I have my first work trip tomorrow and I'll be flying to DC - just for the day thankfully. This will be my first experience with air travel and breast milk, so I'm a little nervous about what to expect. A lot of women I work with have been able to provide some wonderful advice and tips on the subject, so I feel very prepared. BUT, I still feel like I'm going to get "that guy" who is going to want to inspect everything. And I'm a little nervous about pumping in a bathroom stall, which will more than likely be where I'll need to pump.
My pumping experience to this point has been ideal. Seriously, my pumping environment is probably like porn to nursing moms. I have a private office with a lock, I put a fridge in my office so I don't have to store the milk in a communal place, and I work in such a laid back, understanding office that there are very few meetings where I couldn't just get up smack in the middle of the meeting and go pump for 15 minutes. No one would care or ask questions. Plus, I have oversupply "issues" which means I'm able to pump exactly - if not more than - what Jake needs for the next day.
So basically up until this point I've been spoiled. Anytime I feel like pumping is getting a little hard, all I have to do is get online and read the countless stories of women that have been walking in on while pumping or women that have to set their alarms for ungodly hours to add in a pumping session in the middle of the night. I work with a woman who had 30 work trips in her daughter's first year and breastfed exclusively for 12 months. These women are breastfeeding warriors and they keep me motivated.
Yet, I'm still nervous about tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. But if you hear about a crazed woman who went off on a TSA official for opening up her cooler bag of breast milk. Yep, that's me.
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The paradox of insular language
8 months ago
Good luck! I remember flying to/from Vegas when Logan was a baby. On the way there, I was pulled out of line and my pump was opened and thoroughly inpsected, and they acted like they had never seen a breast pump before. Embarrasing. On the way back, I was actually transporting milk, and the first guy that opened my bag actually told me I had to throw it out since I didn't have my baby with me! WTF?! I told him that if I had my baby with me, I wouldn't need to have all this extra milk. He called another TSA worked over and they finally agreed that I was able to take my milk. It sucked!
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