breast feeding, test taking medical mom

[samssugarmomma]

ITA with Heidi and Tara.

I suppose that she could have an unusually hard time pumping or a history of mastitis and she really wants to avoid it.

BUT, and this isn't giving her the benefit of the doubt, I think we all have known of that medical student or resident (male or female) who went to a highly regarded school and landed a highly regarded specialty or program and is generally regarded as a high maintenance PITA. I had a sort of deja vu experience reading this story.

[Vanquisher]

I suppose that she could have an unusually hard time pumping or a history of mastitis and she really wants to avoid it.

:huh:

I had a really hard time pumping and chronic mastitis with DD. Sure you want to avoid it. It isn't fun, but I still don't care. I think it's a weak and lame excuse. If they gave her NO breaks that would be something else.

I suppose that she could have an unusually hard time pumping or a history of mastitis and she really wants to avoid it.

:huh:

I had a really hard time pumping and chronic mastitis with DD. Sure you want to avoid it. It isn't fun, but I still don't care. I think it's a weak and lame excuse. If they gave her NO breaks that would be something else.

Yeah, I know. I agree.

[PrincessFiona]

This thread kind of strikes me as anti-woman.

really.


pump in the allotted breaks and deal with it?

I don't know enough about this woman and whether she really has a learning disability or not. A friend of mine in college majored in computer science and was doing terribly. She got some accomodation through a special dept. on campus and ended up with nearly straight A's and a good job when she was done. Before that, she was on the verge of failing out. Is that right? I don't know. I guess it all depends on what we value as a society....

I don't know whether or not I agree that she should get accomodation for the test (in the form of 2 days) but I do think it is ok to throw in some extra time for the pumping if it is needed....

I am the lone voice of dissent though.

We all have times in our lives where we need more time, some extra TLC or whatever...it would suck to live in a society where the attitude was that we should always all just suck it up at all costs.

Need your spouse to moonlight because you are on the brink? suck it up and deal.
Pissed that your spouse has not got enough maternity leave? suck it up and deal.
Don't have the money to pay the bills on time this month? suck it up and deal.
Residency not the panaea that you had hoped for? Post-training life got you down? suck it up and deal



:huh:
kris

I would say the opposite -- I think that the extended time to take the test is legitimate. I just wonder why she didn't do that the first time around? Or other tests? Maybe she does.

But I just postponed jury duty because I'm breastfeeding. Maybe I shouldn't say anything. Although...if I couldn't get out of it and they gave me 15 minutes and space to pump, I think that would be fair.

What would she do and what would be reasonable during clinical rotations or residency?

[PrincessFiona]

The question though, Nellie is if she can postpone the test and still be able to start residency.

Personally...and this will sound anti-woman...if I knew I was going to have to take the USMLE soon I would be using 3 layers of protection, taking the norplant and not having sex for extra measure..but that's just me. If I did have a baby, I wouldn't be asking for accomodations...again...that's just me. It does bother me in a way that she *needs* those accomodations. On the other hand, what is the alternative...

I don't know. I just can't take the "suck it up and deal" part of it.

She has those 15 minutes to relax, eat lunch, etc.
kris

Wow. For a majority group of people with girly parts, we're sure getting tagged as anti-woman a lot lately.

She's got to look at the realities of the field she chose and make some accomodations and adjustments if she wants to succeed. Nellie is right: what residency (esp. intern year) is going to say "sure - go off and take a half an hour to pump every 3 hours ... just let us know when you can fit in some work!" It's just not realistic.

As far as the extended testing - I don't really have a problem with it. My problem lies more with the "gimmie more, I need more of a break, I have more special circumstances, I shouldn't have to do anything on my end to meet the requirements!" kind of attitude.

[PrincessFiona]

It's funny because it kind of leads back into the discussion in the call room that we were having about women in medicine and the back-and-forth about accomodations for pregnancy etc.

What if she did need to pump for 20 minutes or so every 3 hours during residency :huh: Is that really a big deal? If she gets all of her work accomplished/patients seen even if it means she stays an extra hour or so to complete it...does it matter?

I know plenty of residents who took about 20 minutes every few hours to search the web for all kinds of interesting things.....

I don't think it's that big of a deal.

kris

[PrincessFiona]

Wow. For a majority group of people with girly parts, we're sure getting tagged as anti-woman a lot lately.

I have to precede what I'm about to say by stating empahtically that I'm not talking about anyone here, but....don't you think that the most anti-women people ARE women a lot of the time? Not always....not us...but I would say that 99% of my negative exchanges about mothering or working etc come from other moms/women....

just a thought...and not meant to tag any of us at all.

[Vanquisher]

I guess it goes to what residency you are in, but I would venture to guess that in any surgical residencies, no, it isn't plausible or possible to take a 20 minute break every 3 hours. Scrubbed into a case and need to pump? I know residents who get practically flogged for needing to pee. In fact, I do know residents and attendings alike who catheterize themselves for long cases or men who wear large condoms that they can pee into. I'm not even kidding.

I can't imagine that many other residencies are going to be all that accomodating either. I am not anti-woman. It sure seems like it lately though, huh?

Need your spouse to moonlight because you are on the brink? suck it up and deal.
Don't have the money to pay the bills on time this month? suck it up and deal.
Residency not the panaea that you had hoped for? Post-training life got you down? suck it up and deal

I don't think ANY of these things are even remotely equivalent.

[PrincessFiona]

She is going into Clinical Pathology, I believe...so I think she'll be ok.

Are those things equivalent? In a way. We don't want to accomodate one person's *needs* but want accomodation often for our own. By we...I mean me, of course.

Anyway, thankfully (and I'm sure that this will be met with cheers) I have to get offline.

Kris

What if she did need to pump for 20 minutes or so every 3 hours during residency :huh: Is that really a big deal? If she gets all of her work accomplished/patients seen even if it means she stays an extra hour or so to complete it...does it matter?

IF she could find that and it didn't cause too much of an inconvience, then it isn't a big deal.

[PrincessFiona]

So..then we are kind of back to saying that maybe...moms don't belong in medicine because of the kinds of accomodations that they might need. or maybe not.

ETA: I just realized that
i was given accomodations when I was pg with Amanda and was taking the GRE. They allowed me to go to the bathroom whenever I wanted instead of just at break time. Too bad I didn't think of the big condom idea I know it's true and not a laughing matter at all...it's just one example of why pg or not I could never be a surgeon. My bladder is the size of a pea.

I don't think that expecting time every 3 hours for a year (assuming that one bf's for a year) in addition to other time is reasonable in any field.

I pumped for quite a while when I was working and had to do it around meetings. I usually used my lunch time and ate while I pumped. I guess I didn't feel like I needed to ask for time every three hours on the dot and I went longer than three hours. So based on my experience I feel.... :huh: . It just seems like a lot. And it would be too much to ask co-workers to accomodate an every three hour schedule for a year, IMO. If no one had to do extra accomodating, fine.

btw, I've known several residents and attendings who were able to maintain breastfeeding in a way that didn't interfere with other people's schedules. My reaction to her request is what I said above -- this isn't the only thing she is going to ask for and expect people to accomodate and she is probably going to be a PITA resident to work with. And it is NOT my opinion that all lactating or pregnant or parental residents are a PITA.