Pumping at work

I guess this is a topic that I see almost everywhere on message boards and baby sites. I read on one such post that says one of the main reasons women give up breastfeeding all together are difficulties with pumping at work and not adequate places to do so. Granted I’m the kind of person that figures if I can somehow pull something off that isn’t that hard, so now having almost nursed for a year I got to thinking why was I able to do it when so many other women have problems.

For me pumping at work can be very interesting. The office I work in now and previously worked in didn’t have a closed off area other than the bathroom. So from the time I went back to work at 6 weeks I just started pumping in the handicap stall in the bathroom. So right now the way I do things is keep my 2 Medela Swing pumps and supplies in a small black bag under the sink in the bathroom. When I go in to pump I just grab the bag and sit on the floor and play on the DS while I pump. I’ve warned a few people in the office about it, but for the most part no one says anything to me while I’m pumping. I have had a few comments but nothing that didn’t make me laugh because of how absurd it sounded.

When I was at the cooperate office I was amazed at how nice it was. They actually had a “lactation room” that had a couch, magazines, wall outlets, a sink and small refrigerator. I wish we could get something like that at our office, but I’m not going to complain. Really I don’t mind the situation. Of course I wish I had somewhere more comfortable to sit and a couple of wall outlets to plug things up but other than that I don’t have any complaints.

So I guess the question that keeps coming to mind is why this has worked for me when so many other women have problems with it. I mean I had such an oversupply that we have a large stock pile in the deep freezer. I mean it was hard at first when I couldn’t get him to take me and all he would take was the bottle. It was hard at first making the time to go pump but after about a week things started to get easier with pumping at work and I just kind of fell into a routine that has worked to this day.