My Cup (and My Freezer) Runneth Over

I am so blessed to be able to breastfeed Quinn. It was very hard at first and honestly I almost gave up several times. Quinn lost a pound at the hospital because my milk didn’t come in very fast, and we were just trying to get the hang of breastfeeding. We had to end up supplementing her feedings with milk that I would pump after I fed her. Just thinking back to that time kind of makes me nauseous, so I will get on w/ the happy part of the story.

Now, God has blessed us beyond what we asked for. All I wanted was to be able to feed Quinn and provide the nutrition she needed. I was not against formula, but I wanted to try breastfeeding first. God answered my prayer and then some. I have a freezer FULL of breast milk labeled with dates as far back as mid-December. Luckily, we have a fridge/freezer in the garage because it wouldn't fit in my normal freezer. I still pump four times a day, so we have a ton of extra milk. I thought of some things we could do with the milk, one if which was feed it to Ella and make her dreams come true, but I thought I should be a little more responsible than that. :)

So much milk!

I am excited to say I will be donating to the Mother's Milk Bank! Their mission: "The Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin is a non-profit organization whose mission is to accept, pasteurize and dispense donor human milk by physician prescription, primarily to premature and ill infants."

How cool is that? From their site: “Mother's milk is a powerful prescription, especially for infants who are preterm or sick. It's our job to collect, process, and dispense the donor milk that helps these medically fragile babies survive and thrive.”  

They take my milk and pasteurize it to distribute to hospitals around the country.  Premature and really sick babies will get the milk since it will be full of the valuable nutrients they need to get better and grow. 

 

They want me to make an initial donation of 100oz and then commit to donate for a couple more months. I can totally do that, and it makes my heart happy that I will be doing it for a baby who needs it and for a mother who can’t produce her own. I remember the helpless feeling of waiting for my milk to come in, and I would  have been overjoyed for Quinn to receive milk from another mama who was able to produce nutrition for her. 

So, even though my cup of life runneth over, pretty soon my freezer won't be!