So, a few weeks ago, my book club celebrated our 5 year anniversary. And we planned a weekend trip to a house in Virginia. It was a wonderful time but underlying with some stress.
Some of the ladies' spouses came on the trip as well, but David decided to stay home with the baby. This would be the first time I would be away from Emily for more than a few hours. We were both anxious about the experience but we decided it would be for the best. We would save money on plane tickets, not worry about renting a car, and not worry about a long drive. (The house we rented was 2 hours away from the airport.)
However, I was also excited to be doing something on my own. It would be nice treat after not being able to do much since Emily was born. I mentally prepped myself with being separated from my baby for the weekend and I made sure I had everything prepared. I set aside an amount of breastmilk for David to use for Emily and I made sure to pack both my manual pump and electric pump.
Overall, the trip was great. We read a great book, The Rosie Project, and discussed it at a beautiful winery, Crosskeys Vineyards. The house we stayed at was also beautiful and accommodated everyone with no discomfort (except for lack of towels).
The house we stayed at and the area we spent the most amount of time
Main building of the vineyard
Eclectic Readers Book Club!
The thing that really sucked was not having Emily. I have come to the conclusion that I prefer nursing over pumping while I am traveling.
When breastfeeding, you have to make sure that you keep your output consistent or your body will think that your baby now needs less milk, so will decrease production. And making sure I have enough milk has been REALLY important to me. As David mentioned one time, I basically was traumatized from the early weeks about not having enough milk so I am now very paranoid about not having enough. And I have been very diligent about nursing and pumping.
With that in mind, obviously, pumping is not as efficient as actual breastfeeding and manual pumping is less efficient than electric pumping. While I was traveling, I used the manual pump every 2 hours so I ended up pumping once or twice in the airport and twice on the plane. While pumping I used a blanket to cover myself and it just felt awkward. I couldn't see if I was pumping properly and I was paranoid the blanket would slip of my shoulder. Once I got to the house, I used my electric pump and pumped whenever I could or every 2 hours. I set myself up in a corner and just kept my stuff there until I had to leave. I also pumped once while at the winery. With that diligence I was able to pump at least the same amount of times I would nurse Emily and pump in between even if output wasn't as much. The important thing was tricking my body into thinking that Emily was still nursing that many times. And it worked, my output stayed consistent and I didn't have any troubles when I came home.
If I had Emily, I wouldn't have to worry about all that. When it was time to feed, I would just nurse her and I know she would take all the milk she needs. I also wouldn't have to worry about how I was pumping because she knows how to do it well. I would only have to pump 2 or 3 times a day, instead of pumping 6-8 times a day. I also did not have to pump and dump. I felt incredibly guilty throwing away the milk. Definitely something I did not have to worry about if Emily was with me.
It was a good decision not to bring the baby with me because everything about where we were would not have been great for her. I would have rented car and driven 2 hours close to bedtime (arriving) by myself, she would have needed her own room, and the house really wasn't baby friendly. BUT, I would have definitely preferred having the baby with me than worry about all that pumping.
So if you are breastfeeding and need to travel, try your damnedest to travel with your baby and make necessary plans around that. Because even though you have the freedom of not having a baby, you are still bound to the chains of pumping.
Aww, this looks like a great trip regardless. I'm glad you had some you time, but I am sure I'd have felt the same way. Miss you!
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