Jodi Picoult once wrote, "24/7. Once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer." And it's true. Motherhood is a full time job.
I am the proud mother of two little boys. Colin just turned two in January, and Reid is three months old. As if that wasn't crazy enough, my husband and I both work full time. Oh, and I'm breastfeeding. Feeding a baby is a full time job in itself, so at the moment I kind of feel like I'm working three jobs. There's my actual job, the one where I parent two kids, and the one where I'm dairy cow in human form. So how do I do it all? Uh, I have no idea. This isn't a post about how to be supermom, because I'm not. Today I want to talk about what it means to be a nursing mother who works outside the home. It's not easy, but it's doable. And it's worth it!
Reid is a baby who loves to nurse. He would spend his entire life latched onto my boob if I let him. When I went back to work after a far too short 8 week maternity leave, I worried about how he would do at daycare without me. I started pumping ahead of time to get a feel for the process, and we practiced bottle feeding at home. Still, no amount of preparation put my mind at ease for the transition.
Before returning to work, I contacted HR to let them know I would need a place to pump. I was told to use a small conference room that was no longer in use. The only down side is that it's in the building next door. Not a huge deal, but it meant I would have to walk between buildings, rain or shine, every three hours to pump.
I chose a Friday for my first day back, and I'm really glad I did. It gave us the opportunity to "practice" the new work day routine which, as I expected, was not very smooth the first time. Then, we had the whole weekend to prepare for that first full week back. Getting everyone out the door on time has been the biggest challenge by far. Starting at 5:45 am (or earlier, if Reid wakes up before that), we are on a tight schedule until we're pulling out of the driveway around 6:50.
Lately, Reid nurses well in the morning, so I have been able to eliminate the early morning pumping session I was doing for a while. I'm thankful for that, because it means I can load up the pump the night before, which saves a lot of time.
During the work day, I take three pump breaks. One around 9:00 am, one on my lunch break at noon, and one around 3:30 pm. I've got it down to about a 20 minute process start to finish. There are days that I find myself worrying about how many ounces I'm getting, which is silly because there has always been enough. To give my supply a boost, I nurse Reid as often as he wants when we are together. I have also been working hard to drink enough water, since breast milk is a bodily fluid and it's important to stay hydrated. In addition to that, I have started taking Fenugreek supplements, which really do seem to help with milk production. At this point, I am typically able to pump a little bit more than Reid needs for daycare the next day, so I am sending fresh milk for him each day.
I am still so thankful that I've been able to breastfeed Reid this long - 3 months and counting! I had some concerns about being a nursing mom and working full time, but so far it has not been a big deal at all. It's a little more work on my part, yes, but I truly believe it has been worth it for both of us. Not only is my little turkey growing and thriving on my milk, but I have been losing weight without really trying, which is a pretty sweet deal! I also feel that we have a special bond. Every three hours when I pump, I think about my baby and how I'm providing nutritious food for him. I think about the snuggles he is getting from the ladies at daycare, and the fact that he's being fed the milk I made for him the day before. I love my little munchkins so much, and I am so proud to be their momma.
