Thursday, March 17, 2011

Eats on Feets, and other stuff

I promise I'm still here!  It's been crazy around here for a bit.  Kev has been working, so that's been crazy. 

Bug was sick, poor little thing.  She had pneumonia!  It's really scary when they get that sick.  Luckily she didn't have to go to the hospital or anything, but her left lung was pretty full.  Luckily we caught it in time and a round of antibiotics did the trick.  She is a reflux baby, and it seems as though she is fighting congestion constantly because of it.  I always know to give it a week.  So I did.  But then at the end of the week none of our tricks or meds were helping, and she seemed to be getting worse.  So I took her in and the pneumonia was there!  UGH.  But, she's feeling SO much better now! 

My mom (nana) was in town this weekend.  We were having my uncle do our taxes, but he only got hers done, boo.  Oh well, I'll get ours done later I guess!  But it was nice because Mom helped quite a bit around the house getting things done that were in dire need of being done, and we got to see some family.  My cousin has two little one's, the youngest is not quite a week older than Bug.  It was so neat to see the differences between the two.  My Bug has some chunky cheeks!  As it turns out, just like her mama had when I was little.  A family friend posted a picture of me on FB, I mighta been around 5, and Bug is a duplicate!  She really is my mini me!  I always knew she was, but that just made it seem that much more obvious.

I bring up Eats on Feets because my freezer became full again.  So, I contacted the mama that I donate to for little S, and offered her up some milk.  Turns out, her freezer was full too!  YIKES!  She's been doing really well with her breastfeeding, and only needing to supplement an ounce or two every feeding.  I am SO happy for her!  But with that being said, my freezer started to bust at the seems, so I had to find me another mama in need of donations!  I had received a message back at the beginning of the year, right after I had donated quite a bit to S, from a couple of mama's.  There had been one that had been working on getting her supply up, and her daughter, B, was about the same age as S.  (OK, that's a lot of letters, are you keeping them all straight?!)  So, I contacted her and asked if she was still in need of donor milk.  She was, and was very happy that I had contacted her!  It took us about 2 weeks to meet up, as she lives about an hour and 1/2 away.  But, this weekend we did it.  They were driving up on their way through to do a family function. 

So, have I mentioned before that donating milk feels like a drug deal going down?  Because if I haven't, it does. 

So, we planned on meeting in the parking lot at Starbucks near my home.  I told her to let me know when they were about 40 mins out, so that I could gather up the milk.  She did, and so I pulled ALL the milk out of the freezer, bagged the oldest for her, but the newest on the very bottom, and the oldest that was left in the drawer of the deep freeze.  This way it is easier to reach and doesn't get buried underneath the newest that I freeze daily.  So, it was nice out and my mom had just made it into town.  We bundled up Bug, and walked up to Starbucks. 

When we were just about there, I texted her and let her know so.  As we are walking through the parking lot, this man starts walking towards us with a smile on his face.  As he gets closer, he waves, so we wave back.  'I wonder if that's her husband' I say to my mom.  So he calls out 'Are you Mandi?'  I say 'I sure am, you must be S's hubby, I'm sorry, I don't know your name!'  He laughed and introduced himself, then took the cooler and one bag from my mom to carry the rest of the way to their car.  When we made it, S and I gave each other a big hug.  It's such an experience to do this.  We gave them the bags of milk and they quickly put it in a cooler.  We chatted for a bit and even laughed about how it felt like a drug deal.  After all, it is liquid gold! 

We also talked about how it was that some mom's could make so much milk (me) and others don't make enough.  As she pointed out - at least some of us that do make an abundance are willing to donate it to those that do not!  We chit chatted for a bit longer, and then she got on the road with a promise of more milk in the future. 

One thing that was different about this one was she insisted on sending me some milk bags.  I let her know clearly that it was not something that she had to do, as I was going to buy the bags, pump the milk and freeze it regardless.  But, I also said, I wouldn't turn them down.  So I got a message a couple of days later asking for my address so that she could have some shipped to me from Amazon.  I haven't received them yet, but it is such a sweet thought on her part that she would be willing to send them my way to help out.

Needless to say, I cleaned out over 400 ounces from my freezer.  Then I brought home all the stuff that was backing up my work freezer (oops LOL).  I'll bet that it doesn't take me but another 2 weeks to replace all I gave away.  Wow.  Guess my two mama's will get an offer of milk at the end of the month/beginning of April!! 

So, Kev and I are going to Toledo this weekend to get the house ready to rent out.  The economy is so bad there that we cannot sell it (even though it's got so much going for it!!).  Everyone wants to offer so much less than we owe, and the bank won't agree to take it.  Ugh.  So, rent it out we will do.  But, of course, being a pilots wife.... we had to change our plans up.  I was going to go tomorrow, but now not until Saturday.  I'm taking some time off the beginning of the week to take care of things here after we get it all here.  Ick.  Should be fun ha ha. 

Another day down, and my little bug is almost 8 months old! I can't believe it! 

Here's to a happy and healthy day :-)
Emms

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog...I loved your response and we are definite now in our decision to keep the baby's sex a surprise!
    That's awesome you've contributed milk through Eats on Feets. My husband & I had heard of this program recently and we are huge proponents of breast feeding. I dearly hope in the future once I have this baby my milk production is good and I may be able to contribute as well!
    I look forward to following your journey:)

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  2. I cannot even fathom the amount of milk you're making! That is awesome! And amazing generosity, though not surprising.

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  3. Rebecca - I've been lurking on your blog for a while, knowing all too well what you have dealt with! I'm glad you've decided to keep it a secret, it really is the sweetest surprise! Maybe you'll have a story like mine where DH didn't realize that the doc said it was a girl, and for 20 mins thought she was a little boy! (she had a fever, so he couldn't get close to her right away).

    Shan - Thanks so much for the kind words! I feel so much for those that are unable to make enough, and can only hope that the amount I donate allows at least one baby to not have to supplement with formula. My supply has finally leveled off some, but I still make probably 14-18 ounces a day more that what she uses. Crazy to me!

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  4. That's so nice that you donate your milk for someone less fortunate and not able to give enough breast milk to their LO! I hope your LO feels better soon and gets over the sickness! Found you on mama blog!

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  5. Thanks for stopping by Sheri! I hope to see you again :-)

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