A Pumping Eulogy

My Dear Medela Pump In Style Advanced, 

You have served me well.

I really got to know you over the last year.

In fact, I spent over 900 hours (no joke, I did the math) in the last year with you.

Although my life seemed to revolve around you, I thank you for the opportunity you gave me to feed my children.

You will not be missed too much, but your time here was greatly appreciated.

Love,

Katy and the Babies

**Disclaimer - This is all about my breast pumping experience. So Dad, Kyle, and Brad and anyone else who just doesn't want/need to hear about this, no need to read on, the picture says it all!

A monumental moment just took place.

I pumped for the last time. 

I have pumped every single day, multiple times a day for the last 360 days

and man am I proud of myself for making it this long! 

When the babies were first born I was pumping every 2-3 hrs. Once they were about 2 weeks old I was pumping every 3-4 hours. That's anywhere from 8-12 times a day. Eventually I got to the point where I was pumping every 4-5 hours. Then once they became more mobile around 6 months it wasn't too easy to pump during the day because I'd have to continuously unplug to keep track of the babies, then I wouldn't produce as much, then I'd stress out because I wasn't producing enough for my babies, then the stress would decrease my milk supply and it was a vicious cycle! 

So when the babies were about 8 months old it was time to reevaluate the situation. 

In order to meet all of our needs we decided that the best option for us was to decrease the number of times I pumped and start introducing formula to the babies. So we did just that and it was one of the best decisions I made in regards to nursing. So ever since then I have been pumping just 2-3 times a day and when we're out of breast milk we give the babies formula. The babies will be one year old next week (how a year has gone by blows my mind!) and I am SO grateful that I was able to produce enough milk for our babies for so long.

I'm not writing this to get praise or sympathy, I am just really proud of myself for lasting so long because it definitely wasn't easy for me to do. It has just been a HUGE part of our life for the last year.

I am proud to say that I have survived a year of countless pumping sessions, washing bottles countless times a day, pumping in the car, pumping at people's houses, people asking "Where's Katy?" and others answering "Pumping!" and feeling like our life revolved around my pumping schedule.

I am SO grateful that I was able to even produce enough milk for our babies and that I have such a patient and supporting husband who encouraged me when I was ready to throw in the towel!  I completely recognize that I chose this option and I confidently believe that it was the best option for us, but let's just say that I am really hoping that nursing will be the best option for us when we have other children :)

Farewell my lovely pump!!!