A New Kind of Donor

Gillian was in the hospital for seven weeks after she was born, and my milk supply was established via pump as she was fed through a tube for the first five and a half weeks of her life. She started out with a tiny amount of milk-1 cc or 1 mL every three hours continously. Within 10 days I was producing 36 ounces of milk a day (or, for perspective, a little more than roughly 125 times what she was eating each day in the first couple of weeks). So, as you can imagine, our freezer got full-and fast (as did the hospital freezer). At one point the nurses at the hospital said "we'll let you know when we have room for you to bring us more milk".

It was never even a decision to make-to breastfeed or not. It was particularly vital since she so desperately needed the antibodies and nutrients that only breast milk provides (she missed out on the antibody boost babies get in the last few weeks of a term pregnancy). If you are not aware, breastmilk is SUPER FOOD for babies. It is continuously specially formulated for the exact stage of life your child is in-the ratio of fat and carbs, of the kind and concentration of different antibodies and vitamins (including omega 3 fatty acids) your baby needs at different stages of development, and you can literally, within 8 hours of nursing a baby exposed to a virus, create the anitbodies your baby needs via your own immune system. People use it to heal cuts, eye infections, and ear infections. It is even being used to boost the immune systems of cancer patients. It is pretty amazing stuff.

So, my body knew Gillian was a preemie, and made a special magical elixir to make her grow healthy and strong. And LOTS of it.

Yesterday it was six months since we brought our tiny 4 lb baby girl home from the hospital. Since I started nursing her more and more once she was home and supplementing with freshly pumped milk (to keep her immune system up to date with the bugs out there), the freezer stash has gone untouched. I decided that there must be people who need this liquid gold for their preemies or full term babies who simply couldn't produce the milk for one reason or another. A search online sent me to the International Milk Bank website (http://www.milkbanking.net/ibmp/about_ibmp.html). This is part of the International Breast Milk Project, which provides milk to children home and abroad who desperately need it. Mine is earmarked to go to Africa, where there are millions of babies orphaned by HIV/AIDS every year.

Becoming a donor for the IBMP was an interesting process. A phlebotomist came to my house and I submitted blood and DNA samples to Prolacta Bioscience. The former, to make sure I didn't have any diseases that could jeapordize vulnerable babies, the latter so they could literally create a biological identifier for my milk and make sure the milk I am donating is mine.

So, today I donated three coolers full-a little over 780 ounces of breastmilk, liquid gold, to the IBMP. I hope it helps some needy and sick little babies in a way that formula just can't. After Gillian's two blood transfusions in the hospital using intensely screened donor blood, I know that out there somehere is someone who selflessly donated their blood and saved her life...I have a whole different understanding of what it means when people give of themselves. And I feel priviledged to have the opportunity.