Austin is pretty hip and in this city, there are a lot of places worth waiting to get into. People line up at dawn at Franklin Barbecue just a chance at some brisket 6 hours later. To get the half-off pork chop at Perry’s Steakhouse on a Friday lunch, you should probably make a reservation weeks in advance, and if you’re not at Snooze before 10am you better be ready to awkwardly stand over people in the waiting area for the next 2 hours before your table is ready. But did you know that there is another secret spot in Austin that’s harder to get into than all three of these places combined? There is. It’s called The Wellness Room.
Ah, the Wellness Room. No, it’s not a yoga studio or some vegan bakery. It’s a place where the weary can sleep and where the restless can retreat. It comes equip with a lounge chair, a massage table if you want to lay down, soft lighting and a mini fridge. But more specifically, it is a room in my office that I have to book three times a day in order to pump breastmilk for my child.
This is not the first “wellness” room that I have had the luxury of using. In my last job, I had something similar. In order to comply with FMLA laws, my previous employer had to turn one unused office into a space where I could pump. They installed a lock on the door and gave me the only key. It had a glider rocking chair and a small table in the corner. This took up 1/10th of the space in the room, so when people would walk by it while the door was open, it would look… strange.
“Why is there a random rocking chair in that room?” guests would ask.
The nothingness that surrounded the chair did make it seem like Norman Bates mother’s office, so I can see the concern. For me, I didn’t need a whole lot. I just needed 10-15 minutes to sit, pump, and escape the reality of my working environment. I was one of three working mothers in that office and the other two had kids that were well off the teet, so that room was all mine. It was a glorious time.
Fast forward a few years and one child later, and I get to experience my second “wellness” room. It’s THE Wellness Room. Designed to improve our employee wellness, anyone can use it to relax, collect their thoughts, or even nap. (Yes, nap. I work at a place that encourages napping. Who’s got it better than me??) It’s also designed to be a place where new mothers can use to pump, which is great, but I no longer have the luxury of being the only working/breastfeeding mother. I am one of three, and that’s just for the time being. There is one woman coming off of maternity leave soon and two more that are going on leave by the end of the year. This place is bursting at the seams with b-feeding mamas. Normally, I’d be all “solidarity, sistas!” but the reality of three breastfeeding mothers all trying to use one room translates into one thing: Milk Wars.
For people who don’t breastfeed or can’t breastfeed, let me explain something to you. Most babies eat around every 3 hours. Picture your breasts like a pot on the floor collecting water that is slowly but steadily leaking from the ceiling. That pot is going to fill to the brim and need to be emptied out pretty regularly or else you are going to have a mess on your hands. So when three women all need to “empty out the pot” every three hours, that leaves very little time in the day where this room is open. Also, we all kind of need to do it around the same times of the day. Morning, lunch, and right before the end of the day. So basically, it really does rival the hottest restaurants in town.
Pumping at work isn’t like remembering to use the restroom (I say remembering because I feel like we’ve all had those days where 4pm rolls around and you realize that you haven’t peed yet.. right?). This is an EVENT on my work calendar every.single.day. And it’s not just a private one. The pumping mamas in my office have formed our own tribe. Since modesty flew out the window the second my OBGYN said “PUSH!”, I feel oddly comfortable discussing all things motherhood related to just about anyone, no matter how intimate. Thankfully for me, and any impending HR lawsuits, they feel the same way. We have even created our own “chat room” to discuss any changes that need to be made throughout the day. And boy are there changes. As much as I try to keep my schedule regular, I can’t help it if my little Meatwad is going through a growth spurt and wants to eat right before I go to work, throwing off my entire 3 hour interval schedule.
“Sorry, honey, but you’re just going to have to feed him a bottle,” I once said to my husband. “I know that I’m here and could feed him myself because he’s hungry, but if I feed him now, I won’t have enough to pump at 9:30 and the room is booked until after 11, and by then I’ll be super engorged… so bottle it is!”
Other inconveniences include things like Lunch Outings. Why, yes, going to Cedar Door for lunch DOES sound great, but can we go at 11? I have a 12:30 appointment that I REALLY CAN’T MISS IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN AND I THINK YOU DO!
Happy Hour? Sounds great! Let me just squeeze out a few ounces real quick so lil Meatwad doesn’t get too much tequila tonight, WINK!
As inconvenient as this all is, I’m grateful to be able to do it. I endured not one but TWO natural births and I can honestly say that breastfeeding is the most physically taxing thing I have ever done. Once you get used to the general discomfort (or sometimes down right PAIN) of breastfeeding, you have to get used to the mental discomfort. You are constantly tethered to this child who needs your body to eat. Leaving the house longer than 3 hours in the first few months was nearly impossible for me. He might have had extra milk stored away, which was great for him, but I had milk building up that needed to go somewhere! Me and my hand pump have been in many bathrooms, closets, and parked cars just trying to alleviate the build-up of 4 hours without a feeding. Not to mention, if there’s drinking involved, I have to “pump and dump”, which is basically like preparing a nice and delicious meal for a loved one and then promptly throwing it in the trash.
So why do I do it? Partly because I can. I know a lot of people who had major difficulties or were flat out physically incapable of being able to nurse. It feels like a privilege to have that time with the little one while I can. More logistically, formula is expensive as shit and anyone who knows me knows how frugal I am. Finally, and most importantly, calories. It burns so many calories and I’m shallow enough to keep doing it so I can eat that extra slice of pizza and justify it in the name of feeding my child.
But, all good things come to an end. And as I come to the end of my milk, I reflect fondly on my time in the Wellness Room. It was such a special time of getting to sit in a lounge chair with my feet elevated, carefully propping my phone against the ottoman to watch viral videos on my newsfeed, all while the stresses of work and life drifted away. No coworkers bothering me. No baby crying in the other room. No tiny hands trying to open the door. Just me and my pump making the most of our 30 minute reservation.
DailyDebs 