From TIME authored by Kate Torgerson:
“Milk Stork started on Mother’s Day in 2014 with two gallons of breast milk and a four-day business trip.
It was my first time away from home since returning from maternity leave, and I couldn’t figure out how I was going to supply my 8-month-old twins with breast milk. The twins and I had endured countless challenges with breastfeeding — latching issues, tongue ties, slow weight gain and nursing strikes. I didn’t want a business trip to derail all of our efforts. At the same time, professionally, I wanted to be back in action. It wasn’t the most important commitment of my career, but I knew that if I didn’t step up and shine, someone else would.
The trip was set for early June, and my twins were consuming half a gallon of breast milk each day. In order to feed them while I was gone, I would need to pump two additional gallons of breast milk before I left. I would also have to keep pumping while I was away, and somehow store another two gallons of milk in my hotel mini-fridge. The math alone overwhelmed me. But I was committed, so in the days leading up to my voyage I added incremental pumping sessions to my already busy schedule. I went from pumping every three to four hours for 20 minutes at a time to pumping every couple of hours. Then, while I was gone, I continued to pump relentlessly around the clock to maintain my milk supply and ability to lactate — all between business meetings. I also somehow managed to cram all of the milk I pumped into my tiny hotel fridge.
On the last day of my trip, I packed a soft cooler with four gallon-sized Ziplocs filled with ice to transport the milk. (It was too much to cool with a couple of frozen gel packs.) At the airport, I lugged my 25-plus pound, sloshing, dripping carry-on with milk, along with my purse, breast pump bag and suitcase to the TSA line. Then I endured an embarrassing inspection process, which required opening all of the milk containers and explaining (read: justifying) why I had “so much breast milk.”
Once I was through security, I ran to the nearest bathroom to drain the excess water out of the ice bags and rushed to the nearest bar to replenish the bags with fresh ice. I barely made my flight. On the plane, I continually checked on my stash out of fear that my milk wasn’t cold enough or the Ziplocs were leaking.”
