A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DUE DATE: Teaching While Pregnant

The job of a teacher is one that many underestimate. From making lesson plans, grading papers, overseeing a group of students, providing mentorship and more, being a teacher is a rewarding, yet tasking job. Teachers help grow and nurture the minds of future generations but aside from the students in their classrooms, some teachers simultaneously grow and nurture something else—a baby. The experience of teaching while pregnant is one many do not know, though their experiences shed light onto the power and strength of women.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 80% of all working women become pregnant at some point in their working lives. Although women can teach almost up until birth unless otherwise instructed by their doctor, they must still manage pregnancy symptoms.

“Tiredness is a very common symptom [of pregnancy], and it can be worse in some women than others. Nausea is a classic symptom, but it can even be worse to some than someone else,” Miami Palmetto Senior High School Advanced Placement Biology teacher Sarah Israel said. “Both of those things are especially bad first trimester, and then some people get to second trimester, and they start to feel better. Some people don’t; some people just feel awful; it’s very individual.”

Before becoming a biology teacher, Israel attended medical school, where she was pregnant with her son in the latter half. In the second half of medical school, she did rotations to go through all the different specialties such as surgery, rotation in internal medicine, OB-GYN rotation and even delivered seven babies. Shifts could last between 8-12 hours during the day or overnight but no matter the rotation, Israel persevered.

“Everyone in medical school was very, very nice, and very understanding. But you have to understand, I was not complaining; I didn’t dare,” Israel said. “You’re going to want to kind of fake it till you make it to do your job.”

A potential issue for pregnant teachers or in Israel’s case, those in the medical service, are things like minimal bathroom breaks, set lunch schedules and constantly walking around the room. In the first trimester, morning sickness presents itself the most and increased appetite patterns often affect women as well.

“[Bathroom breaks] are a big deal when you’re pregnant. Because you can’t leave the kids. You know, I didn’t have that experience. I had a different experience, which was, rotations in the hospital. But especially when somebody gets to the third trimester, the baby is sitting on their bladder. And [teachers] don’t get to go to bathroom all the time. And that would be very difficult,” Israel said.

For MPSH photography teacher Katherine King, her pregnancy took place during the 2020-2021 school year when Miami-Dade offered hybrid learning due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, King taught her students online for the majority of the year until brought back in October to teach in-person. Aside from adjusting from the changes quarantine brought to her life, King also adjusted to the changes pregnancy brought to her life.

“You’re worrying about how much water you’re drinking in the day or if you’re getting accurate nutrition, because when you’re pregnant, you have another being that you’re in charge of already,” King said. “I had to drink a lot more water, which is inconvenient as a teacher, and literally eat any chance I could to not only give the baby nutrition, but so I wouldn’t feel sick on top of that.”

Coming back from teaching in the safety of her home, King felt weary about teaching in-person considering the limited knowledge about COVID-19 at the time. Scientists even stated that pregnant women were more prone to COVID-19 and could experience worse effects resulting from the virus. Yet, MPSH worked with King to help her feel as safe as possible. Her in-person numbers were kept low and Athletic Director Steve Batten built King a barrier of Plexiglass to prevent any possible germs from touching her.

“It was convenient for me because I only had maybe 10 or 15 kids in person, so it wasn’t as difficult to leave them for a minute to go to the bathroom, as opposed to now having a full class, so in a lot of ways I had an easier time working while being pregnant, even though we were still going through all the troubles of COVID,” King said. “I guess a lot of people don’t realize and everyone’s experience is different, but some people have a hard time physically in their pregnancy. It was not the easiest time for me since I had a lot of health issues. I had to go to [a lot] of doctor’s appointments, and it takes a lot out of you physically.”

Though pregnant during an uncertain time, family members and fellow faculty helped support King throughout her pregnany. Longtime friend since highschool and current MPSH statistics teacher Melissa Moser often gave King support.

“Ms. Moser was a really big support because she had already gone through a pregnancy and she kind of knew tips and tricks and really knew how to help me and what I needed a lot of the times and knowing things that I didn’t even know that we needed. She was a really big support… I love her so much; she’s amazing,” King said.

As of Feb. 2023, Moser is currently six months along with her second pregnancy. Physically, Moser’s pregnancy has been fairly smooth, not requiring frequent bathroom breaks or feeling morning sickness like many pregnant women do. This has allowed her to stay in her classroom and teach for prolonged periods of time as she normally would.

“One bright side is that some women feel like they have to go to the bathroom all the time because their babies are low and pushing on their bladder. With my daughter and with my second one, my son now, they’re both high,” Moser said. “For me, I’ve been taking the elevator; I can’t take the stairs since they are a little bit winding on the third floor. Honestly, I’m lucky to have a pretty nice physical aspect of my pregnancy that I haven’t had too many issues with.”

Although Moser is not experiencing any physical issues that can come along with pregnancy, things like fatigue and “mommy brain” have impacted her in the past few months. “Mommy brain” refers to how some pregnant women struggle with verbal recall and memory recollection because as studies show, pregnancy results in the loss of gray matter which deals with social cognition. So while the body physically changes, a mothers brain changes as well.

“While I was pregnant with [my daughter] during the summer, I at least got a break, and I didn’t feel as exhausted as I do this time around. Now, I’ve been pregnant this entire school year, and I will give birth during the school year, so I would literally have started and ended the school year as pregnant,” Moser said. “Also just having a toddler at home, so now also when I get home I don’t get a break, so this pregnancy I’m just very tired.”

People like her husband, King and other faculty have been major supporters in Moser’s pregnancy. Additionally, Moser’s students have been extremely supportive of her pregnancy. She revealed the news to her students by showing them her new computer wallpaper on the Promethean board which she often updated with pictures of her young daughter. The new picture displayed her family smiling while her daughter held a “promoted to big sister” sign.“Every three or four months, I would change [my monitor] background to a more updated picture of [my daughter]. So last year for a while, I had our Halloween picture. But this year, I was like, ‘Hey, guys, look, I got a new picture,’ and so they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s so cute.’ It took them a second to register what she was holding,” Moser said.

Students often ask Moser how she is feeling and recommend baby names into the little pink box resting in the front of her room. She admires their concern for her wellbeing and how in a way, her pregnancy has brought her and students closer together.

“It’s kind of cute how my students are very invested in my pregnancy. That box is for… [name] suggestions. So my students know it’s gonna be a boy and [I like the names] as long as it sounds good in English and Spanish… A lot of them are suggesting names… And it’s just cute. They always check in on me and they’re like, ‘so how are you feeling today?’” Moser said.

As one approaches their due date, the process of preparing for time off and filing for pregnancy leave begins. In Florida, teachers file through their insurance for a temporary leave and if they want compensation, they must be gone from work for 30 days minimum. Teachers receive six weeks of maternity leave with a normal birth and eight weeks if they had a C-section. Women have the option to extend their leave longer, but they would not receive pay. Those on maternity leave get 60% of their paycheck through their insurance company, but the maternity leave does not cover insurance so they must pay back all the insurance when they return to work.

Florida has no mandatory state law that requires employers to offer pregnancy leave, but employers are covered by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act that gives pregnant women the same benefits as employees with temporary disabilities and is required to guarantee their job upon return from leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid protected leave per year to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities with reasonable time. A father can also use FMLA leave to care for the child or his spouse who is incapacitated from the pregnancy or birth. For women who need more than 12 weeks off, maternity leave poses a potential financial barrier.

“What I will say is while individual people are really supportive, it is kind of unfortunate that just like as a society, women are expected to go back to work really quickly or risk not getting paid… But it’s unfortunate because even though you’re afforded 12 weeks or whatever the time is, you don’t get paid or you don’t get paid as much with short term disability,” Moser said. “In general, being a pregnant woman kind of stinks because if you’re not in a financially comfortable place, you’re kind of forced to go back quicker than you might want.”

As Moser approaches her due date in May, she has begun the process of filing for pregnancy leave. Moser has filed once before, while working as a teacher at another school when she was pregnant with her daughter. The process gave insight into how maternity leave affects women differently based on how their financial standing affects the amount of time they can take off of work.

“This was one of the things that kind of was upsetting when I first had my daughter was realizing, unless I had planned for it ahead of time, there was really not much in terms of maternity options. You got your leave, or you got whatever was affordable, but there was like no money really attached to it. So you could take work off and you wouldn’t be penalized, but you can’t afford to live. So I’m very fortunate that with my daughter, things worked out where I had so many days off, and I was financially comfortable, and it worked out this time where my son is going to be in May so I’ll have the summer. But it’s unfortunate that having a kid [means] also worrying about your finances,” Moser said.

MPSH has not only one pregnant faculty member, but two. MPSH dance teacher Marianne Valdez is currently in the sixth month of her first pregnancy, and though her belly may bar her from angelic leaps and doing splits, Valdez continues to lead students in the art of dance each school day. Like Moser, the pregnancy has been quite positive, though she has faced more of the physical tolls.

“It’s been awesome teaching while pregnant; my students have been really nice to me. The hardest part, and if there was just anything bad about [the pregnancy] was just the morning sickness… In the first trimester, it was really hard for me to be in school because I was so sick, but now it’s my second [trimester] so it’s better.” Valdez said.

Teaching a strenuous physical activity like dance while pregnant has been an interesting and educational experience for Valdez. While not being able to use certain parts of her body to make demonstrations initially presented a hindrance, she has been able to improve the verbal aspect of her teaching tremendously, which she feels will help her in the future.

“One of the biggest changes was my body expanding, because I didn’t realize how often I used my abdominal core to teach [my students]. I’ve realized it’s actually the base of where I move from, so not having that and having to explain movement without being able to do it has been really hard,” Valdez said. “It’s almost like taking a step back and watching them more helps to describe the movements, which is good because one day I’ll be older, and I won’t be able to perform the moves that are in my head.”

Valdez’s students take a personal interest in her pregnancy and always ensure that she does not overdo any of the movements during their dance classes, even going so far as to write “Mrs. Valdez May Not Jump” on their classroom whiteboard. Valdez appreciates that her students encourage her and show her kindness daily, always viewing her pregnancy as a positive thing and even wanting to throw her a baby shower.

“They were really excited about when I was going to be showing, opposed to like ‘Oh god, she’s showing,’ which is really nice and does actually affect you,” Valdez said. “It’s been really nice to have a positive support system instead of ‘Ugh she’s pregnant.’”

Valdez has gained support from people like her husband, and wisdom from the several teachers like King, Moser and Robin Barson who have all gone through pregnancy, while teaching at MPSH or not. She feels that MPSH’s teachers have given her more insight into the peculiarities of pregnancy as a teacher versus in other professions.

“I’m really thankful to work here and be pregnant working at Palmetto, because my teacher friends are super supportive and share a lot of stories during lunch about their experiences, and when I need to take a step back, I feel like I have support to do so,” Valdez said.

M-DCPS’ current pregnancy leave is three months paid leave if chosen to do so. Teachers can then be granted three more months of an unpaid, limited disability leave upon request.

Depending on the type of birth, daycare options and many other circumstances, each woman’s decision about how much time to take off often varies.

“If I need three more months or the whole year, [leave] is unpaid for sure, but I get to keep my job, which is so huge,” Valdez said. “I am coming back, but I can’t imagine leaving my newborn until she’s able to at least communicate through babbles that she’s hungry or lift her neck, and then I’ll be fine leaving her in a daycare. But that very newborn age, zero to nine months, is pretty uncomfortable and formative and you want to be there for them.”

For millions of women worldwide, facing the decision between starting families and maintaining their careers often results in choosing one over the other. Yet, one can have a child and continue to advance their professional lives. While pregnancy comes with many changes both physically and mentally, women throughout history have found ways to progress, despite the often harsh realities of childbirth. For teachers, these women have done so with the help of their students, colleagues, loved ones and their own self determination. From teaching students in their classrooms each day to entering motherhood, teachers nurture more than than the minds of this generation, but form familial bonds in and outside the classroom.

Samantha Elkins Print Editor-in-Chief s.elkins.thepanther@gmail.com

Jasmine Judge Business Manager j.judge.thepanther@gmail.com

PHOTOS BY RYAN MCKEAN

DESIGN BY ELLA PEDROSO