I'm feeling a bit under pressure guys! I have 3 months until my submission date. I thought I was on track to submit my final draft in six weeks time but it is taking SO LONG. To add to my worries I am 5months pregnant, exhausted, and my other half is ripping my house to pieces to install a nice new kitchen before the baby comes.

I am using the pomodoro technique for time management, and trying to resist the urge to be a perfectionist, but it seems SO hard. Perhaps its my squiffy pregnancy hormones...I can't seem to think straight, and am stupidly emotional, and exhausted. I can only manage two or three hours a day...at this rate I'll never get it done!

I just NEED to get this thesis completed before my baby arrives! I think I need a bit of moral support from you lovely forumites!
Any words of wisdom?
Matilda

Whoo I can see why you're feeling pressured MaltildaL! I don't think you should panic too much though, your health is the most important thing right now, the PhD is not. I think you can get it submitted for def before the baby, it might not be in 6 weeks but you still have some leeway. Try not to stress too much, sometimes that slows down the pace at which you can work (happens to me anyway, my brain just freezes for ages...). Decide a set amount of hours that you will work that day, and try and get it outside of the time the kitchen work is being done if at all possible. Working with building noise is not nice!! Allow yourself time to rest/nap when you need it, and just let yourself be pregnant! You never know, those hormones might all charge to your brain at some stage and make you super productive :-)

Hi Matilda
It's not stupid to feel emotional or exhausted in the circumstances: you're dealing with a force of nature that's greater than all of us! If this is your first child, it's almost impossible to imagine how little time for you and your own interests there will be after your baby's born, - I've got 3 kids, and completed my Masters with a newborn; so instead of stressing, I'd suggest that you regard these final few weeks as your biggest commitment to yourself, before your priorities are turned on their head by the arrival of your baby.
And can your other half enlist some help from a friend or family member, to speed up the progess with the kitchen?

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I managed 4 hours today....but still haven't completed re-editing chapter 1, which I hoped would have been completed on Monday! What a duff week.
Thanks for the words of support Artista and AQ.
I have decided to try to relocate when the worst of the building work is being done - and some friends are coming to help. My hubbie is trying to be lovely and doesn't want me to do any DIY or worry about it....I just can't help being nosey though. And normally I LOVE getting involved with renovations!
(How does Sarah Beeny do it - all those children and lots of houses renovated and books written!)
Must go and eat and sleep now...I'm shattered.

Beeney's got an entire production crew behind her, so I'm sure we could all work wonders with that level of support! Well done today, onwards and upwards, and direct your energy towards completion, rather than self-recrimination :-)

Hi Matilda

You have a lot going on! Try and do as much as you can, but don't be too hard on yourself - it's not worth it - the health of you and your baby is the most important thing. If you're planning on submitting in 6 weeks, and have 4 months of pregnancy to go, you still have a bit of time. Be kind to yourself and good luck!

Hang in there - you will get there. I did my MA at night school while working full time in a very demanding job in the city. At the begining of September when I started my maternity leave I had written 600 words (but had collected, although not analysed, data) and I submitted the dissertation (18,000 words plus appendices) on time (I was offered an extension but figured that if I couldn't do it without the baby I would need a long extension til I got round to it once he had arrived). Three weeks after I submitted (end Sept) I had my son (now nearly 12) and in November I got a letter from the unviersity (which I asked my husband to open as I was feeding the baby and I thought it was about over-due library books) to say I had got a distinction (the only one in my year!).
If you can get it done before the baby copes it will be much easier. The first few months with a baby go by very quickly in a fog of exhaustion, lack of sleep, total obsesison with your new baby and adjusting to your new life. But it is so worth it.

I'm making some small steps forward. Today I completed a chapter...and it feels great to move onto the next one in a positive frame of mind.

Jepsonclough - Thank you for your story - it has inspired me to 'just get on with it'

...and I am going to make a concerted effort to not be too self-critical or analyse my productivity levels too much. Just keep plodding on.

Crikey...anyone who has read my previous posts will know that I started this PhD with awful health circumstances...and the pregnancy side-effects are no-where near as bad as that. I can do it! I will just have to make sure there is plenty of food in the freezer, forget the housework (which is pointless anyway in the midst of DIY!) and if working in the chaos is too bad I'll have to work on my laptop at the library or my Parent-in-laws house.
Where there is a will there is a way...and at least I am not currently sleep-deprived and surrounded by nappies etc!
M.;-)

Don't miss out on enjoying your pregnancy either though. Take it easy, don't get overly stressed, and get plenty of rest while you can (easier said than done, I know). I agree with the deciding that you're going to work X number of hours a day and leaving it at that. You need to squeeze in some time just for yourself! :-)

Congratulations and good luck :-x

Don't push yourself too much though - you will need energy for when the baby arrives! Having said that, I wish I had done a bit more when I was pregnant because I have done nothing since their arrival! :$

it seems to be such a difficult balance deciding when to push on and 'just do another hour' and when it would be best to rest.
I had a rubbish day yesterday - crying all the time and getting overwhelmed with the fact that 'I am going to be a Mum!'
I guess that in a few months time I will wonder what all this worry was about. PhD theoretical and methodological summaries will be the last thing on my mind when dealing with a newborn!

Must crack on...one more hour then I'll call it a day, it is Friday after all.