The Yankowski Triplets

I have often been intrigued by the disdain society seems to have for large families. I remember shopping at JCPenney, and the cashier asked me "Are they all yours?" Insert my internal eye roll, but outwardly I smiled sweetly and proudly exclaimed, "Yep!" You see, I learned quickly and early that if I am positive about my family people typically follow suit, but if I follow society's lead and react negatively...they will too. This was not the typical situation. The woman scowled a little and said, "I hope you're done and don't have anymore children." Well, miss cashier, I would like to know when my choice to reproduce became your business. Clearly in the 2 minutes we had made acquaintance she could gather that I didn't need more children. But this was not a surprising reaction, this was not the first time I have had a complete stranger tell me that I shouldn't have more children. Honestly, this is probably one of the more mild comme

After I had the triplets, I spent a lot of time pumping. Pumping in the car, at the mall, any chance I got. It was important that in addition to nursing them, I pumped on schedule to maintain a supply. This meant lugging my too small, ugly pump bag that was very obviously a pump bag. It screamed "Hello! I am a pump bag!" everywhere I went. But it was unavoidable. When we added Rhett to our family, several things changed. First, I was heavy into my photography career. Taking too much time off wasn't feasible (I was photographing another newborn when Rhett was just a week and a half old!). I was also beginning a journey with Sufficient Grace Ministries providing photos for families whose baby had passed away. While away, the good 'ole pump bag had to come with me. This posed several problems. I couldn't walk into these hospital rooms with an obvious pump bag, so I often left the pump in the car and skipped. The more I thought about this, I though, what if I was