GainesvilleMoms.com

Whoever made up this saying was not a woman and never had to pump in the middle of the night! I nearly cried at 3am when I sleepily spilled one of the bottles I had just pumped. I'm quite positive I muttered a couple expletives. It's just so precious! Every drop represents a vacuum tug on my you-know-what!!!

Mary you are so right! My most painful memories of breast feeding are , after my kids finally stopped waking up 3-4 times a night, of actually setting my alarm for 3:00am each morning to pump-so that my supply , in the freezer, would stay stocked for the times I was working. It was stressful, painful and exhausting. I must say it builds discipline and character though. It now makes getting up at 5:30 am to hit the gym at 6am a total walk in the park compared to those days. Actually, come to think of it, everything seems easier compared to that. Hang in there!

I cried more than once over that same thing. I would get very upset because I would have to throw away a bag of milk after it had sat out too long, and my dear hubby would smirk and say, "You've got 10 more in the freezer. Chill out." Needless to say we didn't speak for a while after he said that.

Breast milk is sooooo precious and, in my opinion, breastfeeding these days is a much bigger sacrifice than it was in our grandmothers' time, when breastfeeding was THE way to feed babies.

I remember when my 70-plus year old aunt came to visit once and sat speechless as I pulled out the pump.

She had never seen a pump before. The lengths many mothers go to today to give their babies a healthy start in life is really remarkable.

Mary, I totally feel for you. When Hannah was about 7 weeks old, I had to have my gall bladder removed. After the anesthesia, I had to pump and dump until the drugs were out of my system. It was so depressing. It will happen and it's OK to feel bad about it.