Mon 28 Aug 2006
- The Avent IQ battery pack almost makes it through 1 day of pumping, but not quite. At least for me.
- Pumping in the restroom of an airplane is weird, but ok.
- Flight attendents are very nice about giving you ice since you can’t bring an ice pack on the plane.
- The freebie similac cooler bag from the hospital isn’t actually waterproof.
- They really do get very worked up about milk in your carry on luggage, but if the bag check person is nice, they will let you keep it even if the baby isn’t traveling with you.
- There is no comfortable way to have a conversation about pumping breastmilk while on the road with your boss. No matter how nice he might be. (I settled on, “Excuse me. I’m probably going to be a little while.”)
- The security at Quantico is very serious. And there’s a building there with more antennae than I’ve ever seen outside of a movie. Going *into* that building was both cool and creepy.
- The FBI takes courtesy and politeness extremely seriously. Also grooming.
- Noah can sleep at day care, if he’s sufficiently exhausted. He does not enjoy having his routine changed.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Yeah, I find it difficult to talk about pumping with almost ANY of my co-workers, most of whom are female/mothers/former breastfeeders. I generally just say “I’m going to do my disappearing act now,” or something like that.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
My work keeps telling me that I have to go on a road trip with a (male) coworker soon. How in the crap am I going to pump IN THE CAR while on the road?
It isn’t going to happen.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
A co-worker used to pump in a small phone room — tinted window to the outside, no window in the door, phone, comfortable seat — that the company provided so employees could make private phone calls. She called it the Lactation Station and would make phone calls while pumping. Sometimes the person on the other end of the line would say something like “Wow, that’s a really loud photocopier” and she’d say, “Yeah, sure is.”
August 29th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Heh. I took a call today while pumping. Surreal.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
My code for pumping is “I’m going to go do my mommy thing”. Works for me. One of my coworkers actually leaves her breastpump horns out on her desk and will loudly proclaim “I’m going to go pump some milk now!”. I admire her moxie, but I could never ever do that.
I have never taken a work call while pumping (I dwell in cubicleland and have to pump in empty conference rooms). I called my mother once and told her “oh, that’s my breastpump” when she asked what the noise was. She could NOT get off the phone fast enough. In some ways she’s gotten used to the idea that, yes, I breastfeed, but in other ways I can tell the very idea still squicks her out.