Firefighting For Two

When I started in the fire service in my mid-20s, I was single and had never even considered the possibility that pregnancy and fighting fires might coincide.It wasn’t until my husband and I began discussing having children that I realized things would have to change at work, but that didn’t seem impossible.

My mentality has always been “we’ll just figure it out,” so I never saw the desire to expand our family as something that could potentially cost me my career. Thankfully, my experience as a female in the fire service has been far more fortunate than that of other females I know.I have had (mostly) supportive departments, co-workers, and command staff. That being said, the approach I took with my pregnancies felt no different than any other potential “issue” with my employment as a female firefighter.

Being pregnant in the firefighting world is not a normal situation.

Most departments aren’t prepared and may have policies so outdated and unrealistic that they’re laughable. There are those in the fire service, however, who have begun to ensure there are paths for women to feel secure in their jobs and still expand their families. In my case, my chief was more than willing to work with me to accommodate the new challenges of my position.

Knowing that being pregnant technically prevented me from carrying out normal responsibilities, such as interior firefighting,I wondered how protected I was from being discharged. Many departments across the country lack D/O options and haven’t cross-trained their personnel, or don’t allow employees to step away from a single area for a set amount of time.Let’s face it, if a man had a medical condition that prevented him from going interior, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to continue working. (Note: Pregnancy is usually viewed as a personal medical condition.)

Luckily, I was still able to serve as a D/O and could stay outside at a fire scene, operating as a paramedic.That meant I was able to fill those positions without any issue, despite not going interior.

When I first became pregnant, there was something I didn’t quite understand but am clear about now.A woman becomes instantly responsible for another human being’s life 100 percent of the time when she becomes a mom. That’s a big load to carry. Worrying about the safety of everything I do – especially at work – is draining.Have you ever worried about your seatbelt harming or killing someone else if you get into a fender bender?

Despite the obvious new responsibility of keeping a growing human safe, especially at work, there were other worries. Would my co-workers be happy for me or angry that their workload would increase? How would all of this play out? Could I continue working throughout my pregnancy?I was determined to prove I could still do the job well, whether I was outside or in the back of the medic.

The fire service has fostered a culture where women are always expected to prove themselves. I don’t know a single female in the fire service who doesn’t experience some level of “Say I can’t and I’ll prove you wrong” in her head and heart. I had to remind not just myself, but more importantly, some of my co-workers that I was pregnant, not disabled.Reminders from them that they understood I could still do it all, but they were always ready if I needed help, were vital.

The more my pregnancy progressed, the more I gladly accepted those offers – not because I couldn’t do the work, but simply because it was easier not to work around a big belly –and it was safer for my baby. I’d ask for help with some morning checks, such as running the small engine equipment, so I could limit the baby’s exposure to high-decibel noise. If there was a ladder that needed climbing or something that had to be collected from on top of the equipment, I gladly accepted the assistance.

All of these things I could and would still do at a scene when needed,but having understanding co-workers who didn’t make it seem like a burden when I asked for help made me feel supported instead of cast out or looked down upon.

My first trimester was a big challenge when illness and exhaustion became very real.If I sat down in the afternoon for more than five minutes, I was instantly asleep for at least two hours. I later realized that was partly due to my body adapting to the process of growing another human and partly because I had low iron levels.

I appreciated my colleagues letting me sleep unless we got a call and being willing to wake me up if something needed to happen. They even let me catch some shut-eye on the cot in the back of the medic while we staged for hours in the middle of the night for a police standoff.Just knowing that they didn’t think I was lazy made a world of difference.

I found it even more helpful when my co-workers asked questions or joked with me about the changes. Just a warning: pregnant women can be super-emotional, so if a pregnant colleague takes a joke the wrong way, don’t be surprised.Feeling as if I could cry at a moment’s notice wasn’t ideal for me, nor was it a territory I was familiar with, not to mention the no-warning vomiting that could happen at a moment’s notice — pro tip: stash emesis bags.

Another challenge was my uniforms.Finding a pair of tactical or duty maternity pants proved to be challenging. Thankfully, I had a tailor in my hometown who offered a genius suggestion.We used thick ribbed elastic fabric, inserted in triangular panels, that went from the waistband to below the hips in the side seams of my duty pants. At some point, I also had to order larger pants and a bigger belt. It helped that the larger shirts and bunker pants were already available, since I started my pregnancy being the smallest person in our department.I even had to give my leather boots a break and switch back to my larger rubber boots because of the swelling.

There are lots of unknowns when you’re a pregnant firefighter. Even if policies are in place, the research isn’t available to create guidelines for what is safe, what isn't, and why.

I didn’t know when to announce my pregnancy to my supervisor, among all the other safety questions that I had in my mind.

Luckily, I was met with straightforward, supportive answers, and when the time came to tell them I was pregnant, the news wasn’t unexpected. They were supportive and happy for me and had questions to ask. The decision about how long I felt I wanted to continue doing certain tasks was ultimately left up to me, and once I’d told them I was pregnant,it was agreed that interior attack was best taken off the table.

Knowing what I know now, I inform my employer as soon as I discover that I am pregnant.In my mind, there is no reason to wait. I know there are women who don’t want to tell anyone they are pregnant until later because of the risk of miscarriage and the idea of having to go through that publicly. I understand their emotional perspective. But know that increased toxic load can also increase the chance of things like miscarriage or birth defects:even more reason to let the cat out of the bag as soon as you know.

I also had a supportive obstetrician who allowed me to either continue working as usual or request medical notes for light duty. Again, the decisions were left mostly up to me.Most medical professionals lack a comprehensive understanding of the physical demands of our job or the level of risk we accept.

This also applies to physical exercise and lifting. Lifting heavy objects while pregnant can be unsafe, but for reasons that aren’t obvious.Pregnant women become more flexible as their body prepares for childbirth, so it can be harder to perform certain movements properly. The large belly and shifting pelvic bones also make maintaining proper form more difficult for safe and effective lifting.

On the other hand, if you can maintain proper form and your body is comfortable with the weight, you can continue to lift as you did before becoming pregnant. During my third trimester, we had an extra person ride the medic to help with lifting patients.Other than that, not much changed.

I chose to work until the week before my due date, but given the overall discomfort,I think it would have been best to have been off at least a few weeks before giving birth. One of my co-workers nicknamed me the “egg with legs” because I got so round and waddled like Humpty Dumpty.

There were numerous new concerns. Would I fall off the side of the engine or slip off a ladder – even just from the bottom step? What about combative patients? Bloodborne pathogen exposure? Highway traffic incidents?

Excessive noise exposure? Even the limited carcinogen exposure from exterior attacks or wearing gear? I was most uncomfortable while unrestrained in the back of the medic as I provided serious patient care, but that never prevented me from doing so.Worry was always in the back of my mind.

While few people understand the challenges that pregnancy poses for a firefighter,the postpartum phase is even less talked about.

Although I live in a state that provides job protection for up to 12 weeks for large family-shifting events, such as the birth of a new child,state laws do not require employers to pay for that time off.

Luckily, I had saved up enough paid time off to cover almost the entire time,because I couldn’t imagine going back to work before 12 weeks postpartum. I couldn’t be away from my child for 24 hours, and I wasn’t yet physically ready to do my job as an interior firefighter.Childbirth, whether it’s vaginal or via cesarean, is a physically life-altering event and for a mother to be away from her first child for an entire 24 hours is nerve-wracking.

Physically, getting back into shape was tough. From lack of sleep, to no physically strenuous activity for almost two months, to shifting hormones and a weak pelvic floor,working out for the first time postpartum made me feel like I was dying.

The huge shifts in hormones caused depression. Though I was prepared for the possibility, I didn’t understand how difficult that type of depression could be until I entered it. We all know our jobs tend to exacerbate mental health issues, and postpartum depression is no different. I was already doing whatever I could to stay physically healthy to maintain my mental, emotional, and hormonal health – but then came the added postpartum challenge of breastfeeding.

No woman knows what she’s doing when she goes back to work while breastfeeding and has to deal with an unpredictable schedule full of calls and long scene times that can make it difficult to keep to a pumping schedule. There’s also the challenge of finding a place to pump in privacy (hopefully not the bathroom), to wash pump parts and store breast milk safely for the entire shift.

Regardless of the many challenges I faced being pregnant in the fire service, my department and co-workers were all very supportive and at least attempted to be understanding.

First-time moms are just as lost as their male counterparts, who are trying to figure out how to support them properly. If a member of your team is pregnant, ask her questions, give her space if she needs it, try to get on the same page, and know that her world is a whirlwind right now, which is about to get even more chaotic in a few months.