Milk As Manna!

Friendly Warning: This blog post is about breastfeeding and breast milk!

Sorry for my absence. I started to write a blog post over a month ago about the first month as a stay at home mom and I never finished it! I have a girl on the move, walking that is, and it seems like there is not enough time in the day to sit and blog or just sit! In a week I will have been home for three months. Where does the time go?

This last month we hit a monumental milestone, Zoe is now fully weaned from breast milk! You may remember my previous post here, where I talked about the struggles we were having breastfeeding and that we were getting donated breast milk to help supplement my supply. If not you can go to the link and read our story. Zoe was six weeks old when I wrote that post and we didn't know where are journey would take us or how long we would be able to get donated milk. It was a huge test of faith for Jon and I. We were able to see God's hand at work many times throughout the year through all of this. I personally saw how God cares about the desires of my heart. It was my desire to breastfeed until Zoe was one years old, it didn't necessarily work out the way we planned, but we were able to give Zoe breast milk not only to her first year, but for 14 months. I was able to breastfeed Zoe until seven months. She was growing increasingly frustrated with it and just wanted the bottle. My supply was never enough for her and was quickly up when she stopped. After that I wasn't sure if we should still ask for milk from those that we were getting it from, but we prayed about it and was humbled by the generosity of people, some of who we only just met. I got an email around that time my supply ended from someone who saw a post I had put up on a milk forum. She said that she had a lot of milk in her freezer and was running out of room and wanted to know if I still needed it. I went met her and was blown away at the volume of milk she was giving us. Her and her husband just kept bring more and more out of the freezer and the basement freezer! This was the beginning of a friendship between her and I and our girls! Our girls are best friends now and we go visit them usually on a weekly basis. I think about how we would not know them if it weren't for milk sharing.

Throughout this year one I have been humbled by not being able to provide milk for Zoe and having to ask for help, but it's even more humbling to see God working for your child. I think it is all the more humbling to see when prayers are answered for them, than it is to see prayers answered for you. Last night I decided to finally count all of the milk donations that I remembered to write down. I know there was more than this, but even this number is jaw dropping and amazing. Over the last fourteen months we were given over 8736 ounces of breast milk, which is about 68.25 gallons, from15 different mom's we either knew, were referred to by our midwives or lactation consultant, or met through milk forums. That is a lot of milk! It is also a lot of work coordinating. Lots of miles of driving. Lots of emails, texts, and phone calls. Lots of prayers. Some people have asked why we didn't just give her formula or if it is safe giving them other momma's milk. I will say that this is just what unfolded over time. Initially it was our decision to go this route, because she was so young, only three days old when we found out there was a problem with her weight and my supply. There was many many times I thought of just giving her formula over the last year. There were times we were running low and didn't know if we would be able to get more. I would ask Jon what we should do, he would say pray about it, call the midwives, and see what happens. It was here our needs, Zoe's needs, were always provided for. It was here that new doors opened up where there weren't before. It was here that we would reach out and even sometimes people would reach out to us without us asking. I remember one time we had just picked up some milk from a mom and I knew it would be only enough for one or two days. I remember praying the same prayer we prayed many times, "Lord, we need more milk."  A few minutes I pulled off to at drive through coffee shop and ordered some coffee. I looked at my phone while I was waiting and saw I had an email from a mom we had gotten milk from before. She was asking if we needed more milk, because her daughter was fully weaned and she had a lot extra. I called her and arranged to pick it up on our way home. The email was sent before we had even left our house that day, which is amazing because God had already answered my prayer before I prayed it! The breast milk became like our manna for Zoe.

Zoe "helping" put the groceries away!

Our experience is not rare, in that we have used donated milk, what it rare is that we were able to exclusively use breast milk without using any formula. Here is more information on how rare our experience was. I am still in awe that we made it to our goal. On the question of the safety of using donated breast milk, I think what we have felt all along is that we are using the safest means possible. By going through friends and family, our midwives. With the forums that we used there is some question of safety, but most of the mommas who are donating give details about there health history, medications, foods and drinks they consume, etc. Some have given us a medical history from their doctors. There is a certain amount of faith you give to the Mom's that they wouldn't donate if there was a issue. I think what eased my mind was knowing the milk is coming from generous mommas who are trying to provide the best for their little ones and have extra to share. They aren't asking for anything in return, except maybe replacement storage bags that can get expensive. This was the most humbling thing of all, in that we were being given such a gift and were not able to give them anything in return. One day I noticed the lid of milk container we had been given, it said 2:35am and had a heart drawn on it. This gift came from the wee hours of the morning with a lot of hard work with a lot of love. To say we had been given an amazing gift is an understatement and one we are always going to be thankful for. Some people have asked how it all turned out with the milk. I thought now that we have finally ended this chapter of our lives that a update was due. I also hope it might give hope to others who are struggling with the same thing or to encourage other mommas to give the extra they have to other moms in need.

If you are interest in the milk forums that we used here are the links to them:

Eats on Feets (OR)
Eats on Feets (WA)
Human Milk For Human Babies (WA)
Milkshare Forum