Be a donor...WORTH IT

I recently got an email from Mothers' Milk Bank of Austin which got me thinking and reading about how important breastfeeding can be for your baby. I knew that I wanted to breastfeed before Fallin was born--because it's what our bodies were designed to do. I knew there were important benefits health wise for her (and me) as well. I knew it was going to be a little difficult, awkward...but little did I know that I was going to be a FREAKING milk factory. My pump became my best friend...we spent many hours together over this first year of Fallin's life.

My body made much more milk than Fallin could drink. It was amazing/slightly embarrassing that I could crank out enough milk for an entire church nursery of babies. My sister-in-law asked me if she could have some of my milk for her daughter (she was born 2 days after Fallin) which I was happy to send her way--we needed the freezer space and I was happy to provide my niece with the important nutrition that she needed. After a few months of giving milk to her, I decided to donate to a milk bank (we didn't have enough freezer space and I was NOT going to throw milk away). The lactation nurses at Hillcrest told me about Mothers' Milk Bank of Austin--you can donate your milk, they pasteurize it to make sure any/all of the bacteria is out of there, and then they sell it to hospitals for babies in the NICU. Doctors can prescribe breast milk. The STORIES of the babies that need breast milk is TRULY moving...like this one...

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-mothers-milk-bank-helps-nourish-premature-babies-1075170.html

The MINUTE that I (or Bryce-thanks for cleaning those parts all the time) would complain about cleaning my pump parts 209382089 times a day or that I would complain that I had to pump, I would read one of these stories (or the many stories on their website), shed a tear, and get over myself. There are some precious little babies that would not be around today if it were not for donated milk!

So--all that to say, this year of pumping, staying up late, washing bottles, dry hands, ziplock bags, full freezers of milk--WORTH IT. I'm proud to say that I'm a Mothers' Milk Bank Alumna!

In the email that they just sent me, they said that I donated 1950 ounces (I kind of want to take 50 oz up there to call it even). In the article that I posted above, they said that the bank sells milk at $4.50 an ounce. So--if you do the math on that...$8,755.00. Dang. My moneymakers made the bank some serious cash.

Moral of the story...

If you can breastfeed, DO IT.
If you can donate, DO IT.

Babies need you!