Most breastfeeding moms hate pumping, but I look forward to it sometimes. While I am at work, it is often my only quiet time. At home, it is my alone time. It is ironic that doing something for someone else is what I consider my alone time. That’s right … I find it relaxing to be hooked up to a machine and be milked like a cow. Weird? Maybe.
Sure, it can also be inconvenient … especially when traveling for work. Ever had a TSA agent admire how thick your milk was,staring at in awe and exclaiming … “WOW this looks like whole milk!” as he scans each and every one of your bags of pumped milk? All the while other passengers are walking by commenting on how patient you must be or lamenting on their pumping days gone by.
Even more fun than getting a play-by-play on the quality of your milk? Pumping in an airport bathroom because their Mother’s Room is on the other side of the airport. Better yet, ever been serenaded by your male boss as you walked to the Mother’s Room … his song of choice? Pump up the Jam. Which, then becomes your code word for going to pump. Or ever had to pump in the back seat of a rental car while the CEO at your new employer drove?
Luckily for me, my humility went out the window after going through birth and subsequently being topless in a hospital for 4 days while my newborn and I tried to figure out how to nurse. Nothing will strip you of your modesty more than exposing your full breast to the entire hospital staff.
All this said, pumping isn’t fun or easy, but it’s worth every second and every hassle.