Breastpumps... life savers or torture devices?

I confess... I'm kind of grossed out by the idea of breast feeding. In fact, I'm probably more intimidated at the thought of breast feeding than I am of the delivery itself. I'll be drugged for the actual delivery and if I'm lucky it'll be morphine fogged one time event, verses a daily experience. And from what I've heard, it hurts.

That said, I fully intend to do it. I wish I could say I plan to breast feed because it's the right thing to do... or because it's better for the baby nutritionally... or because it will facilitate bonding. Nope. I'm going to breast feed because it saves money and burns like 600 calories a day. 600 calories! Done and done. 

Not that I'm looking forward to it. I've been trying not to think about it... until I went to register the other day. I started by just registering for things I wanted - like nursery or a bugaboo. But in browsing the list I stumbled across a breast pump and realized that it was going to have a big part of my future (shudder). So it's there... and God they're expensive. (I'll take this moment to note that I don't think it's expensive when people spend $900 on a stroller that looks good and is exciting, but the thought of spending a third of that on a breast pump is utterly depressing to me.)

All this is preface to an email I got from a friend today, which only confirmed my worst weirded-out fears. But at least it made me laugh.

"Believe me, we didn't know what the heck we were doing when we first registered and I only learned the crucial items at 12am, when I didn't have it. Like when I had to send Todd on an emergency trip to Target to get a breast pump because my boobs wouldn't turn off and I thought the earth was going to flood again, this time with breast milk..."

So that's what I have to look forward to.

yaaaaaaaaaaay....