10.16.19 - Back to lab

Today was my first day back at lab since going on maternity leave. It was great.

It was nice getting to visit with Erin on the drive to lab. I had gotten used to chatting with her for hours every week and I missed it while I was home.

And when I got to lab pretty much everyone welcomed me back as they saw me. The lab manager, Angie, yelled "Welcome back!" as soon as we walked in. Several people asked me how Calvin was doing and how it was at home, and I showed them these two pictures to illustrate how it's going:

Jane shares one of her favorite toys - the fake birthday cake - with Calvin.

The administrative manager, Ledia, even hugged me when she saw me. They also had this cute note on the In/Out board.

Apparently today is National Bosses Day, which means Ledia brought in all these gourmet "cronuts" (croissant donuts). There was cappuccino, lemon, chocolate, almond vanilla, maple bacon, and cinnamon sugar. I tried a little of most of them. They were wonderful.

And best of all, Ledia and Alisha had prepped a room for me to pump. They added a comfy chair and table lamp. They put butcher paper over the office window so it would be private (but left some uncovered window near the ceiling so people could easily see if the light was on inside). Best of all they made me these laminated signs to post outside the door while I'm using the room.

I was pleased to see how quickly I remembered the job. They had left plenty of evidence for me to deal with so it was good to cut my teeth on and get back into the groove. I had enough work to get done all day so the day went quickly. It's nice to be able to focus on just one thing (work) and it actually relaxes me because for at least 8 hours I don't feel like my mind is being pulled in a million directions. I feel like I can actually focus and get something useful done.

And it was great sitting at lunch with everyone again. It's one of my favorite parts of the job, because everyone gets along so well and seems to genuinely enjoy each other's company. Gary returned from testifying in court this morning so he was all dressed up, and when he saw me he patted my shoulder and said welcome back and told me he'd dressed up just for my return (haha). The place has great camaraderie.

Pumping went smoothly - no one bothered me, I got to watch Sneaky Pete, and some evidence actually did come in while I was busy but Zach just took care of it. Such a supportive team.

And then we drove home and Erin and I got to debrief about what's going on with lab and talk about a timeline for me pushing to get into the actual lab. She is confident I will learn quickly and she believes everyone else is confident of that too, which makes me so happy.

Overall it's a great job. I told her on the way home getting this job has been one of the best things about this year.