Now that I'm done with the graduate school chapter of my life (cue the Hallelujah Chorus), I can be all reflective about the whole experience. I made this list one day during data collection when I had some time to kill during an incubation. I'm sure that my fellow mom academics have experienced some or all of these, and I'm sure you ladies have a few you could add! So here's my top 10 list for Characteristics of the Mommy, PhD, as they might pertain to someone in a science field (order is not particularly significant).
1. You read scientific literature by day and children's literature by night.
2. You pump breast milk during assay incubations.*
3. Your 3-year old talks about experiments and knows the word "dissertation."
4. You talk about keeping pumped breast milk at "4 degrees C" rather than "in the fridge."
5. While waiting for samples to centrifuge, you pass the time by humming children's songs.
6. You hide milk let-down stains by wearing a lab coat.
7. You do a lot of your work after your kids are in bed.**
8. Your kids have been to at least one lab or department meeting.
9. You have a play area set up in your office, or you've had another labmate watch or hold your kid while you do an experiment.***
10. You'd rather be with your family at home than working in the lab.
*I got really good at pumping in a bathroom stall while standing.
**There was one time recently I worked 8-5. And it wasn't 8am-5pm either!
***I have not actually done this, but Ben (a "Daddy, PhD") did this once with Amelia.
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3 comments:
I totally agree with:
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*standing? wow. disturbing!
**yep, me too.
So true! My class in grad school had lots of new babies. We all had pack-n-plays in our offices and had rotations of who watched which kids on group meeting days. I remember in our second year laughing as my best friend worked a problem on the board with her jacket zipped around a sleeping baby in a Snugglie; the prof didn't even realize she had the baby in class that day and freaked out when she started bouncing at the board and a little foot started kicking around her hip. Also - OSHA does not understand that using an electron microscope in a dark and quiet room is an ideal time to have the baby at work with you; scrooges!
Michelle and Karyn! My two close Mommy PhDs! So glad that you guys commented!
Michelle, I'll clarify about pumping while standing. My pump has this rigid part that folds down, so you can balance bottles on it. So I would hang the shoulder strap on the stall door hook and sort of use the rigid fold out part as a table. It actually worked pretty well and no one seemed to care that I was pumping in the bathroom.
Karyn, I'm with you there. I couldn't even bring my kids to the lab because we are a biosafety level 2 lab. Being that my office used to be in the lab, my office was also off-limits to kids. Now my office is in another building, so I am free to bring the girls to work if needed.
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