Overexposed
School is long for me on Tuesdays. I go to class at about 1:30, and my last class doesn't let out until 7. Because I am breastfeeding, I have to drag my pump up to the school with me and find a private place to hole up for about 10 minutes between classes.
This is humiliating. The world is not made for breastfeeding mothers. When I went back to school, I thought my only option was to STAND next to the outlet in the womens' bathroom for ten minutes and let everyone see me.
Nicely enough, our program coordinator found a room for me to use. I was so grateful. It only takes me a few minutes, so I run in, stick a sign outside, lock the door and get to business.
This is what my sign says:
This is humiliating. The world is not made for breastfeeding mothers. When I went back to school, I thought my only option was to STAND next to the outlet in the womens' bathroom for ten minutes and let everyone see me.
Nicely enough, our program coordinator found a room for me to use. I was so grateful. It only takes me a few minutes, so I run in, stick a sign outside, lock the door and get to business.
This is what my sign says:
Please do not enter! This room will be available after 4:40.
Isn't that pleasant? Doesn't that make sense?
NO. It doesn't. Because yesterday, my professor unlocked the door and allowed a woman and her 12-year-old emotionally disturbed son in the room. The room is about as big as a large closet. The poor boy saw me hooked up to electric bicycle horns. I was saying, "Please don't come in! There is a sign on the door!" He was saying, "But my mother is with me!" as if that made a difference.
The professor and mother never made it into the room. The boy turned and fled, pushing them out of the way.
By the time I bashfully made my way out of the room, the mother was in the hallway sobbing, the boy was having a tantrum, and half of the staff of my department were standing around trying to fix the problem.
Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again. Back to the bathroom I guess. At least there I don't run the risk of inciting a riot.
posted by Amanda
at
11:08 AM
13 Comments:
HAHAHAHAHA...that was funny.
Now, I am very sorry you had to experience such humiliation.
Other Amanda had a great suggestion re: faculty bathroom.
Why was the mother of the 12 yr old peeper crying? Cuz of a previous problem before her son saw a woman milking or after?
Yeah, I agree with Jenn and Amanda. There MUST be a place the faculty uses that you can have access to. Good grief.
they found me a more secluded bathroom with a door that locks. i don't know why they didn't suggest that to begin with.
the woman apologized today, and my professor has expressed great embarassment and regret. i am strangely okay with the situation. probably because it is rare that i am the one in control, and the emotional reactions from everyone else yesterday forced me to be calm. anyway, i got great praise from my prof for how i handled the situation. LOL! imagine that.
jen, the mother had a series of unfortunate events, and that was just the icing on the cake. i guess that is why she was snotting all over the place in the hallway.
Modesty over your boobs appears to have already taken a back seat to providing nutrition for your child.
Oh, wait...modesty pretty much went out the window one month ago, Friday! :)
Bless.Your.Heart.
I can't imagine someone walking in on me doing that.
The sign is all you needed, too bad they couldn't read!
OMG, Well Im glad the prof was appropriately embarrassed, and that you now have a more private place to go.
When I was a TA I had one really dedicated student in particular. She was married and pregnant with her second child. She was graduating that December with distinction. She missed the review before the final test. I was really surprised, she never missed before. On test day she was there, she took her test and when she stood up I realized she wasnt pregnant anymore! When she came down to turn in her test I said "jennifer! youre not pregnany anymore!" (thanks captain obvious) She told me she had had the baby THE NIGHT BEFORE! and thats why she missed the review. she didnt want to have to make up the test later even though I assured her that giving birth was an excused absence....she was one dedicated student.
I'm so sorry you found yourself in such an exposed and uncomfortable position.
At least someone was initially trying to help you.
I fully understand what "electric bicycle horns" look like and comprehend why the moment was way more than awkward.
OH MAN! I am so SOOORRRYY! I couldn't imagine. I hate breast pumps. They don't seem to work very well for me either! I give you props for sticking to the breast feeding even though you have to pump! GO GIRL!
Since everyone else has stories, I'll share mine.
When I went back to school in the summertime with a two-week old, I also did the pump in the bathroom thing. Luckily, my pump allowed me to use batteries, so I just sat in the larger handicap bathroom during our breaks and "did the mom thing." The ladies in my class all knew what I was doing, so it was no big deal for them to walk into the bathroom to the "whirring" sound my pump made.
This was all well and good for them, but not so well and good for other people that were not in our group. They would walk into the bathroom and ask each other what the heck the noise was, and rather rudely, too.
Luckily, I had a spokesperson from our group speak up for me once, and that was all it took. She told them it was just my pump and that I was a new mommy doing the best for my child that I could while getting my masters, and they spread the word to the other nay-sayers of the bathroom noise-maker.
Thus ends my mini-post on your site.
michelle - that is my fear. i probably would shout something over the stall door!
sydney - all i do is pump. i am a milk cow. he doesn't even eat it the normal way. MUST COME FROM BOTTLE. :)
my mom told me she never had much luck with pumps, of course that was 25 years ago. has to be better then gettin bit when their teeth start coming in.
ooooooooh, no kidding, Sara!
"I am a milk cow" - OH MY WORD that is funny.
Sigh - another thing I do not have to worry about as a single gal.
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