When the topic of would you or won’t you get plastic surgery (specifically breast augmentation) came up as a blog topic I remember telling Shannon and Kelly I can’t write about it because I work outside the home and I don’t want the male-dominated place I work to read all about when I want or don’t want to do with my breasts. Then I remember how public I was about my need to have a safe, private reliable place to pump at work and it made my comment to them seem sort of silly.
I work in the high tech industry and have my very own cubicle to prove it. I love my job and have flexibility in the work place but after I cam back to work with #2 I found it hard to pump and fit it all in. There were 7 moms using one space, which was an old shower room converted – there was a rocker, a shelf and an outlet. A keypad lock and a shower curtain kept the room off limits to people passing by. However with 7 women using the room if you missed your pumping start time by 10 minutes because a meeting ran late or whatever you were reduced to pumping in your car, borrowing an office and hoping no one walked in or the worst choice of all a bathroom stall. I spoke to someone in HR about it and got immediate results. They outfitted a room with a wonderful chair, lights, and best of all a sink! Now we had two places to go. I remember the facilities person asked why only 7 women needed 2 places to pump and telling him “well they have 4 lanes on Rte 95 for 1 hour of rush hour in the morning…it’s sorta the same situation with pumping.” He laughed and immediately “got it.”
Not everyone at work was so comfortable with the idea of taking time out to pump. I had to leave an all day meeting twice to pump and I remember a guy (grown man, father of 2) asking “how long are you going to do that?” and eyeballing my pump as I sat it under the table. For some reason his comment brought out the inner lactavist in me and I retorted “THAT…as in feed my child? Probably till she’s 18…THAT as in breastfeed my child? Well it’s none of your business but at least till she’s a year old. But now that I know it makes you so uncomfortable I will bring my pump to every meeting and leave it right next to you on the table…sound good?!” Needless to say he never asked me about pumping at work again!
I found that after I helped get the new mother’s room up and running and after I quietly exited meeting to pump and then return younger female co-workers would ask me about pumping, and other new Mom questions. It actually made me feel good and I didn’t realize until I put it out there in a semi-public way they were too embarrassed to tell their bosses they had to pump and instead sat in meetings uncomfortable and worrying about finding the time to squeeze in another pumping session. I learned speaking up about mom/work/life balance issues helps us all feel a little more normal and we get great advice and support from some of the mostly unlikely people and places. Moms –be it breasfeeding, not breastfeeding, birth mother’s or adoptive moms-are on a journey together and we need to have each other’s backs.
Stacey
Tags: Add new tag, breastfeeding, Workplace
It amazes me that some workplaces today still don’t have a decent place to pump. Good for you for taking action!
Wow i never pumped at work for that reason. At the time i had Samantha i was the only one in my area that had a baby we have a low turnover so most of the women i work with are in their late 40′s and 50′s so they were all done with children. i asked a few about if there was a place for pumping and was directed to a small locker room area that was not very private at all. Being a new mom i was scared to death someone would walk in. every day I would run home from work with sore breasts to feed my daughter. i wish i had been more brave to ask for a better place but live and learn I guess. I do have one funny story i took Samantha to a children’s holiday party that took place after work. I needed to feed her and the director was not in so I used his office. He still does not know to this day!
It became very difficult for me to find a place to pump when I was working. I eventually found out that there were 2 mother’s room in my building, one was being used as an office (go figure) and the other was a dirty, nasty storage room filled with old tools and carpet, right outside the company gym. I contacted HR/facilities and they were pretty prompt in cleaning/re-painting the storage room. But they wanted me to check out a key from the gym manager and I felt that to be an invasion of my privacy, so I rebelled and found someplace else when I could. Pumping at work is difficult enough, trying to stay on top of work and not look like you’re taking advantage of anything…not to mention having to look past the eyes that roll, or the “humpfs” from others who think you take too many “breaks” (which, ironically, seemed to be from other women)…but you are so right, no matter how you feed your child, all moms should be supportive of each other.