So I had scoured all of the comments about how to pump while away for a work trip. I bought coolers and ice packs and called the hotel about a fridge in my room. But I couldn't have prepared for my day yesterday.

I got to the airport, went through security with my cooler separated so they could inspect it and then headed to the airport bathroom to pump for the first time that morning. It was about 6am (side note: why aren't there even Breaatfeeding rooms in airports?). When I dove into my bag for my pump parts they weren't there. I panicked. I called my husband crying because I didn't know where they had gotten left. Without them I couldn't pump while I was gone and I would be in a world of pain during my two day trip. He told me they were on our counter and he thought I had meant to leave them there! It turns out when I moved them to put my freezer container in my bag I had forgotten to put them back.

So I then went to the airline board room asking if the airport had a first aid station that maybe magically could help. Idk why I thought they'd have pump parts. They were no help. So crying I went to the ticket counter, explained my situation, and they rebooked me for a flight about 2 hours later than my previous flight in hopes that I could run home, get the parts, and come back.

So I raced out of the airport encountering a 15 min delay just trying to get out of the parking garage, and made it home in about 40 mins (I don't live at all close to the airport). I grabbed my parts and hopped back in the car. By this time I really needed to pump! So I used my car charger to pump while driving back to the airport. I'd never done this before but it worked. What a sight for drivers next to me!

I got back to the airport, went back through security (who now wanted to test each bottle of breastmilk in my cooler) and made it to my gate with about 20 mins to spare.

It was probably one of the most stressful moments of my life! I'm hoping for a better time on my way back home tonight but it certainly made me think that in times like these it would be much easier being a mom who did not breast feed.