MN newbie

[slowburner]

waving hello
Do we introduce ourselves on this site?

I was offered my PhD and then found out I was pregnant, my Uni allowed me to defer by 3/4 months and I have had a rocky slow start with many many doubts as to whether I am doing the 'right thing', so I am six months into a 3 year fully funded full time PhD. My daughter (almost one) goes to nursery full time on those days and I have a day at the weekend when my husband looks after our daughter - as you can see I am not hugely productive on these days. My daughter also does not sleep well so I do not get evenings to work.

I am also in the process of having a dx of PTSD after my daughter was brain damaged during a botched delivery, although doing well she isn't 'normal' as such and I have been trying to just get on with stuff until the realisation a few months ago that as soon as I get my quiet time to work those horrendous early days with my baby in NICU with a slim survival haunt me.

SO thats me - we've also just moved house so in complete chaos, my sup is pleased with the work I have done so far, I have my 'questions', my study areas and have started work on designing tools to carry out my study. I am hellbent on completing withing three years as I am very much wanting to have more children to heal some of the awful memories I live with.

And my BF and SIL have just announced they are due in 6 months near my birthday - at the moment pregnant women make me cry - so its all a bit and at the moment - plus i am still BFing so can't !!!

Basically - I need a good kick to get me working!

Alice :)

Welcome! You have had a hard time of it so please make sure you build in time to rest and look after yourself! It's easy for me to say and to be honest I rarely practice it myself but the time goes fast so enjoy!

I have about 7-8 months left on my full time phd and until 2 months ago my dd (19 months) woke 3-4 times a night and still breastfed! I have a bit more energy now she's sleeping and not feeding but am on a rollercoaster of stress too!

What discipline is your phd in? Do you have a workspace at uni?

THanks for the warm welcome, I am multi-disciplinary using IT and geography alongside environmental sciences, I have a desk on campus and really enjoy what I'm doing. MY daughter (and I) are,back in hospital tonight, for the third time in six months after she became ill again, not too serious this time but it has made me question whether I should in fact ask for extenuating circumstances to move to part time, has anyone done this?

You could always ask to move to part time and then if things improve you could switch back...... I would say you probably have a good case.... Hope things improve with your daughter!

Just wanted to add a hello. I am at the end of my first year, full-time, campus based (though I actually don't go in much as it's a slow journey and the logistics are complicated re. school runs etc). Usually in once a week, work at home three days a week and have a day off with DD2. But that will all change from this week as she is leaving nursery on Weds, prior to joining her big sister at school in September, so I will be squeezing in bits of work in the evenings but basically just keeping things ticking over until September.

I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter's health - that must be hard. I don't know anything about the practicalities of switching to part-time - I'm sure it depends on your department and funding body. But if I were you I'd have an honest conversation with your supervisor and explore your options. You need to find an approach that works for you and the rest of your family. Like Atwar says, you need to protect your own health and remember the phd's a marathon, not a sprint. (As the cliche goes...)

Am in a little bit of a slump workwise at the moment - still not quite got my focus back post the conversion of status process. But my supervisor seems very (perhaps too much) laid back about it all for now at least.