Ellien's Essays: The Pumping Pioneer

Ellien's Essays: The Pumping Pioneer
I read this essay and thought, wow, here's a mom who's dedicated to giving her baby breastmilk even though she's leaving the baby with another person. This makes those stay at home moms who don't breastfeed seem, well, not so dedicated, to say the least. I mean, if it's too much trouble for them to feed their babies their own breastmilk when working doesn't take them away from their babies, imagine how they'd handle working and breastfeeding. Mothering as a working mom is now considered the norm, but breastfeeding and working -- that's radical! How does anyone do it? Especially if they can't work from home?
I tried working part time from home myself when ds was a baby, but it didn't work for me -- I was suffering from ppd, had nobody to watch ds while I worked, and also had a high needs infant who would not let me put him down. I ended up quitting my job after only a couple of weeks of trying.
I sometimes envy the moms who work outside the home full time, but I also know I couldn't do it, for mulitple reasons: I'm not that organized (when does cooking, shopping, cleaning etc. get done?), energetic (when do you sleep?), or in a position to have someone I trust besides me watch my baby or child. Maybe that will change some day, but for now, I'm staying home. We will remain at the bottom of the middle class, probably never own our own home, but at least I won't be trying to juggle a job and parenting. I admire those who can manage it!
There are so many different ways to be a mom, and so many different ways to provide for your baby's needs. It's truly inspiring to hear about someone making it work to go against the grain, both in breastfeeding (which is so unpopular in our culture) and in doing it while working outside the home. Right on!