Have pump, will travel

It’s not the actual trip that bothers me, it’s all the plans that I am bound to ruin.

I’m traveling over Thanksgiving and am just convinced that people won’t understand the plight of the pumper. I can’t plan to be somewhere for more than four hours without taking into consideration where I will pump and what I will do with what I pump. And I admit it, I feel weird asking relatives in-law (most of which I’ve only met a handful of times) for a private room – preferable one with a lock – to pump. Not that anyone will mind, mind you, but for some reason I feel uncomfortable doing it.

I also know I’m going to feel like the party pooper. People, myself included, will want us to leave The Baby with grandparents and go shopping, go to dinner and go out for a night. Still, I have to pump. I’ll need a plan, a home base. While I did discretely breastfeed in front of others, I’m not lifting up my shirt and fiddling around with getting the pump horns on correctly in a car full of people. Putting the breast pump on is infinitely more difficult to do discretely than breastfeeding. Plus, I don’t want anyone to get an accidental glimpse of my poor, beaten up nipples being sucked into an unnatural cylindrical shape. Then there would be the whine of the motor, “eeerrr chaa… eeerrr chaa… eeerr chaa…,” that would sure put a damper on conversation. I’m not going into random bathroom stalls either (they never have an outlet close enough anyway). So I will have to interrupt plans to go back to someone’s house, which is bound to be waaaayy out of the way. My husband is never any help because he doesn’t remember that I have to pump until I say, “Honey, I have to pump,” and then I feel like I am the one who is throwing a wrench into the plans and being difficult.

*sigh* I tend to over-think things, can you tell??

From the Pump Room
Confession: Today was to be my quit day. At one time, I was planning to quit the week before we traveled to get The Baby used to formula only and to give my breasts a few days to be engorged and whatever other joy will come along with not providing breast milk any longer. But, I’m pushing ahead. It’s the right choice for now. :-)