The internet is filled with horror stories about bridezillas banishing breastfeeding moms to bathrooms.
Rachael Downs would never do that. In fact, Downs, a 28-year-old nurse in Alabama, encouraged her matron-of-honor, Allison Hepler, to pump during bridesmaid pictures — and now one of the shots is going viral.
“I nursed my daughter for 18 months. I know what it’s like,” Downs told TODAY Parents. “I actually pumped at Allison’s wedding. We just didn’t get any photos!”
In the picture, which was taken in Oct. 2019 but just started circulating on social media, Hepler is shown hooked up to her electric breast pump. Instead of holding a white bouquet like the other women, Hepler clutches her pump’s white motor.
“The groomsmen finished their pictures early so I went to get Allison and she was like, ‘I just need to finish pumping,’” Downs recalled. That’s when Downs and her photographer, Amber Fletcher, asked Hepler if she wanted to pose with her pump. Hepler thought that was a great idea.
“We never thought it would blow up the way it did,” Downs said. “But I’m glad it did."
Comments — more than 2,000 of them — have been pouring in on Facebook.
“Best. Damn. Thing. On. The Internet. Kudos to you, that amazing bride/friend (not a selfish bone in her body), and this momma who said, ‘I can be a good mom, and good friend, AND take care of my needs simultaneously,” wrote one person.
Added another, “I love this. Support for the bride by being present and support for the bridesmaid by not making a fuss over having her pump. I wish I had friends like these.”
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