After having set up this internet presence last June I have been inactive for almost two months. The reason is Martha Alev, my daughter to whom I gave birth on the 2nd of July. Since then I can tell like so many mothers before me that life changes completely and takes on new priorities. Needless to say that I am utterly happy to hold her in my arms which more than makes up for the sleepless nights and the helpless feeling when being confronted with her cries. As she is my first child she has the task to teach me and to take away all romantic feelings attached to raising a child .

Luckily, some old habits like reading the newspaper everyday and drinking a cup of coffee in the morning have remained from my life before Martha. And slowly I am catching up with politics, research and other developments from the last two months. As some might already guess, even my life as a mother has not escaped my inclination to look at everything through the lens of a researcher. What has intrigued me during my pregnancy and fresh motherhood so far are two topics: childbirth and motherhood ideologies and the way a pregnancy and child influence the mothers’ professional lives.