Pumping for the Pumpkin

My almost 6 month old daughter, i.e. the Pumpkin, is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm sure most parents would say this about their children. And, like most parents, I would do anything for her. I chose to breastfeed my daughter. In the beginning, it was difficult, but after we got the hang of it, it was no problem. The four months I was off work after she was born, I could feed her wherever and whenever. I am also a born procrastinator (thank you very much for that trait Mom), so I put off pumping and storing extra milk before I went back to work.


Nowadays I wake up with boobs the size of softballs (because before they were only the size of lemons, so this is relative to my big cheasted friends out there). I'm always creating my own river in the bed; a nice cold wet spot to roll over in the morning. And, I'm torturing my body. I can tell things will not be in the same place when this is over.

At work, I'm lucky as I have my own office with a door that locks. But the pain of the process is all the cleaning of supplies and transferring of milk- morning, noon, and night. Because of this, I make several trips between my office and the kitchen each day. When you wear a lot of dresses (because you just had a baby and none of your pants fit properly), you practically have to undress to pump. More than once I've walked out of the office with something hanging out.

All of this leads me to the only benefit of pumping for the Bad Working Mom...the caloric burn. I know there are health benefits for the Pumpkin, but, seriously, at this point, I think I'm keeping it up for the "exercise" it provides. Come on, I'm a working mom; I'm not really exercising much. Yes, my life would be easier if I just said we were switching to formula, but I would lose out on all those calories. So, when people ask me if I'm breastfeeding (which you'd be amazed at how many people ask that question), I say yes. And when they say how wonderful it is that I've kept doing it for so long, I nod and smile and agree on all the health benefits of it for babies. And when they ask how long I plan on doing it, I say, “as long as I can keep it up", But, what I really mean to say is "yeah, I'm doing it until my pants fit again".

Here's hoping I lose the weight before she turns three...