“Breastfeeding is a medical condition related to pregnancy that is protected under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.”

Say it is?

This quote comes from an article on AL.com, concerning a former officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department. She is said to have faced discrimination when she returned to work from having a baby.

Stephanie Hicks is said to have had such harsh work conditions that she resigned in January 2013 and filed suit the following November. She was subsequently awarded $374,000 in damages.

I find it funny that breastfeeding is even that big of a deal. I mean, we don’t feel grossed out when other mammals nurse their children.  We ARE still mammals, right?  But we think it’s better for our children to drink another animal’s milk than that which was biologically provided for them?  That doesn’t make sense.

In this case, the officer is said to have taken breaks and pumped in the shower stall of the locker room. That’s better than I did!   I’m not going to go into detail, but let’s just say that my male coworkers knew when not to enter our studio. I bottled up the milk and placed it in the freezer until I could get it to my baby.

(Side note: Rarely do smoke breaks cause complaint, but a woman producing nutrition for her child does?)

The thing about motherhood is that we do what we have to do to nurture our children, and it’s not always glamorous. It’s not always convenient to the male agenda.  We innately think about things that most men don’t. Most men don’t wonder about what their children have eaten, how their social skills are developing at school, who’s going to watch the children if they have to work late. Men are the providers. They work hard but aren’t usually as emotionally attached as women are. Therefore, they don’t know or care about everything that comes along with motherhood. They just don’t.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing….. Because when my six-year-old “baby” is sick, I don’t care WHAT is going on outside of that. My child takes first priority.

And I think if men have a problem with everything we have to do as mothers to take care of our families, then they should make it so that no woman ever has to work. *steps off soapbox*

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