Donating Milk

While Ruthie was in the NICU, I accumulated a freezer full of extra milk.  And then it out-grew the freezer in our kitchen and we had to buy an extra freezer.  So by the time she came home, that freezer was full, too!  About 2 months ago, I looked into donating our extra milk.  There is no way that I was going to be able to use all of that before it went bad.  So, about 2 weeks ago, I got an email that I was approved and could start dropping off milk!  Last week, Steve and I labeled it all with my donor # and packed it all up!  We had TWO coolers full of milk!

So we dropped it all off at the closest location (a hospital with a 45-bed NICU!  That's huge!  Our NICU had 6 beds and an overflow.  Plus, this hospital's parking situation was ridiculous.  It really made me appreciate our hospital!).  I was really disappointed that we didn't count how many ounces that we donated!

Now, our chest freezer looks like this:

There is actually room for food!  Plus, we still have lots of milk that I couldn't donate (milk has to be free from medicines... and although I could nurse on an antibiotic, I can't donate it).

Yesterday, I got this email:

630 ounces!  That is crazy!  That is almost 5 GALLONS of milk!  I love knowing that milk is going to needy babies instead of going bad in my freezer!  I want to add an extra 370 to this and make it an even 1,000 ounces by September!  I better get back to pumping!

If you are nursing a baby under 1 year and have extra milk, check out the Mother's Milk Bank!  Even if you don't live in the area, you can send it in!

(PS-  I'm not a crazy hippie... but having two preemies, I know the importance that breast milk plays in the growth and overall health of nicu babies!)