I would go with the hospital pump - you'll likely be pumping 2 - 3x per day minimum when you are back at work FT (I did 2x per day and had plenty and my supply was fine on the weekends, but many moms do 3x) and it will save you a lot of time to have the hospital pump. I'm sure time will be very imporant to you - at least this is what I'm anticipating in making a similar decision. Plus the cost of rental is still way cheaper than formula for 1, much less 2 babies (even w/o considering all of the other benefits of breast milk). I think my hospital rents them by the month so you could check with other LC or hospitals to see if you can find a better deal. One downside is that the hospital pump may be heavy to carry around (i.e. back and forth to work - not sure what you do for a living and how mobile you are on the job from a location standpoint but that may impact your decision). One other thing to check on - I had multiple sets of tubing, shields, etc... so that I didn't have to wash each set between pumping sessions if I was in a time crunch or if I was just tired and didn't want to deal so you may want to consider making sure you can get extra stuff for the hospital pump somehow - I've heard the Medela hospital pump stuff works with the PISA. I'm guessing it's the same for Ameda, but may be worth checking into. Many moms on this site like the Ameda pumps (Lansinoh?) so maybe you could start off renting and see how it goes and if it gets too $$ you could buy a pump compatible with your "accessories"?
In addition to the pump itself, I definitely sunk some $$$ into extra parts so I could have a set or 2 in the dishwasher and a clean set or 2, a hands-free pumping band, a 2nd cooler pack for days I had extra supply, extra storage bottles, freezer bags (loved the lansinoh), pads (loved the lansinoh) and lanolin (also loved the lansinoh), so it wasn't without it's expense initially but worth the investment and I still think it paid off financially (I feel good about it for lots of other reasons) - I had both of my older kids on formula for about 2 months of life and the quantity wasn't huge since they were largely on table food and the cost and hassle for that short time always made me happy I pumped, despite some of the more minimal ongoing costs of pumping and storing.
Hope this helps! So glad to hear you are planning to nurse the twins. I'm a bit intimidated by the prospect of nursing twins and I've already nursed 2 singletons, but I'm sure I can do it and I'm sure you can too. Hoping you have support around you - I feel like I'm going to need my DH to be even more supportive than he has been in the past. Good luck!
Last edited by Purple18; 02-23-2011 at 04:26 PM.
Reason: Bad spelling made one sentence make no sense - Sorry!
Mom to DS1 10.06, DS2 05.09, DD 05.11 and DS 05.11