At the hospital, after delivering, with nipples too cracked to latch
You may begin your pumping journey. Make sure the flanges match!
At home with a screaming newborn with a belly to fill up
You plug in your electric pump; now grab your water cup
For your thirst will be unmatched, and grab a big snack too.
The hunger is intense, for the baby and for you.
You watch videos of your baby, crying and distraught
To help trigger your letdown. Now don’t waste a drop.
As the baby gets bigger, you pump and pump and pump.
Sometimes while you’re at home, and sometimes on the run.
In the car, while commuting, in a tiny office space
In a bathroom, in the airport, really any place.
In a closet, in a nursing pod, before your yoga class
In a Zoom meeting, while watching Netflix, while wiping baby’s a$$
While the baby is at daycare and you’re working at the house
When everyone else is sleeping, you pump quiet as a mouse.
While your toddler demands snacks and attempts to potty train
When you’re sick in bed with flu, with a milk supply to maintain.
And before you run a 5k, you find a parking space
You hand pump in your car, and then you run your race!
And before you visit the dentist, you park around the block
And you pump and pump and pump while you scroll through TikTok
And then you scroll through Insta as you pump on the other side
And then you spill the milk bottle, and so you cry and cry and cry.
You spend hours with your Medela, the bottles, and the tubes
You’re pumping, cleaning, sanitizing. There’s so much work to do.
Or maybe you’re a Spectra girl. Is it pink or blue for you?
Clip on your wearable pump, and there’s nothing stopping you!
So congrats to you, mama. You’re working so darn hard.
You deserve a shower, you deserve a break, you deserve a thank you card.
In your pumping-friendly shirts and your clip-down bra,
You may not feel so glamorous, but Mama, you’re a star!
