Our family has grown & I'm restarting!

It's been a while, this is Dr. Rikeko. How is everyone doing? I apologize for the complete silence since last December, but I am alive and well🙇‍♀️

This is sudden, but I have two things to report today...!

I gave birth to a baby girl!

I wrote about my pregnancy in last year's note, but I safely gave birth to a baby girl in early April of this year. Both the baby and I are healthy.

Although I had read in magazines🐣 beforehand that I would need to breastfeed every 3 hours for the first month after birth, actually doing it was far more difficult than I imagined. Since it was my first time raising a child, I was flustered because I didn't understand what the baby needed, and I was easily irritated due to lack of sleep and having no breathing room...

Now that two months have passed since the birth, both the baby and I have gotten into a rhythm, and I have gotten used to childcare, so I am spending my days feeling healthy both mentally and physically!

I am restarting my activities as a bridge between PhDs and society!

Perhaps due to my age, I had many minor health issues during pregnancy and my mental and physical state was unstable, so I stopped most of my activities, including my note, for the past 10 months. I was concerned about this note, but my head and hands just wouldn't move, so it ended up being neglected, and I feel terrible for those who have read it until now.

Even so, there were people who read my note while I was on break, and I felt happy thinking, "Even though I haven't updated in so long and it must be hard to even find this, people are still reading it...!"

My mental state during pregnancy was a rollercoaster and quite rough, but every time I received a notification from note, it made me feel happy to think that I might be of some help, and my desire to continue sharing information about PhDs grew even stronger.

My family has grown and I am living a whirlwind of days, but I still want to fulfill my desire to "do activities and work that serve as a bridge between PhDs and society!" and I want to contribute even a little to realizing a society where PhDs can thrive.

Since it hasn't been long since the birth, it is difficult to secure large blocks of time, but I will resume my activities, including this note, little by little as I am able.

Since I have spent nearly a year with almost no updates, I am in no position to say, "Please keep reading as you always have!" I intend to start from scratch so that both PhD talent and society can at least know a little bit about the potential of PhDs.

May it be a society where PhDs can shine!

Dr. Rikeko