Elizabeth absolutely had a choice. She could have carried the baby to term, risked her own health with abdominal surgery, and then had her baby survive (for minutes?) in pain. She chose an abortion. Anti-choice legislation made that choice even harder for her than it already was which is bullshit.

I sprained my foot and have been off (well, mostly off) for two months, with no real end in sight. It sucks a lot.

Oh absolutely! I hear this idea in people of my acquaintance where ends will meet either way and it really frustrates me. So I brought it in here where it isn’t 100% relevant.

I will point out that that it may make sense for a woman to work even if her salary barely covers the cost of child care (or doesn’t quite cover it). There’s contribution to retirement and the difficulty of finding a job after 5+ years out of the market.

My mother still has and uses a Maytag washer from 1978. It is older than her marriage and her child. That washer is the real constant in her life, and if it doesn’t outlive her, she will grieve for months.

Civil servants do pay a portion of their health insurance costs (usually about 30% of premiums) as well as typical copays/coinsurance. Government health care benefits are roughly equivalent to private sector companies that employ a large number of “knowledge workers.” They definitely lag behind companies known for…

I’m an electrical engineer (math BA) currently working for the government. While my coworkers are almost all male, they are good men, who don’t treat me any differently because I am female. It’s possible to find a good fit as a woman in STEM, and I hope that for your daughter.

Yeah, I hated this. I have a really close friend who hermits often and I really really miss her when she doesn’t come to things. I don’t worry about whether she’s going to be “a downer”... she’s my friend.

I take sertraline for anxiety. I had a life situation that increased my anxiety and motivated me to seek out medications, but it made me realize how anxious I was, and I really feel better. There are still bad things in life, but I feel like I have the tools to deal with them now, rather than just worrying constantly…

I had the robot surgery as well (not a hysterectomy, a myomectomy), and similarly recovered really quickly. 16 days after the surgery, I did a 12 mile race, albeit very slowly.

I do a lot of hotel drinking (ah, work travel...) so that image looks familiar. I usually travel with a corkscrew and bottle opener though.

The record snowfall in Helsinki is around 20 inches. So no, Finns don’t see 30+ inches routinely.

I’m a government employee, and we exist in a world between salaried and hourly. My agency recently changed from forcing us to take an unpaid 30 minute lunch break to allowing us to work through lunch if we wanted. I can’t even describe how happy it made me. I leave at 4:00 now, instead of 4:30, traffic is better, and…

Yep. A crew who intentionally damages a ship could be charged with barratry. Or could have 200 years ago, I’m not sure if it is still a thing.

They didn’t know they weren’t protected.

Yep, this is me. My husband does his share physically, but he does not understand the mental work at all. We worked out a deal where we alternate weeks creating grocery lists, planning meals, and cooking, and every single time it’s his week, he half-asses the grocery list, and we run out of cereal or milk or yogurt…

I kept mine, but it was really tough. My husband recognized that I was being reasonable, but still felt hurt by my decision. For me, it was all about my identity which was tied up in my full name. I am OK giving kids his name, so that wasn’t an argument at least.

Yeah, that was me too. I used ob “Ultra tampons” with a backup pad and during my heaviest day, changed my tampons 26 times in 24 hours (I’ve had a blood clot, so most hormonal options are off the table). Then I had a myomectomy and now I use about 10 tampons per period.

“Soft shell corn tortillas” are just tortilla de maiz. I’ve had them in both Mexico City and Monterrey from taco stands. A chimichanga is essentially a deep fried burrito. You can get something similar in Sinaloa, but I have never seen them in Mexico City.

One advantage to being a woman in a male-dominated job is an amazing bathroom situation. I occasionally have to share the bathroom in the front of the building, but if I am going to have a prolonged visit, I can go to the other bathroom. I’ve never seen another person in there.