Today was my first day back to work and I have to say it went much better than I expected. I have 2 immediate supervisors, both of which are male. I asked them about a place to pump in PD for when the need arises. They told me of a room that is available and then said it was okay if I go home to pump, if it would make me more comfortable. I told him I pump in KH's room at the house and he interrupted me to chime in that it helps the letdown. Wow! He was knowledgable!! To clarify, I work for a big, small city. The population is around 60-70000 but it's extremely spread out. I have an area I'm assigned to patrol within the city. To get from the farthest end of my area to my house would take at least 20 minutes. For him to tell me that was an option had me floored! I was stoked! I didn't want to take advantage of that opportunity too regularly. We continued to talk. The supervisor who talked about letdown told me about how he spent $600 to rent a monster huge pump for his wife to use. The other supervisor then started in with a story about how curiosity got the best of him and he tried to use his wife's pump on his own nipples. Of course he knew nothing would come out, but he tried anyway. He talked of pain and purple nipples. Ha! I got a definite laugh. Anyway, on to my day.

I had to de-ice my truck before going to work. This is Texas. We don't have a need for that. The roads were supposed to be iced and the wrecks were supposed to be plenty. While I was sitting in shift brief listening to the supervisor go over all the details, all I could think of was how bad my tits hurt! KH didn't wake up enough to eat a full meal and she slept a lot overnight. I really needed to pump! At about 815 (my shift starts at 7) I was able to go home and pump. I got 8 oz!!! No wonder I was in so much pain! I thought it was a combination of the bulletproof vest and the tight shirt. Nope! It was the extra 4 oz I was housing. I got everything back on and went back in service. I noticed that the process of undressing and redressing took longer than the pumping process. Clearly something I need to work on.

I received a text from my zone partner, while I was checked out at my house for so long, asking if I was okay. I explained to him that I was still breastfeeding so I had to pump. I then asked to meet up with him. My plan was to apologize for the amount of time I would be spending pumping. He said, "That's way more important. Family comes first." We then showed each other pictures of our little ones. I talked to him about places to pump and mentioned going to the fire station. For the record, our small town is one in which Police and Fire are great friends. I spend a lot of my breaks hanging out with them at the station. My zone partner suggested I go talk to admin there to make sure it would be okay. So I did. The Lieutenant at the station looked at me in awe when I asked to use the women's bathroom to pump in. He asked why I would want to go in there when I could use their dorm. He said the door doesn't lock but all I have to do is tell them. I would run the risk of having someone walk in on me. I told him I'm not shy and that I would plop in one of the recliners in the main room in front of everyone because I'm not shy. That lead to the discussion that they would watch, no matter how atrocious it may be. Either way, after about 3 hours, I was hurting so I made it to the fire station. I used the dorm and pumped 4 oz. No one walked in on me.

One thing that is on my side is my babysitter lives in town. I was able to go to see my munchkin on my lunch break. My intentions were to feed her on my break. When I got there, the sitter was holding her and an empty bottle. Oops. I took her anyway and she ate for about 2 minutes. Our normal feeds last around 30 minutes. I pumped again and got 4 oz.

With it being my first day back from maternity leave, I had some administrative things to do. I checked out at the PD. I took advantage of the room I was told I could use. I wonder how many people walked by and wondered what the sound was? I kept a cooler in my patrol car to store the milk so it didn't get flaunted in the break room fridge. That was my choice.

All in all it was the best first day back at work. My sitter sent me updates and pictures throughout the day and I was able to spend some time with KH. The real challenge will be the upcoming weekend. Details to follow :-)