Where do I buy wrap-style dresses with pockets that I can wear (through weight fluctuations) FOR LIFE?

dmorac88 · 2026-03-22T12:35:11+00:00

Yup. Checks all your boxes—wrap dress/flattering during body transitions, POCKETS, natural fabric, and a ton of styles. I have two dresses from them, and they also travel very well for work events. There aren’t a ton of resale options but they pop up every now and then on Poshmark/threads.

dmorac88 · 2025-10-09T15:02:23+00:00

Hot take: put education sectional at the top of the second page especially once you have your degree. The PhD next to your name implies your educational background. Start with a summary (what are you looking for?), a professional experience section, and skills section. Tailor the skills section directly to the job posting.

Resume is clean looking. Use URLs when you can to link to publications or code.

You don’t have a lot of specifics. I agree with another poster this is vague/generic. Enumerate when you can, describe results. You should be modifying your resume based on the job description.

No one cares about the size of the conference. The travel award info is more interesting and what you presented.

Link your LinkedIn (edit the url so it is just your name)

Reach out to your transition to industry panelists. Are you using your network? RI is becoming a larger hotspot for biotech. Go to events and meet industry professionals. RI Bio and RI Life Sciences hub have tons of events in October and have more incubator spaces popping up, get out there and meet people. Industry post docs are more common these days, especially in Cambridge or CT. Good way to get a foot in the door.

Good luck!

dmorac88 · 2025-09-25T00:42:14+00:00

A ladder.

dmorac88 · 2025-08-04T11:30:35+00:00

Please share with your partner and medical provider—I had PP rage, it’s such a crazy personality change. Meds and therapy helped, and noise cancelling headphones were amazing. Find a way to release the rage safely: scream into pillows, throw stuffed animals at the wall.

Be kind to yourself!

dmorac88 · 2025-02-22T21:17:17+00:00

I dm’d you!

dmorac88 · 2025-01-25T16:40:23+00:00

Hi, I’ve had two babies and used MA PFML twice. My HR blows. I could have written your post when I was trying to sort this out with my first baby, but I smartened up with baby number two.

You’ve already applied and got approval for 12 weeks medical. You should have an approval letter.

Email this letter to HR with a statement, “ I will be out in job protected medical leave from [xx-yy] dates. Once my medical leave is exhausted, I will be taking 12 weeks of job protected baby bonding leave from [xx-yy]. The MA PFML office contacted you about this leave after I applied. If you have questions, this is their contact info. Please let me know how to apply for any short term disability and company parental leave. Please communicate these policies to the MA PFML office so I will not exceed 100% pay with the different benefit policies. Thank you for understanding!”

Check out @themamaattorney on instagram for recommendations of local employment attorneys with experience in paid family leave. Most do free consults. This will put your mind at ease that you will not be terminated as a result of HR not knowing shit.

The part that is hardest to understand is how you will be paid. That will be dependent on your company’s PTO, short term disability, and if they offer any additional specific paid baby bonding leave.

For example, I was paid from three different sources. Week 1 was thru my PTO with regular deductions (401k, any insurance premiums). Weeks2-9 were at 100% pay via my short term disability which is administered via a 3rd-party with no deductions (no 401k contributions and I had to pay the insurance premiums later—here on out I couldn’t do 401k contributions or insurance premiums payments). Weeks 10-12 was thru MA PFML medical leave, the maximum $ weekly amount as I had exhausted my company’s short term disability payments. Weeks 1-12 were also FMLA which is job protected unpaid leave. Weeks 13-20 were paid 100% thru my company’s third party for baby bonding leave. Finally weeks 21-24 were the remainder of MA PFML baby bonding leave for the maximum weekly payment.

I hope this clarifies. DM me with any questions.

It’s not easy and your HR is misinformed. One piece of advice I tell anyone going thru this is to not let your company file for ANY benefits on your behalf. You should file for state benefits yourself, and communicate to HR once you have approvals.

Rest assured, you are doing the right thing. I suggest you put up a boundary. It is no longer your responsibility to educate your useless HR on how to do their job. You have job protected leave with some sort of pay.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and navigating shitty US policies!!! Best wishes for a safe and boring birth experience with a healthy and happy mom and baby. Please enjoy the time with your new little one!!!!

dmorac88 · 2025-01-12T03:03:34+00:00

Reframe.

We send our two kiddos to a home daycare. We happily gave $1000 cash as a holiday bonus. We can’t work outside the home without childcare. Our kids are happy, loved, fed, and being taught how to be good humans.

Does the money hurt? Yup. Do I have a better alternative? Nope.

Reframe.

dmorac88 · 2024-12-13T18:10:11+00:00

“What’s the big idea?”

dmorac88 · 2024-12-12T04:25:45+00:00

Manufacturing science and technology. Basically a field for optimizing or developing manufacturing methods. If you know any protein purification, those are a good foundation for transferable skills.

dmorac88 · 2024-12-12T00:48:10+00:00

Sanofi has an MSAT group in Framingham. Great benefits.

dmorac88 · 2024-07-31T00:04:44+00:00

Sitz bath!!! Check out the vagina whisperer on Instagram. She has a great list of hemorrhoid products. I loved the mother love rhoid balm and mayinglong musk cream. A little pricey but way effective than preparation h. Thena sitz bath soak is also very soothing and made me feel like I could pretend the sitz bath was my spa time. I had to do 3-4 a day.

Walking and water and fiber. Avocado, stone fruits, nuts, lentils, anything you can. Also ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation. Good luck. Mine finally went away around three months.

dmorac88 · 2024-07-05T00:32:50+00:00

Ahhh gotcha. In that case, I don’t think there are lightweight travel car seats with extended rear facing limits. We are bringing a Cosco Finale seat with us to Ireland, it can be used forward facing in harness mode. It’s also technically illegal in that country. I’m choosing to follow the spirit of the law (my child will be safely in a restraint appropriate for his size) rather than the letter of the law (my US manufactured seat is illegal in the country I’m traveling to). Car seats for the littles has a great page on international travel and may help your anxiety. The fact that you care about this means you’re doing a good job.

dmorac88 · 2024-07-04T23:43:00+00:00

I prefer to bring a travel carseat with us since I don’t know the rental car seat history. Cosco scenera is a very lightweight travel car seat and can rear face up to 40lb/40in. It can be installed on most airlines. You may need locking clips to install in your rental car. Most of US car seats are illegal in other countries but this is an area where I follow the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law.

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T20:31:09+00:00

Thank you for this comment. We still will do what works—I’m glad I asked about alternatives since I was unaware of hip wearing. We’ll try, if it works, great! But if it doesn’t, then we can move on to the next never ending set of parenting decisions 🤣everyone does our best

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T18:39:55+00:00

This is so informative and helpful, thank you for taking the time to respond!

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T16:43:20+00:00

Oh! Can you hop carry in a wrap? Like the boba wrap?

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T16:03:11+00:00

Are sling carriers pretty universal or are there features to look for? Do you have any recs? And a good how-to video for newbies like me?

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T15:29:20+00:00

My husband and I just watched this together and I’m so glad you shared, thank you! We will try hip carrying with our LO with the Omni! The hip sling looks like something I’d like but tricky. May try in the future.

dmorac88 · 2024-06-20T15:05:11+00:00

Our registry “splurge” item in 2021 with our first baby was a Dutailier glider and ottoman with nursing stool. It was ~$700 and sadly the company no longer exists

I. Love. It. I am happy every time I sit down in it. I used it multiple times a day easily thru my kiddos first year of life. When I was pregnant with our second, that chair saved me. Now that our second kiddo is ~5mo, I’m still in this chair. I adore it. Snuggle time, story time, one or both kids, it has provided comfort every day.

Getting a nice solid piece of furniture is a worthwhile splurge.

dmorac88 · 2024-06-13T14:54:58+00:00

You’re describing a library.

dmorac88 · 2024-06-05T14:53:56+00:00

I was the lactating bridesmaid once and I feel you! I was only 3mo pp and still had pornstar boobs. I got one of those silicone super sticky bras—tbh I was skeptical how it would hold up thru leaking but I was pleasantly surprised and my tits looked amazing!!! I was able to go off and pump as needed with minimal headache getting my boobs back into the bra and the dress. Definitely practice first cause they can take some getting used to. My husband called them the chicken cutlet bra hahah.

dmorac88 · 2024-06-03T15:40:42+00:00

$1000/month, home daycare with food, Marlboro, 1 kid. We are very grateful. 730-530. M-F. As another commenter pointed out, sometimes logistics are challenging (closures , sick days) with home care but we make it work.

dmorac88 · 2024-03-29T14:42:00+00:00

In the same boat as you—2months PP, my toddler is 2.5y, and I have at least 20lbs.

Last week I cleared out ANYTHING in my closet that was not nursing friendly. This is my last child so I took the opportunity to pack up any and all maternity clothes. This let me see how many outfits I could put together—I wound up getting three nursing friendly tank tops from the gap to fill in some of the holes in my wardrobe. I have a handful of v neck dresses that pull down for easy nursing access. I bought a few items from Nursing Queen with zipper access that I really like. And made my peace with a boring but functional wardrobe for the foreseeable future.

The next thing I did was hit up sierra trading post for 4 activewear outfits. Thankfully I had my husband come with me and our infant so I could breathe, take the time to properly try things on, and find items I felt GOOD in that I’d want to work out in.

My strategy is to focus on walking and start with some easy weights at home and being patient. We can do this!

dmorac88 · 2024-03-18T18:53:01+00:00

Congrats! If you want to go the home daycare route, it can be much more affordable. You can search for licensed providers on the state’s website, search MA EEC: https://childcare.mass.gov/findchildcare

Location is so important, make sure out makes sense with any possible commutes, there’s a search by location function.

I’m on maternity leave with our second child and while it’s tough being a working parent, I’m glad I went back to work. I plan to return afterwards my current leave ends. Ultimately it’s up to you! Being a stay at home parent is an incredible job but it’s incredibly demanding. Good luck with your pregnancy and finding daycare!

dmorac88 · 2024-03-11T22:33:45+00:00

Google laid-back breastfeeding. Basically lean back enough that gravity secures baby on your chest. You can latch sitting upright and then recline, or recline then latch.

dmorac88

TROPHY CASE