One of My Weird Passions...

Donating Breastmilk!
I'm so excited! My girl isn't even here yet, therefore I'm obviously not lactating yet, but I've already found a recipient family for me to donate breastmilk to. Here's some background on me and my donating passion. While nursing John, my eyes were opened by a friend who watched an episode of Oprah (whom I have my own opinions of, but I guess the show was still pretty good that day) about donating excess breastmilk to babies who need it. I was immediately interested and got myself signed up through the National Milk Bank to be a donor. One blood test later and I was ready. They sent me a hospital grade breastpump and a gazillion bottles and I got started! Once my freezer was full, they sent a really nifty cooler for me to pack and call for pickup. Of course this was all free to me, and I knew I was helping babies in need of breastmilk, which is truly the best thing for any and all babies. After getting a little tired of pumping I decided to quit donating and have always regretted not doing more than I did that first time around.
This time, I did some preemptive research before my little one even arrived (still hasn't, but will soon!). I decided to go through a private party this time around so that I could actually develop a relationship with the family and baby I'd be helping by giving my breastmilk to. I found a website called MilkShare, which is actually just an online Yahoo Group, and signed up to be a donor. Within days I had over 5 different families contacting me asking if they could be my recipient. I went through the e-mails one by one, contacted a couple of them, and finally decided on the best family situation for my milk to go to. Some of the things to consider when deciding who to donate to are: age similarities between donor/recipient babies, health concerns of a recipient baby, is the need a real need or simply a mom overworried (while still pregnant) about not being able to feed her baby (which is rare), location of donor and recipient (relevant to shipping or personal delivery of the breastmilk) and if you click with the family in general or not. As a recipient of breastmilk, you also have to decide if you want to trust the person giving it to you or if you want to pay for blood tests out of pocket to ensure your baby is getting healthy breastmilk.
So...after getting an e-mail from a family in CT I asked a few more questions and decided that they would be my primary recipients. I am so excited for this opportunity! The reasons I chose this family and particular baby are:
1) We are both having girls (I know it REALLY doesn't matter in the slightest, but I felt just a little more connected to them because of it).
2) This baby is being born to a surrogate mother, meaning her "real" mom (who contacted us) won't be able to produce milk for her at all, due to never having been pregnant.
3) The baby is due at the end of November, and mine is due NOW. This means that I will have plenty of time to establish a healthy supply for baby Jeanine and also to begin pumping and saving all of my excess for quite a while before they will actually need it. The timing is impeccable! God definitely knew what he was doing in this situation.
4) The last reason is simple: I believe that a family who knows about the benefits of breastfeeding and seeks out breastmilk as their first option for feeding their child from the beginning has the best interests of their baby in mind, even before she's born. Instead of resigning themselves to the fact that they can't breastfeed themselves (thereby choosing formula), they have proactively taken steps towards obtaining the very best for their baby, and I'm impressed with that!
So anyway, that is what has me excited today and this week, and probably for many months to come. I'm definitely a "closet" milk donator and would love others to become interested in this awesome opportunity to help babies get the best start in life.