All my 12 hour shift working ladies...
lizardknitter
member
Please tell me your pumping schedule. I have my first shift (RN here) on Sunday. I'm terrified! I can't imagine how I'm going to:
a) wake Viv up before I leave to nurse and get her back to sleep and still be on time.
b) leave the floor 4 times in my workday to pump.
c) figure out how, as an agency nurse, I can use the lactation room. Oh, and ask where it is before my shift even starts.
d) get my husband to tell me how their day is going while I'm gone. I know I'll be a wreck and will want to hear that she's a smiling, happy, napping baby.
I've been a nurse for 5, almost 6 years and I feel like a new grad! Hopefully, it will come back like riding a bike. But in the meantime, I'll take any advice you want to give. Thanks. I already asked on the BF board.
Re: All my 12 hour shift working ladies...
I've been back to work since the beginn9ng of August. I pump before I leave work (so I don't have to wake her up), then I pump at 10a, 2p (lunch), and 6p. Sometimes I don't get that last session in. When I come home I shower, eat, and pump again before bed. It's exhausting, for sure.
My coworkers have been awesome and are always willing to cover while I go pump. You just have to kind of restructure your day so that you allow time to pump (hard, I know, when a patient is trying to crash on you or you have to travel with a patient). If you're a little late for a pumping session, it's ok. Just go when you can. Try asking the charge nurse to cover for you if the other nurses are busy. I've done that a few times.
Good luck!!! It's hard, I'm not going to lie, but it's possible. I'm going to try to do it up til 6 months, then cut back.
I'm away 11 hours and luckily LO's wake time is before I leave, so I get myself ready and feed him right before I'm out the door. Sometimes he falls asleep, sometimes not. You just have to learn to walk away regardless. Whoever you are leaving baby with will just have to deal.
I leave the house at 7:45 am and return around 6:30 pm. I usually pump during my 2 breaks and lunch hour, so I only get 3 sessions in. It's the best I can do and it is hard to get a lot done when the day is so broken up. I pump around 11, 1:30 and 4.
We text a bunch during the day- well, the caregiver texts and I steal peeks at my phone. Picture texts are great but sometimes make me more sad than happy.
Like pp said, it is really hard some times, but someone's gotta keep the cash flow comin' in. Remember you are that great female working mom role model who has it all and gets to go home to snuggle with a beautiful child at the end of a busy day.
Good Luck!
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm slowing starting to feel better about it.
I have been back to work since the middle of July (not by choice, my LOA was denied). I work nights so my schedule and work environment is a little different. I am a nurse on L&D so my co-workers are SUPER supportive of breastfeeding. We have a nice lactation room but I would have to #1 unpack and repack my pump each session and #2 take my parts somewhere else to clean them as there is no sink is the room. We have a nice little area in our locker room, it has a large vanity counter and sink right there. I leave my entire setup unpacked, wash right there at the sink and allow my stuff to dry on the counter. To me this is much more convenient than using the room.
I work nights and Silas only eats 2 (very occasionally 3) times while I am gone. I feed him (or pump if he is sleeping) right before I walk out the door. I try to get two pumping sessions in throughout the night, sometimes I only manage one. But for us one dual pumping session is like two feedings for Silas since he only takes one side each feeding at the breast.
If DH is still up while I am pumping, I will ask him to send me a quick pic. Sometimes if Silas is doing something cute, he shares with me as well.
I think the best advice I can give you is - breathe! You will figure out what works for you. I had a plan and a schedule I wanted to follow when I went back. I tried to stick to it for the first week, then realized it just didn't work. You find out quickly what will be best for you. Hopefully you have a little freezer stash at home, so just in case there is a day that you slack a bit, it will all be just fine!
Good luck and remember a quote from one of my best friends/coworkers "I can do ANYTHING for 12 hours!"
Married 6/6/09
DS 5/11/11
DD 9/13/13
I EP but this is my schedule.
I get up at 6:00am, get ready for work, and pump at about 6:45am (DH gets DS ready in the mornings, including giving him the bottle- this is a HUGE help to get out the door by 7:30am.)
I pump at work at 11am, 2:45pm and 5:15pm. I am luckily that my company has 3 nursing rooms, you just have to reserve the room.
I get home from work about 7pm and pump before bed at 9pm and then once in the middle of the night.
Pumping and working was hard to juggle the first few weeks, I was worried my co-workers would think I was spending too much time away from my desk. But I get all of my work done on time and they are way more understanding then I thought.
Good luck and don't be stressed. Just think of that smile you will get from LO when you walk in the door every night.
It is hard at first but you will get the hang of it. I have been back at work since late June (only took 5 weeks off). I work 16 hours shifts. At first I was used to pumping every 3 hours, which was very hard since I am the only one that does my type of job here. Handling all the inpatients, outpatients, ER's and procedures by myself became very overwhelming. I was slowly able to turn pumping every 3 hours into pumping every 4, 5 and sometimes even every 6 hours. I pump before I leave my house at 530. While at work I pump around 1100, 4 and 9pm. As soon as I get home I pump again.
Pumping at work is manageable just remember that no matter how busy and hectic work is RELAX while pumping. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to pump while stressed out.
I used to say that when a really tough, busy trauma would come in. Thanks for reminding me that it's just one day.