Hellobee Boards

Both sound pretty good! I think you can't go wrong with either.

Pumping in your office sounds better to me. I don't have my own office but that would've been amazing. A fridge was all I needed. I wiped my parts down with those Medela cleaning wipes and refrigerated them in Ziploc bags between uses (then just hand-washed them every night at home). Washing them in the sink at work every day would have been a PITA.

At my work we have a lot of conference calls so being able to pump while I'm on a call is important. Plus having scheduled times would be hard for me. I schedule my pumping time on my calendar but I like having the flexibility with it if needed. So it really depends on what your work is like.
ETA - I also don't wash pump parts at work just store in fridge v

If work covers your breaks and you don't need to make up the time, then I would go for option 2. Otherwise, option 1 still is great. I pumped in my office with the door closed and stored milk in soft coolers in my office fridge. I preferred being able to keep busy during pumps, it helped the time go by faster for me. Whether you bring a pump to work or not, you'll still need to bring a bag with a soft cooler and ice packs plus your pump parts everyday, so not having to bring your pump won't make as big a difference. I did not rinse out my parts between pumps at work, I just stored them in a ziploc bag and put them in my soft cooler so people wouldn't see them. I'd wash them at the end of everyday. So, not having a sink for option 1 isn't terrible either.

I pumped in my office with the door locked and a post-it that said I was available by phone for email. Most people figured out what that meant.

I didn't have another option, but I think I still would have chosen to use my office. I was able to keep working but if I needed to zone out for a few minutes, it's not like anyone could see what I was doing. And I really didn't see that as any different than me being on personal websites (like now) during work time.

I brought a cooler bag (lunch box size) and kept my pumped milk and pump parts in there with cooler packs. Like others have said, if you are keeping the parts refrigerated you don't need to wash them between each pump (which would have been such a pain).

There are pros and cons to each scenario. I would suggest trying out both options to see what works best for you. Or do a combination of the two depending on the day and what works best for your schedule.

I have 2 LOs. With LO1, I WOH FT and pumped in my office's mother's room. I pumped at the same 2 times every day, and I blocked off my calendar so I wasn't available for meetings. With LO2, I WAH FT, but still pump 2 times a day.

Some thoughts - I've only used the Freestyle, but I've heard that the hospital grade pumps are much more effective (more milk per session), which is a huge plus. No matter which option you select, you have to pump and if you don't have something blocked on your calendar, its easy to get distracted and forget to pump (or end up in back to back meetings and need to pump). Either way, you have to bring parts, bottles/bags, and a cooler bag back and forth so you do have to lug stuff in both scenarios.

Haha! So funny you asked that. When I first went back I called DH to make sure he couldn't hear. But today he called my cell while I was pumping and he thought I was in the car with the windshield wipers going. So I freaked out and made him call me on my office phone to make sure he couldn't hear and he still couldn't. Shewh! Haha!

My insurance Medela PIS doesn't really work. As in, I get no milk. I have to use a hospital grade pump. But, I have one (on loan from my best friend), so I use it in my office.

I get better yield when I am not multitasking while I pump. But at least multitasking is an option if I stay in my office.

Can't you sign up to use the pumping room when convenient, and then just keep your PISA in your office as backup?

both sound like great options. i ended up voting for the separate pumping room because of the privacy. my husband could always hear his coworker's pump even when she closed the door to her office. not a huge deal, though, and having to pick a certain time is a little annoying. meh, now i'm leaning towards using the PISA in your office!

I would try out both and see which you like better. And just so you know, you probably will need to schedule pumping time for yourself regardless of whether you do it in your office or in a pumping room. I constantly had people trying to schedule things we me, or I'd get busy with work and realize hours had gone by and I was late to pump.

@Little Misters Mom: ask your hospital for some! Mine always gave me extra tubing and flanges and such for the hospital pump

I would put a do not disturb sign on your door when you pump and pump in your office. Can you buy a mini fridge for work? Several pumping moms at my office have them. IHave done both and not dealing with other people's schedule when needing to pump is so much easier.

I blocked off 45 minutes for pumping on my calendar so noone would schedule anything then. It also shows me as "away" on our office IM system. This way I'm laying down expectations that I'm NOT at my desk and not available. I would take my blackberry and do work while pumping, but I wasn't answering calls which would be awkward with the pump going.

I used a hospital grade pump with my first child and a PIS with my second and have had better results with the PIS, although, a lot of it is just due to supply. I'd rather have the privacy than what choice 2 entails. I never wash my pump parts...just stick them in the fridge and get them back out when I pump again.