Back in 2014, Courtney Kube of NBC News, National Security and Pentagon Correspondent, was adamant that she would breastfeed her twin boys for a full year after their birth, and did so despite having a career that requires constant travel. Now, at age 43, she’s doing it all over again.
Kube Has Pumped in Baghdad
The first time around, Kube did whatever she had to, whenever she had to do it, in order to pump. She told Know Your Value (NYV), that she pumped in “helicopters, cargo aircraft, and in offices at NATO gatherings”, and even did so in the middle of a crowded Baghdad military mess hall. Her cameramen turned two upturned tables, and a table cloth, into a make-shift breastfeeding fort.
“People were eating around me with no idea what was inside,” Kube told Know Your Value. “I’m always going to be known by these militaries as the person who’s always pumping. Whenever I needed to stop and pump, I would.”
Courtney Kube, NBC News’ national security and Pentagon correspondent who is raising five boys, chats with Know Your Value about the motherhood-career juggle, dealing with mom guilt and more. (by @halleybondy) https://t.co/J6DWgvQXYG
— Know Your Value (@KnowYourValue) September 29, 2021
‘Most People Are Really Supportive’
With her now 8-month-old son, AJ, Kube either ships or carries back the milk she pumps while she’s away from home; sometimes even when she’s en route, on the plane. Not comfy commercial planes, either.
“Most people are really supportive. I’ll go to the crew and say, ‘Look, I’m a nursing mom, I’ll sit behind the luggage.’ A lot of times they’ll say, ‘no no,’ and they’ll let me use these little areas where they sleep so I can close the curtain. They’ll find me a spot,” said Kube.
‘The Person That is Always Running’
“I’m always running from place to place to place. There are people in the Pentagon who think of me as the person who is always running,” Kube told NYV, explaining a bit about her day-to-day. “I run from the nursing room to the break room, to my kid’s soccer practice. I always have to run, do makeup, do a live shot, there’s always something I’m running to. I’m always driving too fast.”
With a total of five sons, that’s perfectly understandable. In addition to the twins, and AJ, Kube has two step-sons from her husband’s previous marriage. She says that “being a mom to small children is harder than many of my overseas assignments”.
Back in 2019, Kube became even more of a viral mom than she already is, when her son Ryan became a bit too impatient to sit on the sidelines during a live report on Syria and ran in on it.
“Breaking news in Syria didn’t line up with preschool drop-off,” says NBC News correspondent Courtney Kube after her son wandered into the studio and interrupted the live broadcast.https://t.co/1AHDuZXY8C
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) October 9, 2019
Wisdom for the Working Mom
Like most working moms, Kube says that she deals with working mom guilt, all the time, and credits her husband Eric, nannies, and her parents, for supporting her career and her family as it has grown.
“You’re always going to be struggling. But the truth is, I wouldn’t give up either one. I obviously wouldn’t give up my family or my kids, and I definitely wouldn’t want to give up my job,” she said. “You have to accept that you’re always going to be struggling to make it work, and that you’re never going to be perfect.”
Words of wisdom for working moms everywhere.
Can you imagine breastfeeding in the middle of a military mess hall? What lengths have you gone to in order to pump? Let us know in the comments below.
