A Current State of Affairs: The Trials and Tribulations of Breastfeeding in the Collegiate Sphere

I want to be transparent about what is going on with my school. It is so easy to be passive aggressive or even manipulative in social media. Instead, I want to tell the story factually, to the best of my ability, to gauge support and garner understanding. With that said there will be times that I'm snarky in this explanation- pardon me but I'm a wee bit resentful.

Last year, as I began my second year of my masters program at Columbia Theological Seminary, I realized that there was a requirement that would be difficult for me to fulfill. The requirement is called “Explorations” and this requirement is usually a two-week intensive course that is done in a group setting. It is often done abroad in other countries but there are several within the United States, including one in Atlanta, that takes place during the day but you are able to go home at night.

I want to stress that this is a REQUIREMENT. You cannot graduate from the program at this school without doing it. I also want to stress that when I applied to this school this requirement was not made clear and upon looking at the school catalog (to ensure that I had not just somehow missed it) I verified nothing in the description states it must be done in a group (meaning that it could feasibly be done as an independent study). However, the school is standing by the fact that it must be done as a group and an independent study is not allowed. Regardless, communication to the student about the requirements was not effective and so I came into the program without realizing this would be necessary.

Realizing this requirement last year I knew I had a problem. See, I’m breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is uber important to me for a variety of reasons. It is good for my health (it reduces the risk of breast cancer by a large amount) and it is good for my Wee Steven’s health (he is less likely to get colds, ear infections and all other kinds of illnesses and it is proven that formula babies have a lower IQ… true story). So I’m exclusively breastfeeding and my son will be 10 months old at the time I’m required to take the class.

“10 months old?! How long are you going to boob that kid?” you might say. Well, full term breastfeeding is defined as at LEAST two years by the W.H.O. and they recommend this type of breastfeeding. Even if I abided by the American Pediatric Association’s recommendation it would still mean breastfeeding for AT LEAST a year. And when I take the class Steven will obviously be younger than that.

There is a pumping option. Obviously. I’ve heard that a ton too- “Can’t you just pump?” and yes, I can pump. Sorta. See I need a safe space to do it. Pumping isn’t, for me, as easy as putting the baby on the boob. It takes meditation (I have to focus on a picture of my kid for the milk to really flow), time and electricity (as I need a powerful pump for my brand of boobs). I need a room that locks, that is relatively quiet, that has plugs and isn’t on a toilet (for sanitation reasons). While these needs are not impossible they are doable says my school. I think, in part, my professor whose wife full term breastfed both children is responsible for making sure such provisions could be guaranteed.

So what the hell is my issue? Why have I not resolved to do this requirement since provisions have been put in place to pump so that I can feed my kid? Why am I still frustrated, angry and annoyed? Why can’t I just let it go?

In every developed country except for the United States there are strict provisions for the breastfeeding mom. There is recognition on how difficult the process is and how important it is to both the mother and the child. By making the process more difficult the school is effectively saying that my long term health and the long-term health of my child is not as important as an arbitrary requirement. Additionally, I need to point out that this is a Christian Seminary that touts family values and the need to practice Creation Care. CREATION CARE. Breastfeeding is the original care of creation, the oldest version and yet they hinder the process. They make it more difficult and when it was brought to their attention there has been resistance all the way.

To their credit, they did offer a course that was more congruent to the breastfeeding experience. After much talk, committees and getting students motivated to create change a part time summer long course was offered that would only be four hours a day. The offer though was doomed to fail. If one takes the course, no other summer courses can be taken which means that a student is left with two options: 1) graduate late OR 2) take MORE courses the next semester in order to make up the course. The first is usually financially unviable for most students and the second option is ludicrous as the whole reason for taking the summer course is to lighten the amount of time away from the family.

Additionally, the “option” that the school provided meant that a student could not be full time in the summer. So while the class itself is covered through financial assistance no other financial aid (ie loans) could be used over the summer. So the school is saying you CANNOT take any other classes but because you CAN’T take other classes you also can’t get loans to live on… which most of us do. Sooooooo….. to use this “option” you have to graduate late or have a heavy semester AND you have to be able to live while not working AND not getting any student loans. Pardon me if I don’t find that option very appealing. Or appealing at all. Needless to say I was the only student who signed up for the course. So then it was canceled (because no independent studies remember) and now they are again requiring me to take the full two-week intensive course.

I’m grateful for the priviledge and ability to be able to pursue a master’s degree, and especially to be able to do so while having a family. However, I should be able to do so without sacrificing the health of my child. A Christian school that claims to be family friendly needs to be willing to help come up with solutions. Real solutions. Not half assed solutions that nobody will use because they’re useless.

So right, maybe its not an issue that they’ve come across very often, but it is a real life issue. Like I’m seriously leaking out my boobs right now as I type. So it might be only about me at this moment, but in the future it won’t be. And maybe there are woman out there who are currently being kept away from a higher education or kept away from motherhood because of the difficulties associated with doing them together. And that’s dumb and not okay damn it. Not. Okay.

It’s true that with the provision of a place to pump feeding my child breast milk could be possible; yet, it will be difficult. More than likely my wee one will reverse cycle (meaning sleep more during the day to make up the time away from me by staying awake more at night to eat and be social with mom), it will also mean my supply will dip by the end of the week and the weekends will need to be spent feeding to ensure a supply that is stabilized by Monday. It is not impossible but it is inconvenient and not just for me but for my infant as well. Frustratingly so.

How do I, as a woman, deal with this issue? Do I take this major inconvenience with a shrug and move on? Do I concede and simply deal with the cards that I’m being dealt as a breastfeeding mother trying to gain an education? Must I be grateful that I have the opportunity to get an education at all and so move forward like so many women before me? When do we as women acknowledge that this is bullshit, oppressive and misogynist (there won’t be any men who need to lactate during this class will there)? When do we say enough is enough and demand that the inconvenience change because we know how important our children AND our education are? When do we tell our institutions that we are holding them to a higher standard? HUH? When??

Breastfeeding is the healthiest decision I can make for my son and for myself and yet there are a thousand obstacles in the way. I’m not even facing the stark reality of many women in the workforce and I’m this upset. So there’s that.

I’m not sure what my next course of action will be. I’m praying about it. Taking my time. I am trying to ensure that any action I take is not one of anger but of rational decision making that is based in logical sense (try doing that with hormones surging btw… not an easy task damn it). But I know that this requirement is unacceptable. I know that this “inconvenience” makes the breastfeeding relationship that much harder to maintain. I know that this requirement was established when the vast majority of those attending the school were male, white, middle upper class people and because of that I know that I cannot simply let it fade. This is not just about MY breastfeeding relationship this is about women wanting to achieve a masters degree who also want to feel safe and supported in making a very difficult decision. It’s more than me.

My No Good, Crazy Insane Slightly Traumatic Evening

Yesterday evening was insane. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. We have a new baby and my body is going through a healing process right after a harrowing 36-hour labor followed by a c-section. So with that in mind let me set the stage.

It’s late evening, around 7pm. After the end of a long day where we had taken the baby to his first pediatrician appointment (anxiety ridden for both parents) we were finally relaxing. Around 7:30 I started feeling really cold and shivers started. I’d had several low-grade fevers in the hospital and it was starting again… this time though I’d already taken my 800mg motrin and was still really too early to take any other pain management meds (like percocets). The problem is that when I get low grade fevers these days the shivers are violent. My teeth chatter and my whole body shakes and it feels pretty nuts.

On top of this I had been constipated for days. Iron supplements due to low hemoglobin levels in the hospital paired with pain pills had left my bowels in a state of disarray. I’d been taking stool softeners to know avail and as I sat that shaking uncontrollably I realized… I needed to poop! This is usually such a good thing. But as I sat down on the toilet while shaking violently from a completely unrelated fever I realized it was not a good thing. Pooping after five days of not is usually good. Pooping after five days on iron supplements that make your feces like rocks? Hurts like hell.

Over the course of the next hour or so I proceeded to give birth to the largest and hardest three turds of my life. I was screaming in the bathroom at times and, understandably, it was starting to upset Wee Steven who doesn’t like to go too long without seeing mommy but hearing her scream meant he needed to cry too and my husband couldn’t fix his cry or my screams and then shit got really crazy. I’m shaking violently on the toilet, trying to poop and my kid cries which means my boobs, which are full of milk at this point, start leaking profusely. I take off my shirt because its leaving stains and its so much that its running down my body on the toilet while I’m screaming and shaking violently.

So I ask Tate to get my breast pump. Pump and baby in hand I walk him through how to set it up while the baby screams and I scream and I leak and I shake on the toilet. It was insane. So he gets it done and I start pumping which immediately makes me so thirsty so I want to kill someone (happens every time). So I’m thirsty, shaking, screaming while trying to poop bricks and pumping on the toilet while my baby cries and my husband gets me a cup of water. And then suddenly, I’ve pumped enough, the final turd comes out and my shaking, while still violent, calms enough that I can stand up.

Tate is stressed, baby is confused and scared and my body feels like I just went through a second labor. Taking that dump was as painful as parts of my labor. I didn’t think it was possible to compare that pain to anything else in reality but I was wrong. At this point I feed the baby, he calms down and we try and decompress. My incision is aching from the pushing I was doing and I’m overwhelmed. My shaking is getting worse and I take my temperature and it sits at 99.6 which is just enough to make me miserable but not enough to make me scared until I check it again 30 minutes later and its gone up to 100 even. So I call the midwife call service and wait for a call back.

Steven had eaten (but often likes to do this several times in a row but I was hopeful he was full) so I began treating my nipples. You see, they’d started having some pain and the pediatrician had written me a script for some magical nipple cream. So I soaked my nips first, put on some cream and then realized Steven was getting fussy like he wanted to eat again. So I texted my lactation consultant to see if was safe to feed him after just putting it on and he starts screaming. Tate tries to calm him down to no avail and then I get a text back saying its fine (keep in mind… all this time I’m still shaking violently). So as Tate is handing off baby my midwife is calling me back so I shove baby back in Tate’s arms who is still screaming and I’m still shaking with cream all over my nipples half naked on the couch… and pick up the phone.

I lose it. Immediately. Just start crying. Can barely tell her whats wrong. She asks me a few questions and then tells me to go ahead with the Percocet and to make sure I take my next motrin right on time and hangs up. Tate brings baby back, baby is on boob and quiet and then the husband is instructed to get me cold water, medication and a wash cloth because the baby has popped off said boob and started crying again because the boob obviously tastes funny. The washcloth comes, all while shaking, and wipe off the nipple and get Steven quiet and eating again, the cold water comes and I take my pill and within about 20 minutes the shaking stops, the baby is fed and my nipples are still sore. My fever went back down to 99 even and I just sat there slightly traumatized. Now, after 10pm, the baby nursed forever, the meds kicked in and I realized… this was the end of our full day at home. Awesome.

I'm a Foot

I am a foot. This is a weird thing to say but let me explain. Everyone is good at different stuff. Some people are good at leading, some good at challenging and others good at doing the work in the background. There’s some verses in the bible that talk about us all being part of the body. Some of us are eyes or lips or hands or feet. Well, I know that I am a foot.

I am foot for a host of reasons but it’s important to know that it has taken thousands of dollars of therapy, tons of stepwork in my recovery community and SO many tears to realize it. I came to seminary ahead of the game in this respect. I knew, without a doubt, that I am a foot. I may not know what I want to be when I’m done (preacher, chaplain or Phd student) but I know that whatever I decide to do it will be done in the fashion of the foot. After all, I am a foot!

In my opinion a foot does many things. A foot takes the body where it needs to go. Sometimes it takes the body where it wants to go. For the most part though it takes the body somewhere. Sometimes the foot stomps and makes noise and sometimes it tiptoes. Depending on the culture the foot may need lots of protection like socks and shoes or snowboots or it may just need a nice light sandal. Feet can stink; they can be seen as annoying and a little gross. And if the foot is hurting the entire body will be completely aware of that shit because they body won’t tend to get very far.

This is because a foot, while often pushing the body to go to new and scary places, is still really sensitive. This is why it often needs socks and shoes and protection from the hard ground. I am all of these things- this is why I am a great foot and a terrible hand and an even worse set of eyes. I don’t look where I am going, I need protection almost constantly but I am really really talented at taking people to places they don’t want to go. I challenge the status quo, I move the body and when I try not too I just become restless and agitated. No one, I repeat, no one wants agitated feet.

I’ve been challenged by a few professors both in undergrad and graduate school to be more like a hand. You see, hands are socially acceptable and they’re good at making points and people can see them and not feel weirded out by them. Hands are really good for convincing people, in nice ways, to do what the hand thinks they should and not make people uncomfortable doing it. Hands and feet usually need to work together to really get the body moving. I tend to work well with hands and it is when I’m working with hands that I get the body to move better. If hands are reaching out then it makes it easy for the feet to simply move the body in the same direction.

The problem though is that professors and administration of schools and churches and recovery meetings would prefer me to be a hand. I am not a hand. I’m not so good with caring if I’m socially acceptable, I don’t really have an affinity for playing good politics and don’t particularly care if people (on the whole) really even like me- as long as they respect me. As a foot, the caress and gentle touch aren’t really my forte- kicking doors down or pushing the body to jog just a little further? That I am good at. It is why I’m a very good foot and a very awful hand. As opposed to a lot of people who are still trying to figure out what part they play in the body, I have known for a long time now exactly what I am.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to learn. It doesn’t mean I don’t need to be challenged and it doesn’t mean that I’m not willing to allow myself, as a foot, to grow or change my shoes. It does mean though, that I will not be hand and I won’t be a mouth and I won’t be anything else that people ask me to be. Because, if you haven’t figured it out already, I am a foot.

I’m good at marching and I’m good at taking the body to war. I’m good at stomping and creating attention for what the body should do next. I’m great at dancing and moving the body in a way that is incredible and that can do great things but I am better, always better at these things when I work with the hands and the knees and the rest of the body. It is so important for me to be a foot. Sometimes I kinda hate it though. The foot is often so far away from the rest of the body and it’s annoying to be the thing that gets things moving- sometimes I just want to be a long for the ride.

But the ride gets boring and before long I put my feet back on the ground because it is what I know how to do and I do it well. The rest of the body sometimes gets annoyed with me; they’d rather linger a little bit longer or they’d rather not go to places that seem a bit scary or different or new. But as a foot, this is what I do and this is how I know how to live and this is where my talent lies. So the next time a boss, professor or friend tries to get me to be a hand I’m going to do my best and remind them that I am and always will be a foot.

Pregger Indentity Crisis of Liberal Feminist Academic

Being a liberal, fulltime student and part time worker and pregnant woman has me in a bit of a conundrum. I want to love being pregnant and hold onto my feminist ideals. I want to be able to love my career and love being pregnant. I want to have this child but I don’t want this child to become the best thing in my life. I want it to be ONE of the best things but not the best things.

I don’t want to love my kid more than my husband. I don’t want to love this kid more than my own joys of life- like studying ancient language and how culture influences relgion. I mean, my kid will be the cutest on the planet and will challenge me in some amazing new ways but that kid will never be an ancient foreign language. 

So anyway, I’ve been dealing with a huge identity crisis as my bump extends.  My culture tells me my kid should be the most important thing in my life, possibly, that my child should be my biggest accomplishment. Yet, for me, I don’t want it to be. I want to get a Phd and teach and be a badass academic and do some pretty amazing stuff- but I don’t want my child or children to become my focus. I want them to be IN focus but not my focus.

It’s hard to explain because I feel like I’ll have this onslaught of crazy judgment from other mothers out there. Or other mothers who do make their children their focus will feel judged by me. But I don’t judge them- I get why kids become the focus and why this is all-important for some. That’s all well and good and awesome but it is not my jam.

I like being pregnant now that I don’t have insane hormones and bladder infections. I kind of love being a woman and creating life and I’m really looking forward to homebirth and being a badass holistic mama. It’s gonna be incredible. I’m also glad that I’ll have the summer off with the behbeh and that I’m part of an astounding community where a small nanny share is possible and I can breastfeed the kid as long as I want or need to. I’m also glad that after three months I can go back to school and study and be close to baby and balance all my foci.  I want to concentrate on my relationship with my husband, my new role as a mom and my joy of academics.

When I look back at the last three years I seem so effin’ domesticated.  We bought a house, got married and got knocked up (one each year for the last three) and it overwhelms my liberal sensibilities. I have evened the score by moving my husband and myself out of the country, renting out the house, starting graduate school and convincing my crunchy redneck of a man that a homebirth would be a good idea.

Sometimes I find myself resisting being all googly over baby clothes and being home with baby for a few months, as though enjoying these things means I’m less of a liberal or less of a feminist for loving those things. I know, I know- that’s not rational but there’s very little about being pregnant that is rational (hormones much?). So I’m going through the motions, being okay with my need to rearrange furniture and giving myself a break. I’m allowed to be goooogly over baby and I’m allowed to be a liberal academic at the same time. These things are not mutually exclusive and it doesn’t make me less of a mom or less of a career minded mom. I can have both worlds, I just gotta find the balance in those worlds… it’ll take some time.