After the fact

I just read Sandra's post about deciding on a pump for her son Joseph. It made me think about all the things that came after I'd made the decision to pump. The little things that I'd never even thought about before I had started using it.

Let me list a few that I've encountered so far:

- Shirts & Pants: I never thought about how clipping the pump onto my pants would actually affect what clothes I bought. Shirts lay funny. Do I buy a big shirt that covers it? Or do I figure out how to tuck the back part of my shirt behind the pump? Do I have to wear a belt all the time? Because when I don't some of my pants didn't have sturdy enough waists to hold the pump up, dragging them down a bit too far.

- People's response to it: Okay, I did think about this before hand. I figured people would see this thing, and see a tube coming out of it and immediately ask questions. Turns out NO person that I've met has asked me what it is. Nope, they all think I'm some big nerd that thinks she's important enough to wear a gigantic pager. At a party a while back, I had a guy grab onto it and say "what's the deal with the pager!?". I was so shocked that someone actually had the nerve to touch it! Don't you know how important this is to me! You can NOT touch that! Oh, wait. You have no idea what this is. I told him and he was really embarrassed.

- Obstacle: People usually know how big their body is. They can determine whether or not they can squeeze through a shelf and, let's say, a shopping cart. Oh! Not anymore! While my body can fit, you can be sure that I'll forget about my pump and end up knocking things off the shelf or getting stuck on the cart. That happened to me again yesterday.

- Dating: Okay, I'm lying again. I thought about this. But I thought in terms of serious, long term relationships. Of course when I get into a serious relationship I will tell my partner all about it! He'll be so wonderful and understanding! But, until that happens, I'll date. Because that apparently comes before the long term relationship. Go figure. So how do I introduce this fact? How do I explain diabetes and my pump? I dated a guy for a short time this fall, and as we started to get intimate one night, I asked him if my insertion site was going to bother him at all, explaining that I will detach the pump. He was fine with it asking only for reassurance that it 'wouldn't fall out or anything'. No no. It won't fall out.


It's such a special little pump. I still like it despite all these faults.