‘I Don’t Feel Superhuman. I Feel Like a Mom Who Has a Career.’

‘I Don’t Feel Superhuman. I Feel Like a Mom Who Has a Career(kəˈri(ə)r).’

By Cecilia Kang

Rebecca Slaughter’s(ˈslôtər) recent Monday morning started out in a pretty typical(ˈtipikəl) way for a working mother of a newborn(ˈn(y)o͞oˌbôrn). She woke at 2 a.m. to feed, burp(bərp) and change the diaper(ˈdī(ə)pər) on her then-7-week-old daughter, Pippa. She repeated the routine(ro͞oˈtēn) three hours later.

By 6:30 a.m., Ms.(miz) Slaughter checked her email and schedule(-jəl,ˈskejo͞ol) while fixing breakfast for her two older children, ages 3 and 5. Her commute(kəˈmyo͞ot) started at 8, driving her Honda minivan(ˈminēˌvan) from her home in Bethesda(bəˈTHezdə), Md., a Washington suburb(ˈsəbərb), while hooked up to a hands-free electric breast(brest) pump(pəmp).

It was when she arrived at the office about a half-hour later that her day took an unusual turn. She checked into the neoclassical(ˌnēōˈklasikəl) Federal(ˈfed(ə)rəl) Trade(trād) Commission(kəˈmiSHən) Building in the nation’s capital, with Pippa in tow(tō), as one of the country’s top business regulators(ˈregyəˌlātər) — and the first to do the job with a baby in the office.

For the next several weeks, until Pippa goes to day care as a slightly older baby, she will join Ms. Slaughter on the fifth floor, either in a gray(grā) bouncy(ˈbounsē) seat(sēt) behind a desk or nestled(ˈnesəl) in a wrap(rap) attached(əˈtaCHt) to her mother’s chest(CHest). It was the imperfect(imˈpərfikt) but best solution for Ms. Slaughter, whose appointment in March to serve as an F.T.C. commissioner(kəˈmiSH(ə)nər) just happened to coincide(ˈkōənˌsīd,ˌkōənˈsīd) with the birth of her third child.

“I am tired(tīrd),” Ms. Slaughter said as she put on a nursing(ˈnərsiNG) cover for a late morning feeding. “I don’t feel superhuman. I feel like a mom who has a career about which she cares very much and a family about which she cares very much. And I’m trying to navigate(ˈnaviˌgāt) the two.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/technology/government-mom.html