On Friday morning, we had access to the hotel lounge for breakfast, so Chris insisted we all go downstairs to eat together and try to feed Kaia some solids while down there. I had to keep my pumping schedule in line as much as possible, so I went downstairs with my Spectra pump on and connected, just with a shawl covering it. Occasionally while sitting and eating, I would remove my shawl from one of my breasts to do a breast compression or check the flow. The other times I’ve pumped in the hotel hobby in Poughkeepsie or Philadelphia, no one really seemed to notice anything I was doing. But here, alas, someone finally noticed! Some white guy eating breakfast and on his phone looked over at me as I was doing breast compressions, initially had a confused look on his face, which then changed to a frown with a little disgust, lingered looking at our table, and eventually minded his own business. Regardless of what he was really thinking, I could really care less.
The way I feel about pumping in public is the same way I feel about breastfeeding directly/nursing in public: I am allowed to feed my child as I see fit, and if someone has a problem with it, they can go fuck off. If he had tried to come over and say anything, I would have already pre-prepared a very aggressive response, but I’m happy to say he kept to himself.
Other than home, these are all the places I can now say I have pumped milk:
The roof of our apartment building
Hotel lobby and hotel room
Car
Hotel lounge
In-flight on plane
Airport lounge and lounge bathroom
Vineyard
On the street
Elevator
Central Park
Kid’s birthday party at a kids’ gym in Forest Hills, Queens
My parents’ house
It’s been almost nine months of pumping and providing nourishment for my baby, and I have no plans to stop yet. Every day, I’m proud that my supply has kept up, and I do not plan to wean down to three pumps until I hit 11 months… unless my menstrual cycle has anything to say about it. My body is a powerful machine, and I am grateful for the breastfeeding journey I’ve had thus far and the benefits my baby has been able to receive because of it. I have so, so much to be thankful for.