My Other Relationship

I have another relationship. Don't worry, Jenn knows. We have been together for almost one year. We meet every morning around 8am and every evening around 9pm. Last summer, we spent a lot of time together. We would rendez-vous up to 8 times per day. As the months rolled on, our meetings became less frequent but we would never go a day without seeing each other at least twice. I will admit that sometimes I would prefer to skip our dates but the guilt and the physical (yes, physical) pain that I would feel would be far too great. 

My other relationship's name is Medela Freestyle. Medela is a pump. 

For those of you who have found my blog in recent months, I'll give you a quick back story. Neither of the girls could latch when they were first born. Fortunately, Teagan figured it out after about one week. Quinn, on the other hand, would scream bloody murder at the sight of the boob. She was crying. I was crying. We were both frustrated and stressed. As a result, I pumped. I pumped a lot. Despite my stress, my desire to give the breastmilk was the strongest emotion of all. In between feeding Teagan and pumping, I continued to try to breastfeed Quinn. After many visits to several lactation consultants and weeks of perseverance on both of our parts, she got it!

I continued to pump for the girls' bedtime feed. Prior to Quinn mastering breastfeeding, Jenn and I had established a nice little bedtime routine. The girls would be in their pjs with the lights dimmed and relaxing music playing in the background. A baby lying across each of our laps drinking a bottle of warm, pumped milk. This routine has become a wonderful end to our day. 

While I love our routine, I am thinking about ending my relationship with my "other other-half." If you've pumped, especially if you do it regularly, you will understand why. It can be a pain. The pump is like a medication that I have to take. If we are out at night (a rarity these days!), I feel like Cinderella come 10pm-ish. My boobs start to get sore because I'm an hour past my evening date with Medela. 

My plan is to work on transitioning the girls to nursing at bedtime. Quite honestly though, I'm not sure how to make this transition. My body is also used to two pumps per day, as well as the four times I breastfeed the girls throughout the day. I know that it will adjust.

Anyways, part of me will miss my dates with Medela...ok, maybe it's a very small part. We've been faithfully committed for a long time now. Dear Medela, I think that sporadic dates will be better for our relationship. I will never forget the gift that you allowed me to give to my babies.