Hellobee Boards

@Bao: My estimated due date was March 23rd so I remember you from when I was a lurker on the March 2014 board Congrats on your little one!

@Seattlemom: One of the most helpful things for me was to have a breast pump with a battery so you don't have to be stuck to an AC outlet. I have the Hygeia Enjoye with a rechargeable battery. Also, this might sound a little bizarre, but I picked up this tip from a youtube video: put the pump in a small tote bag and put it over your shoulder. This gives you both hands free and you can walk around the house doing light chores, entertain the baby, etc.

I know everyone raves about the Simple Wishes hands-free bra, but I found it such a pain to put on and off every time I wanted to pump. Instead, I wear these pullover bras from the Gap... they can be worn all day and they do a good job holding the flanges in place.

http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1003008&vid=1&pid=153591032

Also, with my husband out of the house at work most of the day, I found it really challenging to find time to pump with a fussy baby. I started putting the baby in the stroller next to me so that I can bottle-feed her and pump at the same time. It doesn't always work since baby sometimes just wants to be held, but when it does, I feel like a super multi-tasker

Hope this helps somewhat!

@Mrs. High Heels: Thanks for the suggestion. I've been following Mrs. Pencil's posts and the coincidences are uncanny: our April Fools babies were born mere hours apart. She's also an exclusive pumper and when I read her post about her first-trimester scare, I did a double-take since I went through the same thing.

By the way, I wanted to say that your birth plan post was super helpful when it came time to write mine. It was so well-written and echoed pretty much everything I hoped for in a birth, I pretty much used it as a template for mine. I hope you don't mind

@Ctran: I just tuck it into the top of the bra... so the suction cup part that goes over the breasts is supported by the bra. It helps if you wear a snug-fitting tank top so you lift up the tank, tuck the flanges into the top of the bra and then pull the tank down a little bit so that you have support on the bottom from the bra and on the top from the tank. Does that make sense?