Here we are on our last weekday together:
The other part of returning to work was getting the clear from my doctor and getting the authorization forms to our HR company. Thankfully, I was mailed the forms and was able to drop them off at my doctor's office and they offered to fax them in for me. Check that off the list, whew, and another reason to love my OB's office.
Another part of the back to work transition was getting Rowan enrolled at daycare (sob). I need to bring his clothes and cloth diapers (more on that in a different post) ready to wear to stock his cubby. Daycare uses Halo sleep sacks and thankfully I have a few at home so he can use one from home while at school. The final thing is the what causes me a little stress. Packing up the breastmilk.... The policy in the State of Wisconsin is that heated breastmilk has to be tossed even if it was unused. I hate this policy because it feels so wasteful to me. In our home, we utilize the "eat as you go" strategy and will start low and warm more milk if more is needed when bottle feeding. The policy at daycare required the bottles must be prepared at home and ready to go. Rowan is a 3 ounce - 5.5 ounce bottle eater and it spurs my questions of how big do I made these bottles? I could do 4 ounce to be on the safe side, but if he needs more it could result in almost 4 ounces of waste if a new bottle needs to be warmed. On the other hand, I can make 5 ounce bottles and likely only have 1-2 ounces of waste (if any at all). In my perfect world, I would love to send a larger container of milk and it can be warmed as needed.... However, I understand that regulations are needed, but as other breastfeeding mothers can confirm, we cry over spilled milk. I think that I will likely go for 5 ounce bottles and hope for the best. I am going to ask the teacher to let me know how much was consumed to I can make adjustments as needed. You may wonder why I am obsessing over this considering I did it with Kellen. When Kellen was in the baby room they still allowed containers of milk and they would pour them into bottles.... times have changed.
The other side of the work breastfeeding dance is pumping. I will be pumping at work and have my pump ready to go- flanges, bottles, nipple cream, mini Madela cooler, and mini ice pack for storage. I use a Madela Pump In-Style and actually have two of them, one from Kellen and one from Rowan. I am going to bring the newer one to work because it will be a bit more efficient and my older pump will remain at home. I figure that this is a good plan because I will not forget my pump....I just need to remember the bottles..... Actually, I am thinking of using the bags at work and keeping a supply there so it further eliminates the chance of morning forgetfulness (I just noticed that I mentioned nothing about pumping supplies in my rough morning outline above). I have my own private office at work and plan to pump twice while I am there. I am very fortunate to work in an office that values breastfeeding. They have special curtains for us to use on our windows and I have never experience any push back when I needed to take a break to pump. I feel very lucky because I know that this is very different from what many of my friends have experiences while trying to pump on the job. My only source of concern if a conference I have coming up in a few weeks and I hope the schedule is flexible for me to fit in my pumps. Last time, I called the hotel and they have me a hotel room to pump and it was so fantastic. I am hoping for the same thing this time, but this hotel is a little more modern and they may have space set aside.
So, this is my plan...so far. I know many of you do this every morning and some with multiple children..... You all should know that you make it look so easy and I know I will get my act together and this will become my routine..... I hope.
Next week my cloth diaper post is coming!
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