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The first 7500 ounces of that (58 gallons) was pumped between September and January 29th. I went back to work January 22nd. So most of that was not before I went back to work. I actually have had a much harder time finding time to pump since I went back to work than previously.
When the babies were in the NICU I pumped every 2.5 hours, around the clock, so that covers the first month. After they came home, they were on a three hour feeding schedule, which they'd been on the entire time they were in the NICU. I nursed Sam and Ellie and bottle fed Abby (she never could nurse, though it took months before I fully gave up on this - I continued to try at every feeding until well after I went back to work) and then I would pump after every feeding in the beginning. In the beginning this was super easy (for varying definitions of super easy) because the babies did nothing but sleep). My life went: feed-a-baby, change-a-baby, feed-a-baby, change-a-baby, feed-a-bay, change-a-baby, put-babies-to-sleep, pump, lather rinse repeat, round the clock. I did this through the night even after they started sleeping longer stretches at night, because prolactin levels are higher at night than the rest of the days, so I got higher production then than any other time of day.
They didn't really start to get more alert until they got to be about 4 months old, which was when I went back to work. Then I started also scaling back my middle of the night pumpings because I really needed to be more alert for work, and so I only got up when the babies did. (now the babies, B"H, are all sleeping through the night, but that wasn't true until they were about 6 or 7 months adjusted). When I first started back to work, I was still able to maintain a 4-6 times per day pumping schedule (once in the morning, three times at work, twice in the evening, occasionally overnight), but gradually, that was reduced - I dropped the morning pumping because the babies' first feeding got moved to about 5:30am (now it's 6am), I am now only able to pump twice during work due to my meeting schedule, and I only pump once or twice in the evening, and never overnight unless I wake up very uncomfortable.
I wish I could find more time for pumping now, but there just isn't more time in the day. And, fortunately, the babies are drinking less and less these days, because they're eating so much in their solid food meals. They're like real, actual little people now. (KAH) I'm so proud of them.
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