Donor Milk.

For the past few months, I've been part of a group of "milk mamas" in the Northville/Ann Arbor area. We collect our extra breastmilk to donate to a foster baby in north Oakland County. I'm the drop-off point for our area. The baby was born with numerous other medical conditions. For whatever reason she was put in foster care. Her amazing foster mom tried every kind of formula but nothing was working. Finally they started giving her breastmilk - and it was like a miracle! She can see, she can hear, she has her color back and is growing - albeit slowly.

Anyway, today, for the first time, I personally took the milk I've collected out to her. I got to hold her and chat with her foster parents. She has the softest hair, and she loves to touch faces, and she has cute little pink glasses that she won't keep on for more than two seconds. They told me they just received bad news - it turns out the baby was born without a pancreas. So our breastmilk is literally keeping her alive! Just holding her reinspired me to pump a little extra when I pump, but finding out that I am literally helping keep her alive put me over the edge. They have no idea when she'll stop needing breastmilk - probably long past her first birthday. I hope to help her as long as I can! I plan to stop pumping at work once Nick turns 1, but I'll try to keep pumping at home, for Nick and for the foster baby.