Pumping Mommy: Basra Edition

I work in oil and gas - I try to avoid posting who my employer is on FB and IG for privacy reasons. My close friends all know who I work for, and anyone who wants to snoop can figure it out via LinkedIn. Anyway - my work assignment in Dubai is supporting projects in Iraq. When I took the assignment, I knew it included travel to Basra on an "as-needed" basis - to develop relationships with Iraqis that I work with, see the construction site, and backfill for my supervisor; maybe a once or twice per-quarter sort of thing. We found out we were pregnant two weeks after I accepted, and when I disclosed my pregnancy to my supervisor, he and the occupational health team decided to cancel my travel and keep me fully in Dubai.

Now that Baby L is a little older, we've established a great relationship with Miss J, and I've read dozens of articles on pumping while travelling, I felt ready to travel. I will note a list of the most helpful resources at the end of the post.

Travel in and around Basra requires quite a bit of security - so pumping on the go is not an option!

Questions that I needed answered before going!

1. Where can I store my milk while in Basra?
2. Where do I pump at the office in Basra?
3. What do I need to bring my milk home?
4. What is the itinerary for travelling in and out of country, and where are the best places to pump?

1 through 3 were pretty easy. My room at the camp had a ~4 cu. ft fridge with one of those little built-in freezer compartments, so I was able to store milk there. I laid the milk bags flat against the metal since that is the actual freezing element, and then once frozen I stored them vertically for more space.

All those happy little milk bags standing upright, and one little milk bag in front on its way to frozen happiness. Plus a chocolate bar for mommy. Because in Basra, mommy NEEDS chocolate!

The fridge also made a really great cleaning station for all my pump parts. Iraq is a dry country, so we are instructed not to carry in any alcohol products - and this includes hand sanitizers or alcohol wipes. Medela makes alcohol-free disinfecting wipes, which is perfect since I didn't want to wash my pump parts in the local water and I didn't have a microwave or electric kettle to heat up bottled water.

My tidy little pump parts cleaning station. Sometimes I wondered what the all-male housekeeping staff thought of me!

At the office, I found the ladies prayer room, and did my business there. It was private, much nicer than using the toilet area, and the ladies there were excited to see photos of my daughter. I think pumping is not a "thing" in Iraq, so they all thought I was little strange, but they seemed pretty accepting of what I was trying to accomplish.

At camp was easy. I just pumped in my room. Done.

If I were living in and taking a business trip in North America, I would have used a shipping service like Milk Stork to get my milk home, but that's a bit harder when crossing international lines, especially in the Middle East - so I was going to have to carry it in my checked luggage. To bring my milk home, I purchased a Pack-It lunchbox which is lined with freezable gel, and cooler-shock freezer packs.  I didn't know for sure that the refrigerator in my room actually worked, so I had planned to ask the camp boss to use the main kitchen freezer. I had fully prepared myself to have the awkward conversation about what was actually IN the lunchbox. Fortunately, since the mini freezer worked, I just sent my empty lunchbox and cooler packs to the kitchen freezer. Again, the all-male staff looked at me like I was strange, but didn't ask any questions.

Pack-It Brand lunch box and Cooler Shock Ice Pack

I also used zip-top bags instead of my normal Kiinde bags. The Kiinde bags are great, but they take up more room because of the twist cap. Since I was already lugging around my pump and all these cooler packs, I wanted to try to use as little space as possible, so the more traditional zip-top bag was the better option. They also allowed the milk to freezer faster since they lay flat and have more contact area with the freezer. I used Lanisoh because they were the cheapest in UAE, but Medela or any other zip-top brand would have been fine. My 16 bags of milk BARELY fit into the cooler with 2 icepacks, so I may need to come up with a different plan in the future if I'll be gone for more than 3 nights. Or maybe the extra frozen milk will keep everything cold enough that I can get away with just 1 ice pack. We'll see!

I brought 3 cooler packs with me, for a 3-night stay I only needed 2. For a 4-night stay, I'd probably only need 1.

The last question was the hardest. When can I pump while in transit? On the way in to Basra, the itinerary looks like this (note BAS is 1 hour behind UAE)

0545 UAE - arrive at airport

0715 UAE - board plane

0755 UAE - depart Dubai, 2 hour flight

0900 BAS - land, go to immigration for visa

1030 BAS - depart airport

1200 BAS - arrive at office

So the two primary places to pump were either at the airport or on the plane. Since I nursed Baby L just before leaving, I opted to pump on the plane. I dumped the 6 ounces that I pumped on the airplane so I wouldn't have any issues at the security checkpoints at the airport - in retrospect, I probably could have kept it.

On the way back to UAE, it was a little trickier, and the airplane was still the best option. There is a ladies prayer room at the airport, however there was no guarantee that there will be time to use it - between the office and the airport, we have to change vehicles once, and then we have 2 checkpoints that involve getting out of the vehicle, putting your bags through an x-ray, and getting patted down (for me in a private ladies area). Once at the airport, there are 2 more security checkpoints, one before and one after flight check-in. I knew once I landed in Dubai, I wouldn't want to stop and pump, I'd just wanted to get home, so I planned to pump on the plane.

1330 BAS - leave office for airport

1430 BAS - arrive airport

1545 BAS - board plane

1625 BAS - depart Basra, 2 hour flight

1915 UAE - arrive Dubai, go through immigration & customs

2030 UAE - arrive home

I had a little complication with my passport on the day we left - obtaining my exit visa took longer than expected, so I didn't get my passport back until 14:00, so the main transport group left without me so the other 10 people on the flight wouldn't be delayed because of me. Our logistics team arranged a private transport for me, but I still had to do all the security checkpoints. Plus I had to explain what my pump was at every check point. It involved a lot of pictures of my baby, pointing at my boobs and saying "milk". As soon as the male security guards figured it out, they looked incredibly embarrassed and let me through! If I wasn't in such a rush, I would have been more entertained by the whole situation.  Either way, I was glad I planned to pump on the plane.

Airplane pumping is definitely not glamorous. For such a short flight, as soon as the seatbelt sign is off, I run to the lavatory and set the pump on top of the toilet seat, and stand facing the pump (and the toilet) while I let the pump run. It only takes me about 15 minutes total, including setup and breakdown, but on an airplane, it's a long time to be in the lavatory! Plus, if it's a little bumpy, I basically get jostled around the grossest part of the plane. Baby L is old enough that I didn't worry to much about the germs, but it still grosses me out a little.

I also couldn't keep a very regimented schedule while away - I pumped when I could slip away from meetings or when I was very full and couldn't wait anymore. I'm very fortunate in that I have a pretty high storage capacity, so as long as I pumped until I was empty, I didn't see much drop in production - I brought home almost as much as Baby L consumed while I was away. The downside of my awesome milk production is that I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump because I was super engorged and couldn't get back to sleep - so my hopes for full nights of rest while away were somewhat dashed.

Was it worth the extra bag for my pump, plus increasing my luggage requirements by 30% and all the extra anxiety? Not sure - if I didn't know that she hated formula so much, I probably would have just pumped and dumped. It would have saved a lot of hassle, as well as reduced my luggage by one bag. Either way, I'm glad that I did it, and similar to the author of my favorite book on this subject, I'll never question my ability to provide for my child!

Resources!

• Work. Pump. Repeat. by Jessica Shortall - a great book for working, pumping moms. It made me laugh and cry as I read it before going back to work. I went back to this book for tips just before I made the trip to Basra.
• Pumping on a Business Trip - from Moms in Tech Blog
• Shipping & Travelling with Milk - from Breastfeeding in Combat Boots Blog - the guide for packaging frozen breastmilk was my backup plan if my special lunch box and cooler packs hadn't arrived in time. Still a great resource.
• Milk Stork - for pumping moms in North America, this looks like an AWESOME SERVICE - unfortunately, they don't ship to Iraq 😀. I signed up for a beta to have them ship me a storage kit in Dubai, but haven't heard anything from them yet.
• Ladies I work with - I asked lots of questions of other women who travelled in an out of Basra for my company. They gave me tons of suggestions and advice for which I am so grateful!
• My supervisor. He was very supportive, he made what I thought would be very awkward conversations totally NOT awkward, and he let me expense my special lunch box and cooler packs (because I wouldn't have needed them if I wasn't travelling!!!). 

Early Adventures of Baby L: Northern Fujairah

Spring break in UAE is usually 2 weeks long so that all expat kiddos can go on a reasonably family holiday. I am usually the primary backfill for 2 of the managers on my project, and I had the joy of being on seat for both of them during spring break! After 2 weeks of wearing 3 hats, I needed a little break, so I took a week off - I also needed to use up some of the extra parental leave that is part of our new company policy, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

G and I completed our PADI Scuba Diver certification during our honeymoon, so since I was in the diving mojo from Danielle's visit, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to take the next step and finish our Open Water Diver certification. We're still pretty much "blue waters" divers, and won't go anywhere without an accompanying guide, but this allows us to do some interesting dives in Dubai, such as the tank dive at Dubai Mall and Diving with the Dolphins at Atlantis. We're here, so we should take advantage! The diving school we chose does their final open water dives in Fujairah, so we made a little vacation of it, and decided to stay 2 nights.

Baby L all dressed up for her trip to Fujairah!

On the way to Fujairah, we actually drove through 3 Emirates that we'd never been to - Sharjah, Um al-Quwain, and Ras al-Khaimah. Including Fujairah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, that means we've now been in 6 of the 7 Emirates! If we'd only known, we could have changed our route slightly to include Ajman...so now we have to find a reason to go there. Apparently they have nice beaches, so maybe another beachy weekend?

Mountains of northern Ras al-Khaimah (or RAK)

Desert (and camel) of Sharjah

We stayed at the Le Meridien al Aqah, which was beautiful. It was the first time seeing the Indian Ocean for all of us, and the sea creatures we saw as G and I finished our dive certification were pretty incredible! Unfortunately, we didn't have an underwater camera with us, so we'll just share a view of our resort instead.

Views from our balcony!

During our time on the boat, Baby L and Miss J explored the resort, and found a rockin' pair of baby sunglasses. Baby L is now ready for her Hollywood close up!

Baby L: Total diva!

For our second night, Miss J offered to have Baby L stay with her overnight, so G and I could enjoy a late dinner and some rest. I figured at 7.5 months, I was finally ready for a night away from my baby girl. I had a little cry, and then G and I were exhausted from our day of diving so we skipped dinner and went to bed around 8pm -- just like all those memes about parents night without the kids!

This was totally us.

After my first full night's sleep in...well, 7.5 months, the next morning I felt amazing! And I missed my baby, so of course I rushed over to Miss J's room next door for some cuddles. After breakfast, we took Baby L down to the beach to introduce her to the ocean. She loved the sand, and was marching right along toward the water...until a big wave washed over her little legs, and then she was inconsolable. My poor sweet baby was traumatized, and I felt terrible!!! We tried washing all the sand off and easing her into the kiddie pool after that, and she still just hated it. She clung to me with all her might, and would not let go. Miss J tried splashing the water to make bubbles like bathtime, G tried singing and dancing, and it was all in  vain. The three of us eventually gave up. We took Baby L back to Miss J's room, and she napped while the 3 of us took our time to shower and pack up to go home.

Swim lessons start again this Saturday, we're hoping she's not totally miserable in the water!

Dubai Visitors! Danielle & Jonny

Words cannot express how excited I was for Danielle & Jonny to come visit us! They were originally planning to come in November, but with the move from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and my transition back to work, we decided to push the trip to Jonny's spring break. I was so bummed when we made that decision, I really miss my sister! In the last few years, I had gotten used to seeing her every few months, so going nearly a year without, I felt like we so much to catch up on!!!

So happy to see my sister!!!

Danielle arrived a day ahead of Jonny since he was on Spring Break with his classmates in South Africa. Since she just finished her dive certification in Boston (in Boston Harbor. In November. I love my sister, and I think she's a little bit crazy!) we decided to do a pair of tank dives at Atlantis - one during the daytime, and one at night.  We had so much fun! I'd never been tank diving before, so the first dive was good for getting used such a high density of underwater animals. The second dive was awesome because we got to feed the rays underwater.

The dive team gave us these ridiculous bunny ears to wear for Easter - it was hilarious!

The sting rays got pretty up-close and personal!!!

We took it easy the day Jonny arrived so the both of them could recover from the their travels. That evening, Baby L stayed with Miss J and the four of us checked out Dubai Mall and Level 43 Lounge. Jonny took some nice photos of Sheik Zayed Road, the main highway through Dubai.

Standing among giants #dubai #cityscape #sheikhzayedroad #goldenhour #level43dubai #level43skylounge #springbreak #visitdubai #architecture #artofvisuals

A post shared by Jonny San (@thejonnysan) on Mar 30, 2018 at 10:52am PDT

The following morning, we woke up super early (pickup time of 4:15am!) for a hot air balloon ride over the desert. This was extra fun because G plays basketball regularly with the pilot of our balloon! After our balloon ride, we had a quick breakfast in a bedoin-style camp, and then a ride around the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve in an old land rover (similar to the desert ride that we did with Ben & Sarah).

G's friend, Richard, preparing our balloon

Check out that desert crew!

We came home and napped, played with Baby L, then we were off again for a chartered yacht cruise around the Dubai Marina and the Palm. The first hour of the cruise was super fun - we met up with a Dubai Expat group and went swimming in the Arabian Gulf. The water was warm and very, very salty - I'm pretty sure I couldn't have sunk if I'd wanted. I don't recall treading water ever being so effortless in my entire life! The second half of the cruise was not so great - Danielle and I have both inherited seasickness from our parents, and the waters were super choppy that day. We both managed to survive the rest of the cruise without losing our lunch.

Auntie cuddles with Baby L!

Baby L wants to come on the yacht cruise with us. Sorry Baby, grown-ups only!

Sunday we celebrated Baby L's first Easter! First, we dressed her up in a beautiful outfit, courtesy of Miss J - everything from the dress all the way down to the shoes! We put on some of the jewelry that she received from her baptism, and she was ready for church. As usual, she was a doll during mass, making friends with all of our nearby neighbors until she fell asleep in my lap.

Thank you Miss J for my lovely Easter Dress!

After church, we dressed her up in an adorable bunny rabbit costume that Danielle bought for her. A pair of fortune cookie slippers and a carrot teether completed the outfit! She was so cute stomping around the house with her floppy ears and her new shoes. We kept wanting to pick her up and cuddle her cuteness, but she just wanted us to set her down so she could walk around!!

Full bunny effect

Stomping bunny tries to eat her chocolate egg

Our last group outing was to afternoon tea at the iconic Burj Al Arab. The atrium was lovely with a live ensemble. The tea and sweets were pretty yummy too!

Vertical panoramic shot of the atrium - courtesy of Jonny. I was too lazy to crop out his finger from the top.

And just like that, our whirlwind visit with my jet-setting sister and brother-in-law was over. They had early flights back home on Monday morning, and we were so sad to see them go. We are excited to see them again for Baby L's first birthday in a few months!

Early Adventures of Baby L - Swimming Lessons

I took a little break from blogging for my 40 Days of Gratitude, and now I'm back with an update from us!  First, Happy 7-month Birthday Baby L!  She can sit up on her own, and she's starting to push up onto her hands and knees. She can't quite crawl yet, rather she does this weird thing where she pushes herself backwards with her hands.  G and I are so not ready for a mobile baby, so we're extra thankful Miss J lives with us full time and can chase Baby L around! She also cut her first tooth, poor thing! It's not visible yet, I can feel the little pokey ridges when I run my finger along her gums.

Baby L loves her balloons!

In the last 40 days, we've had 3 visitors - my friend Jon from Michigan (whose mom was close friends with my mom), and G's Aunt Robyn and Uncle Roland. We were thrilled to show off our home and of course for all of them to meet the ever-social Baby L.

My friend Jon from Michigan - we forgot to take a photo with Aunt Robyn and Uncle Roland!

We've also started swimming lessons for Baby L. G and I wanted to make sure that she gets comfortable in the water early, so we enrolled her in a class near our home. The pool is heated, but Dubai is still a little chilly at 8am - so she, of course, hates swimming class. There are always lots of tears for her, and we usually take her out of the pool early. As the water warms up, we are hoping she'll enjoy swim class more, especially since bathtime is one of her favorite times of day.

Daddy, I'm not so sure about this water!!!

We also introduced Baby L to solid foods. We started with an Asian vegetable called bitter melon. Of course, she hated this. The good news is that after bitter melon, everything tastes good! So onward to peas, sweet potato, carrots, and cauliflower - carrots are definitely her favorite. We've also introduced her to prunes to help keep her regular! She doesn't love the prunes, but she seems to manage eating them ok.

We can't believe how quickly she's growing, and we love watching her little personality develop. She has a very happy disposition, and she can say say a few words - she says "ummm" when she's hungry, "mamamamama", "dadadada", "nananananan" (for her nanny, Miss J), and an assortment of grunts and squeals. Stay tuned for photos from an Easter weekend visit from my sister and her husband, Baby L was super fascinated by her  auntie and uncle!

Happy Half Birthday to Baby L!

Our baby girl turned 6 months old today! These are just a few of the things are little peanut can do:

• Roll back to front and front to back (she sometimes gets stuck on her arm when rolling front to back)
• Push her chest off the ground
• Sit in the corner of the sofa or in a supportive chair
• Reach to grab things with her whole body
• Tell us when she's hungry (she cries "ummmm! ummm!)
• Smile and laugh when she thinks something is funny
• Babble on and on and on and on...

I hear people say they see the face of God in their children...and I couldn't help but laugh at this one when we did her 6-month photos in various places around the house today!

Creation of...apple tart?

Our mostly cheerful baby!

We love watching her develop new facial expressions that almost always end in a big toothless smile. Next adventure for Baby L is SOLID FOOD!!!

40 Days of Gratitude!

My friends on Facebook & Instagram already know this, and I'm adding a note here for my blog readers who are not tied to my social media accounts.

There will be a drop in blogging over the Easter Season, primarily because I've committed to posting 40 Days of Gratitude on Instagram during Lent. In high school, my youth minister always told us to do something extra instead of the traditional giving something up, and to honor her this year, I chose to do both.

In addition to my daily reflection of the things I am thankful for, I've given up chocolate and caffeine. The chocolate part has not been too bad, the coffee has been a little rough this first week since Baby L is not always the best sleeper! On those groggy mornings, I remind myself that an exercise in sacrifice is not meant to be easy, and to be more Christlike (or rather, more Holy Mary-like since I don't recall Jesus staying up all night with crying newborns in the bible) and suck it up.

My Instagram account is private, but I am pretty fast at approving followers if I know who you are!

Why You Need Estate Planning!!!

This is a PSA for all my friends with kids.  If you haven't already, get your estate in order! I had a conversation this weekend with a friend who works in the same location as her husband. She made a comment that if anything happened at work, her child would be an orphan, and their friends (who live in another state) would have to adopt the kid. I immediately asked her if she had a will, and she sheepishly said no. I then asked her if she had life insurance, and she also said no!

She and her husband are both responsible, financially secure engineers with MBAs, so the lack of knowledge around estate was surprising for me. As I thought about it more, I realized they are probably not abnormal - there are probably a LOT of new parents who haven't thought about estate planning - after all, who wants to think about their death?

This particular situation is a good one to blog about - the first red flag is that my friend (let's call her and her husband Couple A) wants guardianship of her child to go to another couple (we'll call them Couple B). Couple B is not related to Couple A, so it is extra important that Couple A is absolutely sure that Couple B is ready and willing to raise an extra child and that Couple A puts it in writing so that if anything terrible happens, Couple B is not faced with a long uphill battle against the court system for custody of the child. Without a will, you essentially let the court system decide what to do with your kids and assets, and really, I think that the last thing that most people want.  The courts would most likely grant guardianship to a family member, and if that is not what anyone is expecting or planning for, it is difficult for everyone involved. I personally know Couple B, and they would love the child as their own, so why not make it simpler for this transfer of guardianship to happen?

The second red flag in this situation is that raising a child is not cheap when considering food, clothing, school, college, etc. While I know that Couple B is as financially secure as Couple A, that is not the case for everyone.  A term life insurance plan for your child can help ease the financial burden in what will already be a horrible situation.

There are many many other reasons to consider estate planning - and there are a lot of really good articles on the web.  One of my favorites is this one: Estate Planning for Young Families

We should always hope for the best and plan for the worst - so if you haven't made your plan, DO IT NOW!!! Don't put it off because you never know what could happen tomorrow.