Jaime Devine
BIO
Research scientists in a non-profit organisation with a PhD in neuroscience. Mom-of-2.
Instagram: @devinejme
Twitter: @JK_Devine
Jaime Devine
“I knew I wanted kids, but was bitter over the expectation that I may have to sacrifice my career in order to have a family.”
Shortly into our courtship, my now husband mentioned that he wanted to be a stay-at-home dad. I thought, "Ka-ching!".
I had double majored as an undergraduate, and was applying to graduate programs at the time. I knew I wanted kids, but was bitter over the expectation that I may have to sacrifice my career in order to have a family.
In the years since, I have started a new job while pregnant with both my children (first as a postdoc when I was pregnant with my son, and most recently, I started my current position unknowingly pregnant with my daughter).
It's stressful to announce that you'll be gone for 2 months within a year of starting the job. It's stressful when your administrators don't understand maternity leave and threaten to terminate your funding because you haven't been to classes in two months. It's even more stressful when insurance doesn't kick in for 90 days, so you have to wait out the first trimester sans check-ups and when FMLA doesn't apply to people who have been at a job less than a year, so you have to use your vacation days to cover maternity. And it sucks when your insurance makes you pay for your own epidural.
Now, I work for a non-profit which helps industries like aviation and healthcare manage fatigue risk in their workers through biomathematical modelling, sleep tracking, and schedule mitigation.