White Boards and Milk Banks
This morning my daughter erased my white board. You know, the one up high out of reach where I write messages that need to get relayed, phone numbers I need but don't want to add to my phone, and other important stuff. Yep, she erased it. And sadly, there is not a thing I can do about it. She climbed up on a stool to get on the counter in order to reach it. And she erased it so thoroughly that there is no trace of what I had written there. So the only thing I can do is let it go. I mean, really, I don't have the slightest clue what I had written there. In a sense, it's kinda freeing. I now have a clean slate on the side of the fridge. Nothing to follow up on. (Sad for anyone who is expecting me to follow up with them though!)
The only thing I am sure was written on that white board was the running total of breast milk I have donated during the past year. Can you believe it? My baby is going to be one in only a few short days! With my abundance of milk, I spent the first 10 months of her life pumping at least 6 oz of extra milk each morning to put in the freezer. I did this solely for my own comfort. Yes, it's nice to know the milk is there if needed, but I really did it for physical comfort. Since I've only been working one day a week, we haven't gone through much pumped milk. And when I am away from Sweet Pea, I'm usually able to pump a similar amount to what she takes. So the milk has just been piling up. I feel completely blessed that the hospital I work at is also a donor milk drop-off site for the San Jose Milk Bank. Yay! So over the past year, every time the freezer has gotten too full of milk to accommodate the food that I also want to store, I've taken some in to the hospital to donate. I've done this four times. The first time I donated the most - 216 oz of milk! The three other times I think I've donated around 120 oz at a time. I've also given a total of 126 oz to a few friends who were in need of extra milk for their babies. So that would put my total somewhere near 700 oz! Wow! I feel proud to say I've been able to use the excess God has given me to bless others and help some very sick little kiddos.
Because Sweet Pea isn't nursing quite as often now, I don't have extra to pump. It's wonderful not being attached to my pump every morning, but also a little bittersweet knowing that the milk in my freezer right is probably the end for me. There may be one more donation at some point (since I still have milk from June in there!), but we're pretty much done with that chapter of life for now.
The only thing I am sure was written on that white board was the running total of breast milk I have donated during the past year. Can you believe it? My baby is going to be one in only a few short days! With my abundance of milk, I spent the first 10 months of her life pumping at least 6 oz of extra milk each morning to put in the freezer. I did this solely for my own comfort. Yes, it's nice to know the milk is there if needed, but I really did it for physical comfort. Since I've only been working one day a week, we haven't gone through much pumped milk. And when I am away from Sweet Pea, I'm usually able to pump a similar amount to what she takes. So the milk has just been piling up. I feel completely blessed that the hospital I work at is also a donor milk drop-off site for the San Jose Milk Bank. Yay! So over the past year, every time the freezer has gotten too full of milk to accommodate the food that I also want to store, I've taken some in to the hospital to donate. I've done this four times. The first time I donated the most - 216 oz of milk! The three other times I think I've donated around 120 oz at a time. I've also given a total of 126 oz to a few friends who were in need of extra milk for their babies. So that would put my total somewhere near 700 oz! Wow! I feel proud to say I've been able to use the excess God has given me to bless others and help some very sick little kiddos.
Because Sweet Pea isn't nursing quite as often now, I don't have extra to pump. It's wonderful not being attached to my pump every morning, but also a little bittersweet knowing that the milk in my freezer right is probably the end for me. There may be one more donation at some point (since I still have milk from June in there!), but we're pretty much done with that chapter of life for now.
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