 Hi guys, so I feel like it's been a while since I've actually recorded a video because I had pre-recorded so many videos while I was pregnant that I had videos for like three months which was awesome but I wanted to do kind of just a general sit down video and talk with you guys about something and this is Callie by the way, she's four months old and a lot of you guys have asked me questions about how it was going back to work now that I'm a mom and how I'm pumping and what it's been like, what we've been doing and so I know this video won't appeal to a lot of you guys but I did wanna talk about it because I know a lot of you guys are moms or wanna be moms in the future and you're concerned about going back to work and if you're breastfeeding you're worried about pumping and all these things so I wanna talk about how our transition was and what we did and all of that jazz because I am back to work, I've actually been back to work for over a month now. I had three months off with her which was awesome, I worked up to past my due date, actually a little backstory for all those of you who even care. The day before I went into labor I worked and I actually lost my mucus plug at work and was having little contractions. I had a, not a terrible last shift but one of those shifts where you just get a train wreck of a patient and it was crazy and probably put me into labor but my whole pregnancy, my coworkers were so awesome with helping me and just being, not really making me do anything. I know that sounds silly but I was still doing stuff but if I had a really difficult patient they would kinda take over and I would do the charting or the easier, less labor intensive stuff so that was super awesome and I had three months off with her which was wonderful and I actually am fortunate enough to have gone down to part-time at work so I'm only working two days a week right now which is awesome because then she doesn't have to be in daycare and I can be home with her the majority of the time and it's really been just what works well for us and what I've needed at this phase in our lives and so thankful we didn't have to put her in daycare, nothing against daycares but so I have been working the days that like my husband doesn't work or where someone else can watch her and yeah so anyways the first day back to work was definitely a transition with just her learning how to take a bottle well enough I mean she had taken it before work but she definitely loves the boob and she is exclusively breastfed so she was very attached in that manner and to suddenly go a whole day where she just had to use a bottle she's like what the heck so the first day was a little rough with her protesting but she got over it she figured it out and now has no problem taking a bottle while I am at work it's been really nice for me to go back to work honestly it's kind of a break it allows me to use my mind in a different way it allows me to interact with adults all day it allows me to do what I love I love being a nurse I love this profession and I love being a mom so it's nice that I can do both and I'm glad that Callie gets to see hey no fussing in this video there's no crying out loud I'm glad that she gets to see me be a nurse be someone a working mom who she can look up to and hopefully strive to have that independence and that security when she's older and be like a self-sufficient person and nothing against being a stay-at-home mom I think that's wonderful if that works for your family and that's what you love to do but for me I need that personal sense of accomplishment outside of just her even though she is my greatest accomplishment hey I'm gonna put her down so she can entertain herself while I'm finishing this video so you might hear some baby noises over there cause she's on her little play mat okay so a lot of you guys are wondering like how pumping has been going going back to work and what I've been doing I pump three times a shift and I am very fortunate enough to have a good milk supply so I only pump for seven minutes I know some moms need to pump for longer but I pump after my first assessment which is about nine o'clock-ish I pump at lunch time-ish and then about four p.m.-ish and I work from seven to seven thirty and obviously when I get home I feed her I also pump right before I leave for work so that way I'm drained or whatever and don't have to show up to work and already be like, engorged and that has worked for me I haven't noticed a decrease in my supply I pump about the same amount each shift for those of you who are curious I pump about 18-ish ounces during my shift and then before work I pump about probably six to seven maybe eight-ish ounces because it's been a long, you know longer in the night where she hasn't eaten so I am more full in the morning and that's been plenty for her to equate to what she's eating while I'm gone basically what I do is I have my my hands-free pumping bra I have a wet bag that I put my pump parts and bottles in and then I bring bags to just dump the milk in and I don't rinse off my parts I just, you know, dump the milk in the bags label it, put it in the wet bag and put that all in the fridge and then I wash my parts at night and I'll leave the link down below for like the wet bag that I use because I really, really like it you got her shots today so she's a little bit extra fussy all right, I guess she was just hungry anyways, I'll leave the link down below for the wet bag because I really think it's a great thing to have so that way you're not like putting your pumps in a plastic bag or whatever it's reusable, it's rewashable whatever works for you but that's just what has worked for me a lot of you have wondered like, you know as far as what if you're really busy and you can't pump or, you know what do you do and my thinking is, and I know every person is different not that your patients aren't important your patients are important but it's more important to feed your baby and at the end of the day your baby's more important than anything and so make the time, use your resources and have someone watch your patients I'm lucky that it doesn't take me that much time to pump I can see how it'd be very stressful if you needed to pump for 30 minutes three or four times a shift and that would be a lot especially to be away for that amount of time but really if you're wanting to pump and you're wanting to breastfeed and whatnot while you're at work make the time, use your resources have someone watch your patients while you go pump and luckily like we work in the healthcare profession so most people I feel like are very open minded to breastfeeding and understand the importance of it and are fine with you going to take that break to go pump I'm literally gone for like 12 minutes when I go and pump and we have a little computer in our room in the pumping room and so I can chart as I'm pumping if I need to and yeah, that's pretty much kind of our routine I'm very thankful to be back to work honestly, it's been nice for me I know every mom is different but it makes me enjoy my time with her more I finally feel like we've kind of got a routine down as far as like before I was like do I wake her up and feed her before I go or do I not do, you know, whatever so you'll figure out your routine if you're worried about going back to work I know every baby's different but the best advice I can give is everyone's gonna adjust it's a transition your baby's gonna learn their new routine with whoever's watching them you're gonna learn your new routine while you're at work and it's gonna be fine it's nuts that I don't know where I'm a mom now and I've been a mom for four months and I'm also working and it's just I'm thankful that I can do it all I guess, or do both things and that I don't have to really sacrifice a whole lot with her so that's it if you guys have any questions, leave them down below otherwise we'll resume our normal nursing videos after this one but I just wanted to talk about it a little bit cause they know you guys had a lot of questions so thank you for watching and I'll see you guys in my next video bye