So I'm feeling a lot better, I don't have Glandular Fever, and I'm planning on being back at work on Monday.

Wednesday and Thursday I have a very important national conference - which thankfully is in Melbourne this year!

But it's running from roughly 8am - 11pm both days, and is a 20 minute walk from work ... at the moment, I'm feeding/expressing between 4-8 times over that sort of time frame ... I don't leak much, so I could *possibly* get away with only doing three pumps over that period of time ...

But how to actually orchestrate it?

In times gone by, I've organised to have a private spot, and have taken an esky with frozen primas in it to keep the milk chilled etc, but I've had a look at the schedule for this conference, and the only two seminars I'd be happy to miss are at around 11am on the first day (perfect timing) and 9.30am on the second day (not good timing at all...).

Naturally, there is a lunch break - but I will need to actually eat lunch ... particularly with breastfeeding, etc.

I'm sure that if I call the people running it, something will be able to be organised ... but sometimes it just feels like such a major hassle, for something which would ordinarily be so straightforward ... get baby, put baby on boob ... instead of "pack suitcase with range of items, spare clothes, machinery, water for cleaning, towels for spillage, and a kitchen sink ... locate private place in hotel where you are not a guest, and hope no one tries to grab a spare chair/projector/whatever from room while you're using it ... hope that milk does not leak or go off .... hope that boobs do not leak all over suit during day, or through the black tie gown during the night ... hope that you have everything you need ... hope that you don't miss any critical parts of conference, and that you actually get to eat at all the breaks ... hope that everything you've forgotten to organise happens to pan out ok too ..." ...

And of course, then there's the fun bit of bringing in all that stuff plus a complete change of clothes and black tie wear for the evening bits ... not to mention the concerns you may have over the differences in the fit your black tie dress happens to be at the moment (having gone from a DD to an F cup in the past 2 months ... might need to wear a belly band over the boobies as a modesty patch ... not exactly black tie, but better than putting someone's eye out, right?)

I *could* run back and forth between work and the conference and pump.

I *could* get into work early, pump, go to the conference, and dash back two or three times over the course of each day, then again before dinner, and then leave the milk at work overnight, and take it all home on the third day ... No one at work would actually say anything or complain about that - but conferences like this are pretty expensive (we're talking 2K) and so if I've actually spent half the conference expressing and running back and forth from the office to pump in private and in more comfortable surrounds, I'm guessing that would *not* be appreciated. But they would understand.

The hotel where the conference is however is a well established place, and I'm guessing this would not be the first time someone needed to express during a conference ... surely?

I've tried to call the hotel but the conference and events teams don't appear to answer their phones on Saturdays ...

Or maybe I should try to organise it with the group running the conference ...

Or maybe I should just let my boobs pop ... milk for everyone!