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ellaNu630
member
XP: EP and working full-time
ellaNu630
member
Have any EP gone back to work full time, or have any of you been working and successfully EP? I go back on the 11th and am having a hard time figuring out how I'm going to successfully work full time, be a mom and wife and still somehow fit in my ridiculous pumping schedule. It's starting to stress me out. Any feedback would be awesome.
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Re: XP: EP and working full-time
I EP'd for DD#1 for 6 mos, 3 of which were while working FT and in grad school FT. I never had enough for a freezer stash either.
I commute into NYC from the suburbs, and I wasn't pumping on a ferry, bus or train either.
The easy part was pumping at work - I can set aside the time daily and still manage my work. I am not coordinated enough to pump and work, but I could read emails or review some documents that didn't require me to mark up too much.
Even school wasn't bad (I left at 7am and came home around 5pm on Saturdays) - there were 2 other nursing moms in my group and my cohort and professors were understanding of our breaks.
The hard part was at home. It was a lot to balance. Cooking, cleaning, food shopping, homework, and I wanted to spend time with my baby and husband. Friends and family took a back seat that year and thankfully, no one held it against me
I let a lot go - DH learned to food shop, sort of. we ate a lot of convenience foods and take out. we hired a cleaning service. i bought lunch often. i could not do it all and i don't think anyone expected me to. My family was super supportive too - sometimes cooking us a few freezer meals or doing our food shopping or getting the baby new clothes when she grew because i was just not around to go shopping myself.
this allowed me time to pump. and pump. and pump.
i quit at the 6 mos mark because i found it more important to spend time with the baby than with my pump - and our time was so limited due to work, school and 3 hours daily commuting.
get the help you need, be realistic, and good luck!
I just hit 6 months and pumping at work has been the easiest part of EPing. I actually enjoyed it immensely. I have a boring job that I don't feel very driven at, so I never worried that I was missing anything, and nobody every gave me any grief, which helped, but mostly after months of having to entertain LO and trying to pump at the same time, sitting down by myself and pumping all alone was such an indulgence! I read a bunch of books, cleaned my purse, paid my bills...it was excellent "ME" time.
I never had a problem with supply, so I readily cut down my sessions and often just pumped at work over my lunch break, which worked well.
If you are EPing, I assume you are already using a hands free bra, and if you can I'd consider a 2nd pump for work (especially with NYC commute - hauling that every day would suck). I got a used PISA for my 2nd, and leave it set up in my pumping room at work all the time (a great luxury also). Each morning I just have to bring my cooler, ice pack, bottles, caps, and horns/valves/membranes. I keep a pack of freezer bags in my work pump all the time in case I forget bottle caps or something (happened at least twice), and I think I have 9 sets of pump parts so that is never a problem. I also keep back up membranes and tubing in each pump, since I can't hand express and would be screwed without my pump.