When you're a working mama, you have time for about two things: working and being a mama. Not much else. But if you have been around the blog long enough, you know that traveling is just apart of my daily job. Most days I get the luck of being able to work from my couch, while doing my laundry, while the dishwasher is running, while on a conference call.
It is great. I send my kids off to daycare like any working mom has to do (don't think that they quietly play by themselves), and by 8am, the house is quiet and am off to work. But with the comfort of working from my home, I also have to pick up my bags a time or two each month and fly to meet my coworkers for a meeting or training. So when I hear the words "work trip" or "weekend away", those words are not uncommon to me; however, if it is new to you panic can set in, especially for breastfeeding mothers.
This is my story.
I make just enough as my baby needs. I did with my first. My supply is a bit better with my second. But when it comes down to it, I simply didn't have time to build up much of a pumped milk storage supply before I needed to hop on a plane a time or two each month. During my maternity leave, I build up a stash, catching everything I can with my NatureBond silicone hand pump which catches every last drop on the opposite side of where I'm nursing. This allows for me to have a basic supply; however, I have to be diligent when I'm away. I never want to make a work trip even harder to handle than it needs to be. I do not want it to ever be a stress situation to be a working mom.
Most of my travels are an up and down trip, meaning I leave one day and come back the next. I'm gone for less than 48 hours. Sometimes I am not even gone from a full 24. These are nice. They are easy. They are just a hiccup in our week and sometimes are a Godsend that gives me a full nights' rest and a quiet evening session in a hotel gym and an airport cocktail. I love them.
This past December I had another meeting and didn't realize until just weeks before, I was going to be gone four full days in Florida. What in the world was I going to do with that much milk?? I knew that it was not going to fit in my small bottle cooler that I had been using.
Enter: Milk Stork, the breastmilk delivery service that mails your pumped milk back home to your baby via FedEx overnight—while you sleep your cares away. (Okay okay, also while you wake up to pump.)
This review is an honest review from my experience. My company reimbursed my purchase through Milk Stork and I was in no way compensated by them for this post for this Milk Stork review. However, some of these links are affiliate, which means that if you buy a product after clicking through from here, I get a small referral commission at no each cost to you.
Milk Stork delivered their proprietary cooling unit with pre-printed label to my hotel, and the hotel was gracious enough to deliver it to my room! I activated the cooling inserts, packaged up my milk, and shipped it back home to my baby in Illinois.
I dropped off my milk supply at a local FedEx store just miles from my hotel on the way back to the airport and by 10 a.m. the next morning, my milk was in my refrigerator awaiting to be frozen and saved for my next work trip out. My milk supply from while I was out was replenished just like that. It was basically magic.
For me, I was able to get Milk Stork reimbursed through my company since it was a work trip. I truly got the peace-of-mind with the thought that I wouldn't have been able to easily replenished that milk supply otherwise. Like I said, I have a bit of a back-stock from my maternity leave, but I make what she needs. So I need to keep every last ounce!
I was never worried about Milk Stork and the process was just too easy. If you have an extended trip (work or personal), I highly suggest checking them out! To learn more about Milk Stork, visit their website or Instagram
