At Last, Mummy is Returning to Work

(Mummy (read: I) will be returning to work in less than a week time. Alhamdulillah, finally I secured a job in my previous company, well not exactly the same position but it will be pretty much similar work.

Part of me is excited to see various brain images (I will be working with MR scan btw) and dealing with the programming again, but part of me is empty. I will be missing out the time that I had with my kids so far. Ooooh.. talking about this will make me cry.

Going back to work means I will be dealing with morning and evening rush hour again, like this. I took this picture at 8.30 am at Choa Chu Kang MRT Station. I could not imagine how crowded it is at 8 am (which I supposed more people are leaving at this time) and also how crowded it will be at Jurong East Interchange Station (where I will transfer to East-West line).

Morning rush hour at choa chu kang mrt station

I am actively looking for bus pool, car pool, or even taxi pool with affordable cost. So, anyone, if you know anybody looking to go around Buona Vista MRT (Biopolis, Fusionopolis, or even Science Park) from Choa Chu Kang area around 8 am, please please let me know, okay! And again in the evening, I want to be home early, but I guess with the current situation I will only reach home around 6.45 pm. Hopefully I can get other alternative of transportation so that I can reach home earlier.

Returning to work also means I need my best buddies (read: my dearest breast pumps) to always be with me so that I can still give expressed breast milk for baby Khadijah. Finally, I have settled with Medela Swing Breastpump– Avent Isis Manual Breast Pump
combo. I believe this combination is the most effective one for my case (I will talk about this in detail in separate post).

medela swing – avent manual duo

I really hope I can express sufficient amount of milk for Khadijah so that she can continue to receive breastmilk up to 2 years old. I got some freezer stash as stand by, but I don’t want to slack in my pumping schedule, so I decided to pump 3x a day in the office, plus one morning pump and hopefully one night pump after baby sleeps. I am grateful to find a nursing room in my office building, less than 5 minutes walk fro the cubicle, but I am prepared should I need to express milk in my cubicle (yay to Nursing Covers for discreet breastfeeding and pumping). I will talk to my supervisor regarding this pumping break and hopefully I will get the strongest support for it.

I wish I could get this much of milk every time I pump

This week I have conducted a back-to-work simulation whereby I left my kids from morning to evening. I used this opportunity for several reasons:

1. To measure how much expressed breastmilk baby Khadijah will need when I am away at work
2. To have a power pumping boot-camp to boost my milk supply
3. To let my helper handle two kids at the same time without external help (well, if I am at home, the kids will naturally cling to me most of the time)
4. To get Abdurrahman and Khadijah ready that I will be away from morning to evening

Finally, wish me luck, everybody!

For all mummies out there, do you have any experience returning to work after spending several years at home with kids? I’d love to hear your tips and encouragement.

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