So I did this a few weeks ago - I had to take a quick business trip ( 2 in one week actually). It sucked because since my little one was 6 months at the time, I wasn't ready to spend the night away from her. So I committed to doing a Tuesday flight to see a client and then a Thursday back to see the client. Sounds easy enough huh? Basically I took the first flight out and the last flight returning home. My nanny was kind enough to be at my house at 4 am and my husband was home to relieve her after 5 pm.
So here was the real challenge - to pump or not to pump! Oh yeah - did I mention that I'm still breastfeeding? hehe! Well Since I was just doing a day trip - I decided not to carry my pump. This would have been the first time that I had gone for 12+ hours without pumping. I had also reasoned, that if I got stuck out there - I could always milk myself in a hotel room. Yes - I have watched enough Marmet technique videos on Youtube - and I did teach myself how to express my milk by hand for emergencies. There was a little incident where I stopped responding to my personal breastpump - and yes I was desperately milking myself into a bowl! I heard all the warnings about losing milk supply - but I decided to gun it. First of all - it just doesn't look professional to carry a breastpump to a client meeting. Although I have a nice discreet pump that looks like a tote - it's one more thing to carry. Secondly - where exactly would I pump? I absolutely REFUSE to pump in a bathroom - and I don't feel comfortable asking client's to provide a place for me to pump - especially since they are paying for my time. So I decided to risk having watermelons for boobs - and just gun it!
I chose a suit that had plenty of lining and I wore a thick bra. I didn't expect my boobs to be spraying -but I wanted to make sure that any leaks could be contained. Now on the Tuesday trip... my boobs definitely got huge. When I left the house - my suit fit. When it hit lunch time, my dress was tight. By the time I got back to the airport in the evening, my boobs were under my chin haha. My colleague who was traveling with me was giggling at how huge my breasts got. Needless to say - when I arrived home, I basically wore my little one as she fed. By Thursday, my boobs figured out what was going on - and decided not to fill as much. I was worried that my supply would drop - but honestly - I never noticed a difference. Now on the days I travel, I just make sure that the next day I nurse even more - and my little one seems to be just fine.
I got through it with no leaks and my baby isn't suffering - so here's one score for balancing work and baby :)
No comments:
Post a Comment