Hanging Up the Horns

Since Molly is now officially a year old, I've decided to stop pumping and I'm hanging up the horns for good! Although Molly and Max (once they were able to nurse full feeds) have always been almost exclusively breastfed, I have always had to pump once in the afternoon while I was at work. So, for the better part of three years, I've been tied down to a breast pump, at least once a day. I'm usually a little sad about passing baby milestones, but I have to say that I'm not the least bit sorry to pack up the pump(s) (my Ameda Egnell Elite and my Avent Isis) for good. Molly is still nursing, but if she gets hungry when I'm at work in the afternoon and needs a feeding (which she usually doesn't), she'll be getting a cow's milk bottle instead of a mama's milk bottle.

During my pumping stint, I've pumped in a number of places -- virtually every room of my house, the hospital pump rooms, next to my baby's isolette in the NICU, in various empty offices at my workplace, in restrooms across the state, in the car, at my parents' house, and even in a shower stall once (don't ask). I discovered early on the importance of having a manual pump -- when your power happens to go out for an extended period of time and the back-up battery in your electric pump is running out, manual pumps can save the day!

I couldn't resist doing a little rough math to figure out how much time I spent in front of a pump over the last few years. Since I pumped exclusively for Max for six months and Molly for two months (which equates to about 7 25-minute pumping sessions a day), and pumped at work for Max for another 8 months and for Molly another 10 months (1 25-minute pumping session a day, 5 times a week), my calculations leave me with a grand total pump time of:

• 109950 minutes or


• 1,833 hours or


• 76 days or


• 11 weeks

Now I wonder why it seems like I haven't had any spare time during the last couple of years -- I basically spent the equivalent of three straight months just sitting in front of the pump. Keep in mind that the estimate doesn't include clean up time, bottle preparation time, bottle feeding time, time spent sterilizing pump parts, etc. No wonder I'm exhausted!

We can now finally pack up the bottle sterilizer, bottle drying rack, and the baby bottles that have been sitting on the kitchen counter for three years (Molly, when she gets cow's milk, gets it in a sippy cup). I think we're about due for a garage sale -- if anyone is in the market for a hospital-grade breast pump, drop me a line. I'll cut you a good deal. ;)