The View from 37 weeks
Mar. 1st, 2019 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katestineEvents have overtaken my journaling, as anyone who notes the date on this post will see. Still, for some reason, it seemed important to note what the end of my pregnancy was like.
I heard a colleague who is about a month behind me with her pregnancy - we usually have 5 people about to go out on parental leave at any given time in my department in my office, no joke - comment that she was going to work from home the last two weeks before her due date. Which seemed to be taking advantage, but then a mom at my son's school commented her (all male) bosses all wanted her to do the same, because they didn't want her water to break at work. (It usually breaks at night.) That pings true. My boss said every week, "I would never say anything to the woman who is pregnant and missing an ACL about working from home, even though people comment on these things," which was deeply confusing, y'know?
Up until week 37, it seemed to be taking advantage and then I had one day where it took all my energy to get to the office, given the 8 minute walk from the subway. When it happened a second time, I knew it wasn't "a bad day", but how things would be until I gave birth, so I started ferrying my stuff home.
My boss asked me to come in for a meeting on Weds, after my most senior minion blocked me for an extra long meeting that day, which seemed a little suspicious. He told me it was a meeting with our new vendor, whose installation is behind (and important to my group). I thought he might come in for that meeting - he lives in DC - but didn't. Then we had our 1:1 and toward the end, he said, "Oh gosh, they are all there - run to the meeting and tell them I'll join in a few." Then I got to the meeting room - and there was some meeting going on and I didn't parse who was in the room, so I stepped away to check my laptop for the meeting location. Surprise! it was a baby shower, even though I no longer have a minion or boss in my office. And now my boss (and all my colleagues) know how badly I react when deeply surprised. oops.
I was impressed that my colleagues from all over the country dialed in to a web-conference to watch me eat cake and guess the jellybeans. My boss was so impressed that my former minion (who still worked at the company) and my outgoing minion who didn't work in the building, coordinated the whole thing. The former assistant in my group gave me an embarrassingly large gift card. It was very sweet and a very nice last day in the office.
Friday, my minion who was starting the coming Monday asked if I had time to chat. "Of course," I said, because I always make time for my minions. I was worried she was reneging on her job acceptance - some stupid policies meant she was taking a short term paycut - but it turned out she wanted to know what to do if I "went out" on Monday. So I reassured her and walked through my plan for her. She has two kids and she's really sharp... she's the one who called it...
I heard a colleague who is about a month behind me with her pregnancy - we usually have 5 people about to go out on parental leave at any given time in my department in my office, no joke - comment that she was going to work from home the last two weeks before her due date. Which seemed to be taking advantage, but then a mom at my son's school commented her (all male) bosses all wanted her to do the same, because they didn't want her water to break at work. (It usually breaks at night.) That pings true. My boss said every week, "I would never say anything to the woman who is pregnant and missing an ACL about working from home, even though people comment on these things," which was deeply confusing, y'know?
Up until week 37, it seemed to be taking advantage and then I had one day where it took all my energy to get to the office, given the 8 minute walk from the subway. When it happened a second time, I knew it wasn't "a bad day", but how things would be until I gave birth, so I started ferrying my stuff home.
My boss asked me to come in for a meeting on Weds, after my most senior minion blocked me for an extra long meeting that day, which seemed a little suspicious. He told me it was a meeting with our new vendor, whose installation is behind (and important to my group). I thought he might come in for that meeting - he lives in DC - but didn't. Then we had our 1:1 and toward the end, he said, "Oh gosh, they are all there - run to the meeting and tell them I'll join in a few." Then I got to the meeting room - and there was some meeting going on and I didn't parse who was in the room, so I stepped away to check my laptop for the meeting location. Surprise! it was a baby shower, even though I no longer have a minion or boss in my office. And now my boss (and all my colleagues) know how badly I react when deeply surprised. oops.
I was impressed that my colleagues from all over the country dialed in to a web-conference to watch me eat cake and guess the jellybeans. My boss was so impressed that my former minion (who still worked at the company) and my outgoing minion who didn't work in the building, coordinated the whole thing. The former assistant in my group gave me an embarrassingly large gift card. It was very sweet and a very nice last day in the office.
Friday, my minion who was starting the coming Monday asked if I had time to chat. "Of course," I said, because I always make time for my minions. I was worried she was reneging on her job acceptance - some stupid policies meant she was taking a short term paycut - but it turned out she wanted to know what to do if I "went out" on Monday. So I reassured her and walked through my plan for her. She has two kids and she's really sharp... she's the one who called it...
