting a 3 year PhD in Business and Management. Although the course title is officially business and management, I will still be heavily grounded in social science, sociology of organisations and sociology of professions. I'll talk a bit more about the project another time, once I've got my head out of dissertation mode!
At the time of writing this, I am exactly 10 weeks pregnant with my first child, a huge surprise to myself and my partner. I'm not going to pretend that it was in my plan to get pregnant at this stage of my career, if anything I'd like to have waited another 5 years or so, but now that it's happened, I couldn't be happier and I'm so ready for the challenge of motherhood, as well as taking on a serious research project.
Some people might think I'm utterly insane for doing both at the same time, and maybe I am, but if you knew me, you'd know that I'm not the kind of person to back down from anything. You won't meet anyone as driven and passionate about this PhD as I am, nor anyone more capable of taking on two gargantuan tasks. I have my parents to thank for that ambition and ability to handle anything thrown at me.
I know it won't be easy, i'm not trying to sugarcoat the situation and present it as this wonderful experience where everything will be candy floss and rainbows, I know theres a tough road aead, but I'm ready for it, and if I didn't think I could cope, I'd be taking the deferral my supervisors offered me.
Over the next few months/years, however long this lasts, I'll be sharing my experiences of pregnancy and how I'm coping, or not as the case may be, with combining impending motherhood, with the biggest piece of work I've ever done.
Wish me luck!!
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