I felt like I was part of the great race today. I had to leave my little guy with a substitute babysitter while I went to work today, and I wasn’t feeling totally confident because last time she sat with him he cried the entire time and she looked like she was ready to throw herself off a bridge by the time I got home . And the day before lil Charlie cried the entire time while he was home for daddy. Basically this girl had no hope. So I decided, I would race home and nurse him instead of pumping...
State laws require that I be allowed to pump at work and that is wonderful, there is even a room right in our office where I can. However it is also awkward, because there are lots of guys and sometimes they need the room while I’m pumping so I get a text asking me if I am almost done because people needed to get into the room.
While home on lunch one day I realized that it was almost as quick for me to go home and nurse vs. setting up the pump, blocking off the room etc. So today I was going to try it. Little Charlie hadn’t been taking his bottle so I thought this is it.
We breaked from our meeting at 2:50. I gave my co-worker the “I’m pumping nod” grabbed my keys and hit my stop watch.
I had to see if I could nurse and return faster than I could pump.
Trying to still look professional, I ran to my car, sped home, ran inside and was nursing by two minutes in.
My little man was just starting to fall asleep, but he was so happy to see me, he was just staring in my eyes and cooing... now this is the kind of stuff that just melts your heart. I could have just kept staring in his eyes forever, but I knew that i had to be back on the road in just 10 minutes so I’m trying to rush him to nurse... and if you know anything about nursing and your milk letting down you know it doesn’t happen when you’re stressed. Another minute passed and he got a little more interested, started nursing and I started to relax. We rocked and nurse, as I really savored the moment with my precious child during my workday. He finished without throwing up on me, a true miracle, and I was off again. I even managed to have time to grab a piece of beef jerky to refuel on after nursing.
I dashed back to the office, I rounded the corner of cubicles and they were just getting ready to go back into our meeting. I wasn’t even missed.
I felt like supermom at that moment. I went home, nursed my baby sharing that moment of love and still managed to be back to work before my pumping break was up. This was a glimmer of hope that it is really possible to live the dream of being a great mom, while still working to help provide for our family.
I dashed back to the office, I rounded the corner of cubicles and they were just getting ready to go back into our meeting. I wasn’t even missed.
I felt like supermom at that moment. I went home, nursed my baby sharing that moment of love and still managed to be back to work before my pumping break was up. This was a glimmer of hope that it is really possible to live the dream of being a great mom, while still working to help provide for our family.
This is WONDERFUL!!! I wish I lived closer to where I worked cause I would TOTALLY do this. I hope you can keep it up as much as possible. Great job!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is a huge blessing to be able to nurse him throughout the day. I am incredibly grateful.
ReplyDeleteFound your post at For the Kids Friday. How wonderful that you work close enough to go home and nurse. Thank you for sharing your story; I hope it will inspire more women to keep nursing when they return to work. Good luck to you with balancing work and motherhood, and best wishes for your blog.
ReplyDeleteElisa, Thank you so much. Your comment means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I am so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up at The Tuesday Baby Link Up! I'm going to feature your post tomorrow ;-)
Thank you so much! I cannot wait to check it out!
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