Tuesday, November 30, 2010

And then I pumped at work

Since breastfeeding went so well for me at first (LaughOnLine), I figured I'd need to get all the accoutrements to be able to pump at work, in order to continue my pseudo-crunchy lifestyle. And hey, it's cheap. I checked with our ins, and they'd cover a pump up to a certain amount. In a wonderfully ironic-in-the-Alanis-sense twist of fate, that amount was right.under. every mainstream pump; the medelas, the amedas, the avents. So I went for the lovely lavender Lansinoh pump, as the nip cream has been so good to me so far.

I've been using it at home since I got it for the middle of the night "feeding" time, and besides being a little bit noisy, it works like a charm. So I decided to take my show on the road and continue pumping at work. They have a special super secret pumping room, to which I was introduced today, winding through a maze of carpeted hallways on directions from ladies who have pumped before.

The room is part of a bathroom, and behind some saloon-style swinging doors. So people walk by it in order to get to the bathroom, which is behind another door. It's in a swanky part of our complex, which is inhabited by upper-level employees (I've been watching too much Charmed, I was going to finish that phrase "upper-level demons"), mostly men, so the bathroom isn't frequented too much. I made myself a sticky note to put on the swinging doors: "Pumping in Progress." Too literal, interwebs? Too impersonal? Give me some suggestions.

I went up first at 11:15, and got about 3.75oz and 4oz. Second time around 3:15 and got about the same, maybe a little less. I used my lansinoh bottles that came with the pump, and that I bought in the extra pack, and stuck them in the office mini-frig, all the way in the back. I need to get more of those milk baggies, they work better for storage. It works out pretty well. I use one hand to hold both of the pump bottles, because I haven't figured out yet how to wrangle up a holder. I just played on my cell phone today, but maybe tomorrow I'll remember a magazine or something so I don't have to sit there for 15 minutes and stare at a small screen.

I rinsed the parts with soapy water afterwards at the br sink, and stuck them in one of my fancy little Medela sanitizing bags. That and 2oz of water went in the microwave for 3 min after I got back to my cube area, which is ingenious. I just need to remember to bring a towel in my pump package.

***update - next day***

So, this morning, hubs found my special little backpack for my pump stuff. Thank goodness. I look so chic now; natch.

I also did a little bit of interwebs-lookin and found out that I am able to sanitize once a day, so I started out today with pumping at 10:30, then cleaned the parts with soapy water and put them in the medela bag. I'll get them out again at the next pumping session, which will probably be around 2-3, and then after that, sanitize. I didn't have a 3am pumping session this morning, because the burrito had a not-very-hungry first day (getting used to the bottle, new place/faces, etc) and ate tons last night and then woke to eat at 2am and again at 530.

This morning, I used the medela wipes, which actually dried my parts quicker than I expected (they were wet from washing, no towel with me). They worked pretty well, but will only be an occasional thing as they are not on the cheap side (@$10/bag of 24).

Also, I can store milk from more than one pumping in the same bottle, which is good, because since I fell asleep at 9pm last night on the couch while feeding the burrito, I didn't get to clean all of my bottles. How do women do this again?!

My resources:
KellyMom
Work and Pump

My fun things:
Medela Quick Clean Wipes
Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags

Pump'n'Stuff:
Lansinoh Affinity Double Electric Pump
Lansinoh storage bags and bottles - their bottles all fit with the pump, obviously, however I couldn't find any nipples/tops for them at my local BRU, in case I wanted to use those to feed the kid. So I will probably just pump right into my...
Dr. Brown's bottles

No comments: