In just 20 days, my baby will be a big one year old. Oh, sure, I want him to stay little as long as possible, and be my baby, and “Time slow down!!!” and all that. BUT.
But. I am ready to be done with the dreadful pump.
I have no regrets about breastfeeding either of my children, and should we have more children, I will likely nurse them too. And that’s just it. Breastfeeding is one thing. The pump? Well, that’s another beast entirely.
So, I am counting down the days until I’m done with this pumping business: 9 workdays left, with a few days of using freezer milk before his first birthday. I feel so giddy about my soon-to-be freedom from a machine. Here’s what I’m looking forward to:
One less bag to carry in the morning
The pump bag and all of its parts is not by itself a heavy bag. But when I’m also carrying my lunch bag, my school bag, the school bags for both kids, and one of the kids … yeah, I’m delighted to give my shoulder five less pounds to worry about in the morning.
15 minutes of free time at night
No more washing pump parts and bottle parts every evening when I come in from work. No more ensuring that I have put the baby’s milk in his bag and packed a bottle for daycare in the morning. No more double and triple checking that I have put all of the pump parts in the pump bag in my morning rush. Fifteen minutes of something else that I can do. Maybe I can pack a more elaborate lunch now.
No more stress about forgetting that necessary pump
It’s one thing for me if I forget my lunch bag. I keep “emergency food” in my desk in case of such a situation (here’s looking at you, Kraft Easy Mac!). Why I didn’t have an emergency hand pump is beyond me, especially when I forgot my pump on three separate occasions this school. THREE! How? Oh, I don’t know, see above paragraph about all the junk I’m carrying out (also – cannot wait until they can haul their own junk to and from the car. There’s a milestone worth looking forward to!). God bless the administrator who saw me panicked and watched my first hour class for ten minutes those days because I had to go back home because I was at the mercy of a boob machine. No more of that.
Freeing up cabinet space
We are currently living in a small apartment with not much in the way of cabinet space in the kitchen. I will be so happy to have the entire top half of this cabinet back that I can use for, oh, I don’t know – plates maybe? Instead of bottles, pump parts, breastmilk bags. Just look at all this space waiting to be used for something else!
Getting my planning time back
I teach and my pump schedule has consisted of pumping on my planning period, at lunch, and after school. I dropped the lunch pump a while ago as well as the after school pump. I’m currently weaning down my time on my planning period. But my planning period is my main time to grade papers, make copies, call parents, etc., and I can’t do that effectively while tied to the pump, which has eaten up about half of my planning time every day all school year. I am THRILLED to have this time back!
Worry-free wardrobe
The question “How easy will it be for me to get to my boobs today?” will no longer take precedence in planning what I’m wearing to work. It’s not impossible, but it is difficult to pump while wearing a dress. GOODBYE to only wearing tops and bottoms! I am so looking forward to easy, don’t-have-to-think-about-it dresses.
And while I’m at it: goodbye to nursing bras. Goodbye to pumping bras. Goodbye misery!
Oh, let’s not forget about NO MORE PUMPING!
And lastly, the most important one on the list: I cannot wait to be done pumping. There is something about pumping that every mother who has ever pumped even one time can attest to and that is that pumping just flat out sucks. It’s not pleasant, you feel like a cow (or at least I did), and it doesn’t matter how many times you tell yourself “I’m doing this for my baby” you still just want to quit. And now it’s time!
