Astronomy
So, I had a day where managing my work and managing the milk seemed to almost collide. There has been a lot going on, I?ve been concerned about funding my research group (we?re okay right now, but anyone who isn?t at least mildly concerned about funding their research group right now probably has their head in the sand!). It is easy to get distracted and say, forget completely that you are still producing milk for a child!
I started out Monday morning getting dressed and being fortunate enough to have a few more choices of tops thanks to a fun shopping trip with my mother who had been visiting for a week while my daycare was closed. One top in particular was a bit more frilly/girly than I normally wear. I had thought to reserve it for weekends rather than my work at NASA, but at the last moment decided, ?what the heck?. I remember having thought that the shirt might also work as one with a built-in nursing cover.
I arrived at daycare that day to nurse Anya and couldn?t find the nursing cover anywhere in the car. That frilly blouse came in handy after all! But, that?s not all I forgot!
I forgot my cooler pack at home. I managed to go beg a bag of ice from the café in my building. I have actually managed to now do this twice this week (its only Tuesday!) and the second time the café had already closed. This time I just slipped the milk into a baggie, and then into my purse, and hoped it would be okay during the 10 minute trip from my office to the daycare (it was fine). I actually have a new bigger purse and found it a bit liberating to not carry around that cooler pack. It was actually nice to walk to the room without the obvious pack (just my purse!). Mental note: in the future when the weather is slightly cooler maybe this can just be the default!
And, when I reached the pumping room I realized I didn?t bring any of my pumping supplies to work. I forgot my pumping supplies (bottles and breast shields). I had back-up supplies and back-up to my back-up (2 sets of shields! Thank goodness!). I?ve made a habit of bringing extras in and it saved me.
It was kinda nice to know that I basically forgot to bring any of the nursing/pumping stuff to work today and I still managed to nurse my daughter today and pump milk.
Sometimes this is chaotic, but it can still work.
- Please Do Not Disturb: Pumping In Progress
This is the sign that adorns my office doorknob every day around noon and again at 3. And this is more or less what I look like as I pump -- yes, quite the fashion statement. Thankfully my officemate is comfortable with my pumping in our office. More...
- Pumping At 23, The Extended Mission Through The Milky Way
I couldn?t resist choosing the blog title ?pumping at 23?. Since this is a blog about maintaining an astrophysics career and nursing a child, one might logically think it refers to a 23-year-old mother pumping milk. In my case, since it will be ten years...
- A Metric For Workplace Environment Culture: How Long Do Mothers Nurse?
If you think you have a positive culture at work for families, how would you measure it? One might be to determine how long, on average, the mothers of young children nurse their children. The workplace environment has a significant impact on the nursing...
- The Importance Of Lactation Rooms At Work
Recently, we have been going through a round of milestones in the lactation room in my building at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It is hard to believe that three first birthdays will have been reached by the end of May. These three women are myself,...
- Milk At The Seattle American Astronomical Society Meeting
@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } So I was able to bring my 9.5 month old daughter to Seattle...
Astronomy
A journey through the Milky Way: sometimes you just wing it
So, I had a day where managing my work and managing the milk seemed to almost collide. There has been a lot going on, I?ve been concerned about funding my research group (we?re okay right now, but anyone who isn?t at least mildly concerned about funding their research group right now probably has their head in the sand!). It is easy to get distracted and say, forget completely that you are still producing milk for a child!
I started out Monday morning getting dressed and being fortunate enough to have a few more choices of tops thanks to a fun shopping trip with my mother who had been visiting for a week while my daycare was closed. One top in particular was a bit more frilly/girly than I normally wear. I had thought to reserve it for weekends rather than my work at NASA, but at the last moment decided, ?what the heck?. I remember having thought that the shirt might also work as one with a built-in nursing cover.
I arrived at daycare that day to nurse Anya and couldn?t find the nursing cover anywhere in the car. That frilly blouse came in handy after all! But, that?s not all I forgot!
I forgot my cooler pack at home. I managed to go beg a bag of ice from the café in my building. I have actually managed to now do this twice this week (its only Tuesday!) and the second time the café had already closed. This time I just slipped the milk into a baggie, and then into my purse, and hoped it would be okay during the 10 minute trip from my office to the daycare (it was fine). I actually have a new bigger purse and found it a bit liberating to not carry around that cooler pack. It was actually nice to walk to the room without the obvious pack (just my purse!). Mental note: in the future when the weather is slightly cooler maybe this can just be the default!
And, when I reached the pumping room I realized I didn?t bring any of my pumping supplies to work. I forgot my pumping supplies (bottles and breast shields). I had back-up supplies and back-up to my back-up (2 sets of shields! Thank goodness!). I?ve made a habit of bringing extras in and it saved me.
It was kinda nice to know that I basically forgot to bring any of the nursing/pumping stuff to work today and I still managed to nurse my daughter today and pump milk.
Sometimes this is chaotic, but it can still work.
- Please Do Not Disturb: Pumping In Progress
This is the sign that adorns my office doorknob every day around noon and again at 3. And this is more or less what I look like as I pump -- yes, quite the fashion statement. Thankfully my officemate is comfortable with my pumping in our office. More...
- Pumping At 23, The Extended Mission Through The Milky Way
I couldn?t resist choosing the blog title ?pumping at 23?. Since this is a blog about maintaining an astrophysics career and nursing a child, one might logically think it refers to a 23-year-old mother pumping milk. In my case, since it will be ten years...
- A Metric For Workplace Environment Culture: How Long Do Mothers Nurse?
If you think you have a positive culture at work for families, how would you measure it? One might be to determine how long, on average, the mothers of young children nurse their children. The workplace environment has a significant impact on the nursing...
- The Importance Of Lactation Rooms At Work
Recently, we have been going through a round of milestones in the lactation room in my building at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It is hard to believe that three first birthdays will have been reached by the end of May. These three women are myself,...
- Milk At The Seattle American Astronomical Society Meeting
@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } So I was able to bring my 9.5 month old daughter to Seattle...