Tips For Pumping Breast Milk at Work

Here are some of my tips for pumping at work. Every workplace is different, but I hope at least some of these can help you!

Watch the video here!

Now Calvin and I sure have had our breastfeeding struggles, but thank God I have been blessed with an easy pumping experience. I have always had enough milk and respond well to the pump. I even had a bit of oversupply in my early days pumping.

First of all:
Do not skip pumping sessions! No matter how busy you are. No matter if you are feeling judged by coworkers. If you do it once, you could do it twice, and if you do it too much you will let it become a habit and your supply can suffer! I have to remind myself of this almost every day. Summertime is our busy season and it has been hard to return to work in the middle of it all.

My son is three months old and I pump three times each day at work for 15 minutes each (setup and cleanup add an extra five minutes to my sessions). I am away from him for 11-12 hours a day. I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. My supply is still holding up really well after being back to work for over a month now, I pump exactly what he's taking at Grandma's during the day, sometimes an ounce or two more. To me, it's really so cool how that works out! I feed him about an hour before I leave for work, then as soon as we get home most days.

MY WORK ENVIRONMENT

I work with a bunch of dudes, I am literally the only chick in the place. I think this both helps and hinders the whole pumping breast milk at work thing. On the one hand, they don't understand it really. They may think I use it as an excuse to take a break, when in reality it's necessary in order to keep my supply up and keep my breasts from being super uncomfortable. Also, probably for fear of the unknown, they don't really comment on it, they don't know much about it and they don't want to offend me.

I am also very lucky to work in the place I do. We have a fridge and a sink in our little kitchen area and we have a couple mostly unused offices in the back. And those assets really help in the pumping department.

MY MATERNITY LEAVE FREEZER SUPPLY

Even though I'm making almost the perfect amount of milk for him on the daily pumping at work, I did store up a nice little bit of milk in the freezer while on my 8 week maternity leave. However, looking back, I made a lot of first time breastfeeding and pumping mom mistakes in that time, so I'm not going to recommend exactly what I did, instead here's a more reasonable plan...

To build a little backup supply, I would recommend to pump right before bed, maybe an hour after he falls asleep (this helps with overnight engorgement too) and in the morning sometime (because you'll produce the most milk then, take advantage of it). The pumping session before bed was easy because my husband was home to help if my son got upset for some reason, he could comfort him and I could pump. The morning pumping was more of a challenge, the time would vary every day, but as long as it was sometime in the morning, I was happy with it.
EXAMPLE: Based on this little schedule... say you get 2 ounces per pumping session (very reasonable goal in my experience), that's 4 ounces per day, 28 ounces per week, 168 ounces in 6 weeks - that's 12 days worth of milk at the babysitter (based on Calvin's average 14 ounces per day with Grandma) and that's a great little head-start to make you less worried about not being able to keep up when you return to work!

WHAT'S IN MY PUMPING BAG?

Pump - duh.

Extra pump parts - I carry tubing (in case bad, bad mold appears! That's a big ole fear of mine) and extra membranes because they say those wear out the quickest.

Lanolin cream - I apply it before I pump for comfort.

Hands-free pumping bra - I find strapless works well, then you don't really have to do too much wardrobe modification.

Storage baggies - I used to use the up&up Target brand (they're nice and thick and feel very sturdy, double zip), but discovered the Lansinoh brand is actually cheaper (they feel thinner, but they have a fancy easy-pour feature, double zip too).

A fine tip sharpie - to write on the storage bags

Spare lids - in case you run out of baggies, you can just cap the bottle that you're pumping into. This has already come in handy

Cloth - to clean up any drips, protect your lap, wipe down shields, etc.

Re-usable nursing pads - just in case... maybe the pump breaks or you forget an important pump part at home and you gotta get through the day without your boobies leaking through your shirt, who knows?

Binky disinfecting wipes - just in case you drop something and get it dirty, forget your cleanup cloth, in a pinch, etc.

RELAXING

Find a room with a lock. Hopefully you have one at your workplace! It will really help you relax and not be so nervous.

Wear nursing appropriate clothes, like a nursing tank under your regular clothes, then you at least feel mostly covered when you're pumping.

Face away from the door if you can. Again, just in case! Helps you relax better.

Make yourself a door sign. Mine says "Please do not disturb... or else this will be mortifying for all parties involved." Perhaps the humor won't be respected in your workplace, but at mine, I think it lightens things up.

If you have trouble with relaxing enough for good let-down be sure to store many pictures and videos of your little one on your phone so you can view them while you're pumping. Videos are my favorites, especially the ones where he's making noises. I found relaxing was hard the first week or so, but it definitely gets easier.

CLEAN-UP & STORAGE

Store your bottles in the fridge between pumping sessions so you don't have to clean them after every time. The leftover milk inside stays good because it's refrigerated. Then I just rinse after my last pump of the day and actually clean them when I get home.

Store your milk inside another container so the weirdos you work with don't comment on it. (this goes back to the whole working with dudes thing, nobody has made any weird comments yet, but just to be safe...)

Let the pump go on high while you clean up everything. This way any moisture left in the tubing will dry right up and help prevent bad, bad mold!

Bring a burp cloth or old school cloth diaper for clean up. I lay this on my lap when I remove the shields and bottles, just in case there's a drip, it lands on the cloth, not my pants. I also use it to wipes the milk off the shields.

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But keep in mind ladies - it's not as scary as it seems!

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Almost 3 Months Old : A Random Little Update

2.5 months old

As you may have noticed, life has been hectic around here. I haven't posted since we came home with Mr. Calvin almost three months ago! Although I have been decent with updates on my vlog channel, I sure have neglected the blog.

Being a new mom is so exciting and fun, yet truly exhausting. I love seeing Calvin grow and learn. About a week and a half ago, he even rolled over from front to back for the first time! Over this weekend he's been really starting to coo to us and copy us. I can stick my tongue out at him and I can see him trying his hardest to do it back, it's so sweet and amazing. It really is just stunning that this little person is already learning to do so much!

Yet at the same time, it breaks my heart to keep having to pack away his little outfits that he keeps growing out of. Over this past weekend I threw a bunch of his 0-3 month stuff into a storage box because it's all getting so tight. We had to buy some 3-6 month sleepers because his little legs could hardly stretch out in his 0-3 month ones. He's growing so big and fast. When we take his 3 month picture in just a few days next to his teddy bear, he's going to be almost the same size as the bear! When I look back at his 1 week picture next to that bear, it's so unbelievable how much he's grown!

1 week old

There are rough days, don't get me wrong. He's even started this new thing where he doesn't actually want to eat every two hours on the dot, so if he's freaking out and I put him to breast, sometimes he just screams into my boob. That's frustrating. Breastfeeding used to be the cure all, but it's starting to not work all the time these days. He has his growth spurts and holy crap, those days can feel endless, like the growth spurt will never cease. He'll eat almost every hour during the day and wake every two hours at night and that's so exhausting, especially since I've returned to work.

But seriously, no matter how many crappy days we have, just seeing his precious little smile (which he's doing all the time these days!) totally makes it all worth it. He is such a sweet and happy boy.

Now even though nursing is not always the solution these days, he does always seem to want to nurse as soon as I get home from work, even if he just had a bottle at Grandma's an hour ago. So I take that as a compliment, like he missed the milk straight from the tap all day and needs his fix after a day of bottles. And I know it must be more of a comfort with mom thing than actual hunger. It's also a really nice way to just calm down after a day of work too, instead of heading straight into starting dinner or tidying up, I can just sit back and chill with the baby boy.

Of course everyone has an opinion about who he looks like, but in my eyes he really is the perfect little combination of myself and Justin. I'm pretty sure he's going to have brown eyes like me. For awhile there would be days they looked really dark, then the next they started to look a little lighter, but lately they're pretty dark and I think they'll stay that way. (I read somewhere that once they get real dark, it's very unlikely they'll end up being light). His hair, on the other hand seemed to be lightening up. Justin was a blond baby and grew up to have dark hair, I've always had dark hair, so we'll just have to see. It is growing in thicker though, even if it's ever so slight. I love the hair on the very back of his head, it's super thick and long and so pretty!

Over the weekend, we had some family over to play Cards Against Humanity. Justin was sitting on the opposite end of the table from me so I could stare right at him (like a creeper, I know). But just some of his facial expressions and things that he does really made me realize that Cal makes the same little faces, it was pretty sweet. :)

I don't want to jinx it, but 4 of the last 8 nights, he's only awoken once! (I call nighttime from 9 pm-5 am because that's what I'm sleeping on work nights) He'll eat sometime between 7-8 pm, then sleep all the way until 2-3 am! I had been reading that a three month old should start to only wake once per night, but up until this last week, I was not seeing any signs of that. He will still have nights where he's up every couple hours, but we "always" get a nice long stretch right off the bat, on his usual nights he'll wait till 11 or 12 before he wakes for the first time.

MY POSTPARTUM JOURNEY

As for me postpartum, some things have been changing. Finally the weight loss is starting to pick back up again (It felt like after the first month, my weight was very stagnant). I'm officially 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight (which both sounds so close and so far away at the same time lol). I can't decide if my goal is to be at 127 or 130, but right now I'm 147 (I was 127 the day I found out I was pregnant, according to my home scale, but 130 at my first doctor appointment. 130 just sounds like a nice round number and a reasonable goal though compared with the awkward odd number 127 lol). As long as I can fit into most of my regular clothes again, I'll be happy (I accept that perhaps my hips have widened a bit and that area might not be perfectly back to normal)). One thing that totally surprised me is when I put my measurements into a BMI calculator, I'm considered overweight! That does not help my self image, I'll tell you what! I have to get down to 141/142 to be in the normal range. To me, that's crazy! I didn't think I looked that bad! And by those standards, I totally understand when they say this ridiculous amount of Americans are considered overweight. And for awhile there wearing size 10 did not help me feel good either. Being a size 4 last summer and a size 10 this summer sucks!

My pants are getting loose, but I have no belts that fit and I refuse to buy a new one haha. I'm in a size 10 right now, when I get to size 6, I'll be happy. (I was size 4-6 before I got pregnant). My size 8 pants fit but squish my belly and make it look not ideal, but I don't think I'm too far away from being able to wear them, that's why I refuse to buy a belt, in hopes that I can fit in those size 8s soon enough. Some days I wake up and feel really good about my body, I'm happy with it, knowing it took 9 months to get this big, the fat won't just disappear overnight. Then there are other mornings I wake up and literally hate my body. It's hard because I've never struggled with weight until now. I've never intentionally been on a diet of any kind, I never tried to avoid treats or snacks until I was pregnant. And I know the entire time I was pregnant I felt like I was starving all the time and I totally did eat more than necessary, I was very bad. However, struggling with this weight afterwards I believe will be a huge help to motivate myself to eat better next time around, so I don't spend months postpartum hating my body. And there are days I say, is it even worth it? If we plan on trying to get pregnant again next spring or summer, what's the point in trying to look good now just to be fat and pregnant in less than a year?! It's my own little struggle right now. But if I can lose one pound per week (a very reasonable goal or so I hear) then I'll be back to normal my Christmas, and that's an encouraged statement to me.

Also the stretch marks are finally starting to fade. I don't hate the ones on my belly, they don't really bother me, but because of the ridiculous amount of weight I gained, I have them all over my thighs and hips and those are the ones that drive me nuts! It seems the ones further down my thighs and on my breasts are fading the fastest. I apply lotion everyday. It may not have helped prevent them, but I do think it's helping fade them.

Overall, things are awesome. I love being a mom. And I'll love it even more when I get closer to my normal sexy self! Haha. Then at least I'll have more than three pairs of pants I can wear!

Love you guys,
Alaina

Look Who's Here! Calvin Lee's Debut

I just thought I would pop on by the blog and let you know that this baby boy is here safe and sound. I love you guys so much and am truly so happy and thankful to have you along this journey with me. Pregnancy was an adventure, but now an even bigger one is beginning: motherhood. I hope you'll continue to follow us on our journey.

I could include a hundred pictures of this little boy already, but we'll just keep it to a couple screenshots today... but... if you want to see more, go follow me on Instagram, I promise there are plenty of pics over there. :)

Love,
Alaina and Calvin Lee

Pregnant in the Hospital Diary Entries : PROM, Bed Rest

Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Alright Calvin, we just need you to hang out for awhile longer. We came to the hospital at 32 weeks, 1 day. You're not ready yet, even though I'd love to see you, we all know that's not a good idea right now. Everyone's really worried about you but you're in really good hands here at this hospital. Our doctor is very optimistic about you being good and plenty healthy when you finally come. You had me and daddy super worried but every day things are looking up. I might be in the hospital for awhile, but I keep reminding myself it's better me than you. I want you to come home with us right on time. Me and your daddy love you so so much but you gotta stay put for awhile longer!

Wednesday April 27, 2016
The doctor came in this morning and pretty much just reiterated the fact that we're simply waiting to see what's next. Things are still going well, but it can be frustrating not knowing when you're coming. I wish your daddy could be with us all the time. We all love you so much. Grandma told me your cousin Lyvi was going to tell her friend at school about you but she couldn't remember your name, so she didn't tell them. I know she's excited to meet you, we all are. Lyv and Leighton's grandma is a nurse here and she's going to take good care of you if you come early and need extra help and care. She told me that I look more like grandpa John since I'm chubbier while pregnant. I wonder who you look like Calvin.
It's so weird to imagine you with a May birthday, I always assumed you'd be here in June. And I thought you'd be late, at that! Now that's assuming we can hold out a few more days and make it until May. I'm afraid of giving birth to you. I don't know what to expect. I'm fearful your daddy won't be there for the whole thing. I don't want to be alone through any of it. I'm afraid they'll have to scoop you up and take you away as soon as you're born. It's crazy to think we're so close to meeting you. After months of you just living in my belly, you're finally going to be here and this whole pregnancy journey will be over, only to start a new, even more exciting journey as your mommy.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016
My sweet baby boy, it is getting very hard for me to be living here at the hospital. I know it is for your best interest: for your health and well-being, not to mention your future. But it is so lonely. I am so glad I still have you safe in my belly though. You are safe and growing so big and strong in there. They already estimate that you weigh 6 lbs 8 oz. While you are in there I can feel you move and I know you are good. If you were to have been born already, I would not always be with you like I am now. I'd have to leave you at the hospital without me and your daddy.
Today I am 34 weeks 4 days pregnant and our doctor has faith we are going to reach full term, 37 weeks. I've been in the hospital 17 days now, and if you come at exactly 37 weeks, that will be 17 days from now. So we are halfway there! I can't wait to meet you but I can hold out another 2.5 weeks if it means you'll be able to come home with us right away Calvin.
We have the best doctor around. He wants to keep you safe and sound in my belly as long as possible. If we were in the hands of any other doctor, you'd have been born already. I thank the Lord every day that that's not the case. We love you so much Calvin and we only want what is best for you.

Thursday, May 19,2016

This hospital stay sucks. I just want to rant right now, but let me get some things off my chest first of all. Yes, I am so blessed to have made it this far in my pregnancy, we'll be 36 weeks tomorrow, and our doctor is awesome, I'm so glad we have him. I know that there are so many women out there going through much more difficult pregnancies and issues. There are plenty of mothers who have given birth before 36 weeks and have to visit their babies in the NICU not knowing what happens next. I know I am blessed and this could be so much worse, I know that in my heart, but this whole situation still sucks and I'm jealous of all the women who have very good, uncomplicated, easy pregnancies. I'm jealous of the mothers who get to spend their last few weeks living their normal everyday life. I'm upset that we didn't get to take maternity pictures. I'm upset that I missed physically being at my one and only baby shower that looked just so precious in the pictures! I'm upset that I can't just wake up next to my husband every morning. I'm upset that Justin and I don't get to go on one last date just the two of us, that I can't just live a normal life and be in my own home. I want to make dinner for us. I want to be able to nest and set things up and I know Justin has been working hard, doing laundry and washing bottles and getting everything ready for Calvin, but I don't get to have that experience and it makes me feel so disconnected. I know that I see Calvin twice a week on ultrasound, I hear his little heartbeat twice per day on the NST monitors, I feel him wiggle all the time, and I am here because of him, I think about him all the time. But I just think that perhaps if I were at home nesting and organizing and getting things ready for him that I would feel more connected and ready for him to come. I want to meet him but I still am afraid of the unknowns of giving birth. 

But once again, I know we are blessed. Honestly, this stay seems to have been going by somewhat quickly, I can't believe it's already almost been a month! But the days suck. I feel like I'm simply growing a baby right now, I'm not living or contributing to life or anything. I feel very useless. 

And I can't wait to see Calvin. He is my ticket out of here! I just know in my heart that he's going to be going home with us, I have full faith that he will not be stuck here without us.

Saturday, May 21, 2016
I have to be honest that at times I have felt inadequate as a mommy to be. I've felt like I'm not made to be a mommy and not meant to carry babies because of this whole issue. It's hard to put into words. I just feel like perhaps we shouldn't try for more kids because of the possibility of going through this all over again. Not just for the fact that it sucks to be in the hospital like this, but that things might not go as well next time around. What if next time they couldn't stop my labor and the baby would be born at 32 weeks, what kind of issues would there be? How long would they have to stay in the NICU? Would there be long term problems and issues with their health? What if they did stop my labor, but then I got an infection and had to have the baby early anyway? There are so many things that could go wrong. So many things that could have gone wrong with me and Calvin this time!
I feel so conflicted, like my thoughts are constantly pulling me in two different directions. I feel so upset that this has happened, trying to pin point what I've done wrong in this pregnancy. But at the same time there is a part of me that is so happy and proud that we've made it this far, that my decision to come to this hospital and get a new doctor, not just settle for my old doctor, has saved our little Calvin from coming prematurely. Because of the hospital I chose and the doctor that I was blessed with, we are able to have our precious little boy at full term! After four weeks now/five weeks when he comes on Friday, we made it! And that fills my heart with so much happiness. No matter what, if we can hold out these next six days (and I know we will :)), our baby boy will be a full term baby, something I never ever would have thought could happen on that first day at 32+1 weeks when I woke up to this whole mess.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016
I still can't believe you're going to be here in a just a few days, baby boy! I talked to a pediatrician here at the hospital yesterday and got some unsettling news. He told me that because my membranes have been ruptured for so long, they're going to take you to the NICU and have you on IV antibiotics for 48 hours after you're born as a precaution! This has made me upset wondering whether or not we'll even be able to just have some time together in your first hours of life. I will have to pump to feed you breast milk, but we should be able to hold you and visit you and spend a lot of time with you. I don't even know if we'll be able to breastfeed in your first hour. We'll be going home in two days anyway, so our two stays should coincide and you'll be able to come home with us. It still makes me sad to know that there's a possibility you'll be whisked away as soon as you're born. The pediatrician really made it seem like there would be a 50/50 chance we could spend time with you first or not. And he did mention there was a very slight chance none of this would have to happen anyway, they would examine him in our room, he'd be totally fine, and they would just leave us like any other family. He just kept saying this was a very slight chance though.
My doctor did not think this was all necessary, but apparently the pediatrician staff is new and they have different procedures than the previous staff who were here when I first arrived in the hospital. You are a good size baby, you'll be right at the normal newborn weight when you're born at 37 weeks. We had the steroid shots for your lungs. And because you're already full term, you realistically shouldn't have issues feeding. I just don't understand why when it looks like everything is going in your favor, they want to take you away from us. I know it's just a precaution and it's for your best interest, but it just makes me very upset, I thought by making it to term we wouldn't have to deal with any of this. Good thing I have no real birth plan, it looks like none of it would happen at this point anyway.
Your dad and I have been back and forth on how many people we want to be there the day you're born. I hate the idea of all these people waiting around for you to come. I feel that it will make me stressed and anxious about getting you out quickly. Plus I just want your dad and me to have plenty of time alone with you, especially if you're going to have to spend the next two days in the NICU, not in our room with us. We just want you all to ourselves before you're taken from us. And I know that's selfish, but I've carried you nine months and I deserve to be with you for as long as I want just as soon as you're born! And I know everyone is very excited to meet you, baby boy.