Confessions of a Pumping Mama

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⁣Have you ever manually expressed your breast milk without the use of an electric or hand held pump?⠀

Sadly enough, I can say I did! â €

I pride myself in being incredibly organized and prepared most of the time. This is especially true when it comes to breastfeeding and pumping. â €

I don’t know if I can blame it on the lack of sleep or mom brains, but I didn’t plan accordingly for this short Oakland trip. ⠀

I failed to pump before leaving to the airport. And of course, my flight was unexpectedly delayed for 3 hours. I sat in a state of panic when I realized I didn’t have access to a pump for nearly 8 hours. ⠀

Yesterday, while in flight with a bunch of strangers sitting next to me, I was forced to discreetly massage my right breast for 45 minutes to express as much breast milk as possible into a Medela bottle to relief all the pressure and pain from the engorgement. â €

With a little dedication and a lot of effort, I was able to express 4oz of milk. 🙌 I felt some relief, but still felt the heaviness on the right breast. ⠀

This morning, I woke up with clogged and painful right breast. I ended up going to Walgreens to buy an overpriced electric heating pad to place on my breast to decrease the inflammation! â €

And thank goodness, the pain resolved and now I’m back in business. ⠀

I share this with you today because *sigh* nursing and pumping is strenuous work. It’s a full time job that requires discipline and commitment. ⠀

And sometimes I have bad days, and these bad days make me want to give up nursing/ pumping completely. But then, I FaceTime my little baby boy and I’m reminded that I am the only one that produces all the fuel he needs to gain those chubby cheeks and fat thigh rolls.⠀

And that’s enough for me to keep going.