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| I love to play with the pump cable! |
I did the math and it will cost us $349.60 to rent the pump to get to Eli's first birthday and we will have nothing to show for it because we are in fact renting a pump.
After doing some research on the pump I was renting (a medela symphony), I found out how I could check the amount of hours a pump has been used. The rental pump currently has around 1040 hours on it. This specific pump is a closed system pump (so its safe for multiple users) and is recommended for daily pumping... and get this, it doesn't need to be serviced until it hits 6,000 hours.
I didn't blog about it, but 2 months ago, SCB and I tried out a medela pump in style I had got second hand from a mom group on facebook (we used money from the cash box so I didn't record the spending on our blog, but we purchased it for $50). We replaced all the parts, disinfected the unit and I attempted to use it. While it was better than the free pump my insurance gave me, it wasn't allowing me to fully empty and it wasn't very comfortable to my sore "ladies" who had attempted to feed our little man directly and were a bit inflamed.... That's when I had a second lactation visit and got the hospital pump and saw and heard the difference from the wonderful machine, the medela symphony.
I hate renting though, even though I know I'm not throwing money away (cause I get milk to give my boy), I just don't like the idea of spending $350 and not having anything to show for it...
There were a few hospital pumps listed on E-bay for bids starting at $600 and a few had a "make an offer" option... so I tried offering $350 on a couple that had low hours but they were instantly denied... no harm no foul...
As I kept looking, I found one pump with 1700 hours on it listed for $479 from a medical supply company that also had a "make an offer" button... I typed in $350 (with free shipping) and after a day of waiting the offer was accepted. It comes next week on the 17th... just in time for me to have my rental picked up before the 24th so I'm not billed for another month! Since its from a medical supply company, it even comes with a limited warranty.
So for $0.40 more I will own an amazing pump that I know how to use and actually like... and I should be able to sell it down the line if we don't have a second baby to recoup some of our costs... and if I last longer than a year pumping, well have saved some money!
We're taking this cash out of the profit share check to pay for it and i'll be trying to re-sell the pump I bought along with some other accessories I don't need (I have a ton of shields in different sizes because we couldn't figure out what worked best with my sore "ladies" early on.) but i feel much better lugging a paid for pump to and from work than a rental that would cost us $900 if we broke it.
Brand new, this pump is $1,200 - $1,500
That's awesome that you got a hospital grade pump for that price. With my first and second I used a Pump In Style with no problems and in 2005 it had a great resale value. In 2009 I bought one for my last child and they had a terrible resale value, but still did the job for us! Congrats :)
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