I have been working and pumping since November 2010, going on 5 months now and I haven't really had many stumbling blocks or problems with it in the workplace. There are many women who have problems. They have to pump in rooms that don't lock, or rooms that are janitor closets or even bathrooms. They have to pump while driving, or in their car. They have managers who don't understand and don't want to give them the breaks. Even though this is the Law. Work places are supposed to offer women a place to pump that is NOT a bathroom. They also HAVE to give them the breaks within their day. We have come a long way, but have so much farther to go.
Until this week that is. I started out in November working in the office 3 days a week and at home 2 days a week. My job is great and is very flexible, so it's been wonderful. The office has a great Mother's room. It's the best I have seen at any of my jobs and really only two of them have had them. There are two rooms that you can schedule. It's all through Outlook so it's nice. I have a 3 appointments the day I am in the office one at 9ish, 12ish and 3ish. It was working wonderful and then my work schedule got crazy. So after a discussion with my boss she allowed me to work from home 3 days a week instead of the 2. It allows me to pump whenever and not have to worry about scheduling the room.
Our Mothers room is awesome. Like I said it has two different rooms with locks on them. It has wireless or plug in for computers and a phone. We also have a microwave and a fridge along with a sink so you can wash the pump parts. It's super nice! We also leave notes for each other and have a great group of mothers.
It's all been going well like I said until this week. I had a training class at our corporate building...I was prepared and found out there was a mothers room over there, found out that I just needed to talk to the person at the front desk by the conference rooms and schedule it. What I didn't know is that it was going to be booked up. Yep that's right booked up, and it was the same as ours, but not through outlook. through the desk and it's also was only available at 10 and 3:30.
Day 1 of Training:
10:00 comes around and it worked out great. Our break from class was at 10 and I was able to go down there and use the room. The room consisted two cubicles with desks. It too had a phone and a cord for your computer, but you were in a open room with cubicles. If the Cube was occupied you had to turn a sheet of paper over to indicate as such. Not ideal!
12:00 came around and it was our lunch break. I walked all the way downstairs to the Women's locker room to use that - because the Mothers room was full and I was told that was "backup" for when it was full. Well first I didn't have access ,but once I did have access, it would have been better to go to my car. I know I would have felt more comfortable. In the locker room there was 1 plug in - Yep 1 plug in. and that was on the bench by the lockers. Which was by the showers as well. So I had to sit in the open, exposed pumping. not even a room nothing. The mothers room here was a dream vacation compared to the locker room. But I pumped, and I got about 4oz....which is a LOT lower than I normally do.
3:00 cam around - Well the Mother's room wasn't available at this time, so it was back to the locker room. and this time there were two people in it, so needless to say I was a bit uncomfortable! It was so not ideal.
Day 2 - I thought well at least I can get one of the pumpings in the mothers room at 10 and then pump at lunch in the locker room and then we are done around 3 or 3:30 and I can either pump or go pick up Gabby. But of course it couldn't just work out all that nice could it? My instructor had to go and change the break time to 9am instead of 10am. So down to the locker room I go again at 9. This time at least there wasn't anyone there. I didn't pump that much because I had pumped like 8oz this morning at 6 when I woke up (Gabby slept the entire night! except for getting up at 1:00am).
Then at our lunch break I went down there, there were two people in there, stressed me out some and I ended up only pumping.about 3oz. So total for the day I pumped 15 which really is about normal. Except 5oz of that Gabby ate this morning. So I didn't pump what I normally do to keep up.
All in all it was a stressful week for pumping. I plan on contacting our HR department and informing them of this situation. I am supposed to be provided an area to pump that is not a bathroom and technically the locker room is a bathroom....It's amazing what we have to go through to pump milk for our babies. I really have never had a problem. It makes me not want to take anymore training classes here until I am done pumping. or at least down to less than 3 times a day.
Wish me luck with the talk with HR.
Until this week that is. I started out in November working in the office 3 days a week and at home 2 days a week. My job is great and is very flexible, so it's been wonderful. The office has a great Mother's room. It's the best I have seen at any of my jobs and really only two of them have had them. There are two rooms that you can schedule. It's all through Outlook so it's nice. I have a 3 appointments the day I am in the office one at 9ish, 12ish and 3ish. It was working wonderful and then my work schedule got crazy. So after a discussion with my boss she allowed me to work from home 3 days a week instead of the 2. It allows me to pump whenever and not have to worry about scheduling the room.
Our Mothers room is awesome. Like I said it has two different rooms with locks on them. It has wireless or plug in for computers and a phone. We also have a microwave and a fridge along with a sink so you can wash the pump parts. It's super nice! We also leave notes for each other and have a great group of mothers.
It's all been going well like I said until this week. I had a training class at our corporate building...I was prepared and found out there was a mothers room over there, found out that I just needed to talk to the person at the front desk by the conference rooms and schedule it. What I didn't know is that it was going to be booked up. Yep that's right booked up, and it was the same as ours, but not through outlook. through the desk and it's also was only available at 10 and 3:30.
Day 1 of Training:
10:00 comes around and it worked out great. Our break from class was at 10 and I was able to go down there and use the room. The room consisted two cubicles with desks. It too had a phone and a cord for your computer, but you were in a open room with cubicles. If the Cube was occupied you had to turn a sheet of paper over to indicate as such. Not ideal!
12:00 came around and it was our lunch break. I walked all the way downstairs to the Women's locker room to use that - because the Mothers room was full and I was told that was "backup" for when it was full. Well first I didn't have access ,but once I did have access, it would have been better to go to my car. I know I would have felt more comfortable. In the locker room there was 1 plug in - Yep 1 plug in. and that was on the bench by the lockers. Which was by the showers as well. So I had to sit in the open, exposed pumping. not even a room nothing. The mothers room here was a dream vacation compared to the locker room. But I pumped, and I got about 4oz....which is a LOT lower than I normally do.
3:00 cam around - Well the Mother's room wasn't available at this time, so it was back to the locker room. and this time there were two people in it, so needless to say I was a bit uncomfortable! It was so not ideal.
Day 2 - I thought well at least I can get one of the pumpings in the mothers room at 10 and then pump at lunch in the locker room and then we are done around 3 or 3:30 and I can either pump or go pick up Gabby. But of course it couldn't just work out all that nice could it? My instructor had to go and change the break time to 9am instead of 10am. So down to the locker room I go again at 9. This time at least there wasn't anyone there. I didn't pump that much because I had pumped like 8oz this morning at 6 when I woke up (Gabby slept the entire night! except for getting up at 1:00am).
Then at our lunch break I went down there, there were two people in there, stressed me out some and I ended up only pumping.about 3oz. So total for the day I pumped 15 which really is about normal. Except 5oz of that Gabby ate this morning. So I didn't pump what I normally do to keep up.
All in all it was a stressful week for pumping. I plan on contacting our HR department and informing them of this situation. I am supposed to be provided an area to pump that is not a bathroom and technically the locker room is a bathroom....It's amazing what we have to go through to pump milk for our babies. I really have never had a problem. It makes me not want to take anymore training classes here until I am done pumping. or at least down to less than 3 times a day.
Wish me luck with the talk with HR.
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