To pump or not to pump, that is the question

I'll be the first to raise my hand and say breast pumping on a two week trip to Asia is HARD! I got through the first trip in Feb/March and returned to a happy baby still willing to breast feed but as he reached 8mo old he got more and more distracted to where it only really worked in the mornings and evenings.

So why do I keep doing it?

I've noticed my supply go down, the evening after the flight was 2 ounces, last night the same after dinner, then this morning after a responsible dinner of salad, fruit and sleep I'm back up to 7 ounces! Shame to throw it away but I'm in China and no way to really store it properly and get it back to the US safely.

Pumping has the benefit of continuing to knock away at my waist line without any exercise, combined with climbing factory stairs I tend to lose 3-5lbs per 2 week trip! That's also due to my ban on meat while here because I can never be sure on what I'm being served.

Pumping also gives me the excuse to leave long office situations for a 15-20 minute break to just be alone with my breast pump and iPhone to play games. Some people take a smoke break, I take a breast pump break.

This morning I was a bit worried that my Lansinoh pump had run out of battery juice & I had none in the luggage but fortunately the hotel had an adapter and I was able to use full power.

So while it may seem like a hassle at times and baby only wants to feed morning and evening, it is still a money saver and just as importantly gives me a great excuse to take a well deserved break. How else am I going to win every level of Angry Birds on my iPhone???