Welcome Back!

We got back from our vacation and woke up the next day to sickness all throughout our house. Everyone was fine when we arrived but the following day it hit hard and fast. It started with me and a lovely case of strep. I. Felt. Horrible. You know you're a mom when you're thankful to be sick on the weekend so you don't have to worry about taking care of the kiddos. I was glad it hit me when it did. I didn't get just a ton of time to rest though. The next day Campbell woke up feeling crummy. We spent over 3 hours in urgent care (don't even get me started on that!) so we could get him some medicine so he would feel better. By the next day he was doing good but then on Monday afternoon Bennett got sick. So we spent 2 hours on Tuesday at our doctors office. What a way to be welcomed back to adulting. Thankfully Scott never got sick. He always manages to bypass the sickness but any time the kids get sick I ALWAYS get sick too. It's super annoying. Everyone seems to be okay now thank goodness. This time of year is always hard when it comes to germs.

I missed my boys. Bennett is too young to know any different but Campbell missed us too. When we finally got home and he saw us for the first time, he cried. It broke my heart. Not sure if I'll ever go on another vacation after that! Overall Campbell was totally fine. He adores his Gamma but it made me sad that he cried when he saw us. Bless his heart.

So a lot of y'all have asked how I was able to store up enough milk to go on a vacation in the first place and how I traveled back with the milk I pumped so I thought I'd give a little rundown on all of that.

Scott and I had always talked about taking a trip in January so it was always in the back of my mind as a possibility so I thought I'd start preparing for it early just in case. Once Bennett dropped his dreamfeed and started sleeping 12 straight hours every night, I started pumping before bed. I did it for a couple of months and saved well over 200 ounces of milk. I didn't do it every single night but I did pump most nights. I usually gave myself a break on the weekends. I waited until as late as possible in the evening so I could get the most ounces and typically got around 3oz each time. Eventually it just started piling up and I knew I had plenty if we wanted to take a little vacation. I just figured this was the easiest way to pump extra. There's no way I have time in the day to do it so this was my best option.
As far as flying back, I was pleasantly surprised. TSA was super nice about it and didn't give me a hard time at all. I carried my pump on the plane with me (it's considered a medical device so doesn't count as a carry on) and had to pump a couple of times on the plane there and back. I have a Medela and it comes with a cooler so I brought that and another small cooler to be able to store my milk in. I got some ice from our hotel before we left and I couldn't believe it but TSA didn't take it away from me. I was prepared for them to. I had to get some new ice when we were in Houston for our layover because the majority of it had melted. I made sure to bring a lot of ziplocks to store my milk bags in and also to put ice in. My coolers were crammed full and I'm not sure I could have brought back one more ounce but I made it back with everything without any troubles at all. I read a lot of blogs before I left to get tips from traveling/working/pumping Moms (who are the most kick butt of all the moms I've decided) about how to travel with milk, the best way to clean your pump on the go, etc and it was super helpful.
Would I ever travel again while still breastfeeding? Probably not. It honestly wasn't that big of a deal but I would probably just wait until I wasn't breastfeeding anymore. Plus, Bennett wouldn't always take his bottle (even though he's never, ever refused it before....I think he was on strike from me leaving!) which was really stressful for me and my mom. When I got back, Bennett nursed and ate about 2 liters of milk which made me feel bad for him because he obviously missed it. His diaper the next morning looked like a giant marshmallow! It made me laugh.
So there's my tips/info on that subject! Hope it was helpful!!