In Need of Breast Milk

hi,
this is a plea for breast milk for a woman in my community.
If you or anyone you know can help, please contact her.

quote:
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Liz McCarthy
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 4:27 PM
To: sftwins
Subject: [SFPOM] In need of milk...

Hello, I am a new member of SFPOM and wanted to introduce myself. Some of you may have heard of my story while I was pregnant in 2005.

Basically, in a nutshell:
Years of infertility, IVF triplets, due in 1/06. I miscarried my triplet at 10 weeks. I had an amnio when I was 17 weeks pregnant which caused my water to break (pPROM premature Rupture of Membranes) on one of my twins sacs. I know my water broke from the way the doctor did the amnio (he used one needle inserted into both sacs, rather than doing each sac separately, but that’s another story). I spent 10 weeks on complete bedrest and 2 of it at CPMC (after the doctors told me there was no way I was going to last more than 48 hours and pushed me to abort both twins). I leaked amniotic fluid the entire time and none reaccumulated. My twins eventually had to be delivered by emergency c-section at 26weeks 6days, due to the fact that I got an infection and they couldn’t stop labor. I became very septic with a blood infection after delivery and was very, very sick myself.

My twin daughters were born 13 weeks prematurely on 10/4/05, each weighing about 1.5 pounds. My first born, Corinne Margaret was my pPROM princess and sadly only lived 3 hours. She passed away in my arms. Her lungs just didn't develop without any amniotic fluid for 10 weeks during critical lung development time. Corinne defied all odds and lasted for 10 weeks to allow her sister to live. Kaitlyn Elizabeth was very, very sick and spent 127 days in the NICU. Over 1 month on a ventilator, a heart surgery when she was 4 days old, eye surgery, many blood transfusions later, she eventually came home to us one month post her due date (2/06). Amazingly she didn’t come home on oxygen, but she did come home with major feeding issues. She also has a paralyzed left vocal chord. We eventually had to have a feeding tube inserted surgically into her stomach about 2 months after she came home. She is still fed 100% via feeding tube, as she has horrible oral aversions.

She's been vomiting multiple times (sometimes 20+) a day for well over a year now. Kaitlyn hasn't been able to tolerate formulas whatsoever. Whenever I tried her on the many different types of formulas (I've tried all of them, even the RX super duper allergy types) she vomited throughout the night (She is on a feeding pump for 10 hours every night). I pumped breast milk for her for 8 months, never figuring that Kaitlyn would have trouble eating and taking formula, hind-sight is 20-20, right? I thought I had plenty to be able to give her a combination of breast milk and formula until she was a year adjusted (1/4/07). BUT, she's not handling formula very well. We've been relying on donated breast milk for the last many months, many of Kaitlyn's donors have just heard of our story.

Well, it's come to the point (after a horrible day of vomiting about 8 times today) that I've come to realize that I'm dangerously low on breast milk and need more once again.

Kaitlyn takes 36 ounces a day, and at least recently we've been able to successfully transition to 50% breast milk and 50% Compleat (which is a liquid real food formula). I've looked into getting milk from the breast milk bank, but at $3/ounce (and my insurance won't cover it), we'd go broke in a hurry.

So, here's my plea...are you a pumping mama, who is drug free and healthy and have an excess of milk that you would be willing to donate to Kaitlyn? We really need a lot, and I know sometimes moms who work and pump or for whatever reasons, have excess (I know I thought I did at one point, here's a link to a picture of my frozen breast milk when we graduated from the NICU http://lizmccarthy.blogspot.com/2006/12/fi...tlyn-needs.html I've received donated milk from all over the US, mostly from moms who just heard about Kaitlyn's story.

…And as much as those of you who have offered to donate to us and pump an extra pump for me a day, I really need a lot of milk- I've spent a lot of time driving all over the place picking up milk (with all of Kaitlyn's therapies and doctor appointments and I work (I'm a Realtor in Marin)), I really have to ask for a minimum of about 200 ounces at a time.

I am hoping to get some milk from a donor in LA (I'm just trying to eliminate the shipping costs). This particular micro preemie mom has a lot of milk to donate to us (600+ ounces) as her daughter doesn't like frozen milk. So if you know of anyone driving to or from LA and might have extra car space for some coolers that would also be a huge help.

I actually live in Marin but am in SF all the time with doctor visits, and my husband is a SF fireman. The Marin Parents of Multiples have been so wonderful to me throughout my ordeal. With meals while I was on bedrest, meals and other support after the delivery to the continued support of many moms. I've met many new friends. Twin moms don't tell me "Well, at least you have one baby." which I’m always shocked to hear from non-multiple moms. I try to attend moms nights out but multiples outings are a bit hard on me emotionally still.



I actually blog the chronicles of my story on-line. It started as a way for me to update friends and family while I was on bedrest, but it has since gotten quite a following. You can find my story and pictures at: www.aLizard.com I've also started a support group for local preemie moms, as the motherhood experience of having a preemie (especially a micro preemie) is very different. Please let anyone know about the preemie support group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarinSFPreemies/

Thank you and I look forward to meeting many of you in the future.
Liz McCarthy
Mom to 26w6d micro-preemie twins: Kaitlyn and Angel ^Corinne^ (10/4/05) (12 mo adjusted/15 mo actual)
www.aLizard.com
[email protected]

 

hi,
this is a plea for breast milk for a woman in my community.
If you or anyone you know can help, please contact her.

quote:
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Liz McCarthy
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 4:27 PM
To: sftwins
Subject: [SFPOM] In need of milk...

Hello, I am a new member of SFPOM and wanted to introduce myself. Some of you may have heard of my story while I was pregnant in 2005.

Basically, in a nutshell:
Years of infertility, IVF triplets, due in 1/06. I miscarried my triplet at 10 weeks. I had an amnio when I was 17 weeks pregnant which caused my water to break (pPROM premature Rupture of Membranes) on one of my twins sacs. I know my water broke from the way the doctor did the amnio (he used one needle inserted into both sacs, rather than doing each sac separately, but that’s another story). I spent 10 weeks on complete bedrest and 2 of it at CPMC (after the doctors told me there was no way I was going to last more than 48 hours and pushed me to abort both twins). I leaked amniotic fluid the entire time and none reaccumulated. My twins eventually had to be delivered by emergency c-section at 26weeks 6days, due to the fact that I got an infection and they couldn’t stop labor. I became very septic with a blood infection after delivery and was very, very sick myself.

My twin daughters were born 13 weeks prematurely on 10/4/05, each weighing about 1.5 pounds. My first born, Corinne Margaret was my pPROM princess and sadly only lived 3 hours. She passed away in my arms. Her lungs just didn't develop without any amniotic fluid for 10 weeks during critical lung development time. Corinne defied all odds and lasted for 10 weeks to allow her sister to live. Kaitlyn Elizabeth was very, very sick and spent 127 days in the NICU. Over 1 month on a ventilator, a heart surgery when she was 4 days old, eye surgery, many blood transfusions later, she eventually came home to us one month post her due date (2/06). Amazingly she didn’t come home on oxygen, but she did come home with major feeding issues. She also has a paralyzed left vocal chord. We eventually had to have a feeding tube inserted surgically into her stomach about 2 months after she came home. She is still fed 100% via feeding tube, as she has horrible oral aversions.

She's been vomiting multiple times (sometimes 20+) a day for well over a year now. Kaitlyn hasn't been able to tolerate formulas whatsoever. Whenever I tried her on the many different types of formulas (I've tried all of them, even the RX super duper allergy types) she vomited throughout the night (She is on a feeding pump for 10 hours every night). I pumped breast milk for her for 8 months, never figuring that Kaitlyn would have trouble eating and taking formula, hind-sight is 20-20, right? I thought I had plenty to be able to give her a combination of breast milk and formula until she was a year adjusted (1/4/07). BUT, she's not handling formula very well. We've been relying on donated breast milk for the last many months, many of Kaitlyn's donors have just heard of our story.

Well, it's come to the point (after a horrible day of vomiting about 8 times today) that I've come to realize that I'm dangerously low on breast milk and need more once again.

Kaitlyn takes 36 ounces a day, and at least recently we've been able to successfully transition to 50% breast milk and 50% Compleat (which is a liquid real food formula). I've looked into getting milk from the breast milk bank, but at $3/ounce (and my insurance won't cover it), we'd go broke in a hurry.

So, here's my plea...are you a pumping mama, who is drug free and healthy and have an excess of milk that you would be willing to donate to Kaitlyn? We really need a lot, and I know sometimes moms who work and pump or for whatever reasons, have excess (I know I thought I did at one point, here's a link to a picture of my frozen breast milk when we graduated from the NICU http://lizmccarthy.blogspot.com/2006/12/fi...tlyn-needs.html I've received donated milk from all over the US, mostly from moms who just heard about Kaitlyn's story.

…And as much as those of you who have offered to donate to us and pump an extra pump for me a day, I really need a lot of milk- I've spent a lot of time driving all over the place picking up milk (with all of Kaitlyn's therapies and doctor appointments and I work (I'm a Realtor in Marin)), I really have to ask for a minimum of about 200 ounces at a time.

I am hoping to get some milk from a donor in LA (I'm just trying to eliminate the shipping costs). This particular micro preemie mom has a lot of milk to donate to us (600+ ounces) as her daughter doesn't like frozen milk. So if you know of anyone driving to or from LA and might have extra car space for some coolers that would also be a huge help.

I actually live in Marin but am in SF all the time with doctor visits, and my husband is a SF fireman. The Marin Parents of Multiples have been so wonderful to me throughout my ordeal. With meals while I was on bedrest, meals and other support after the delivery to the continued support of many moms. I've met many new friends. Twin moms don't tell me "Well, at least you have one baby." which I’m always shocked to hear from non-multiple moms. I try to attend moms nights out but multiples outings are a bit hard on me emotionally still.



I actually blog the chronicles of my story on-line. It started as a way for me to update friends and family while I was on bedrest, but it has since gotten quite a following. You can find my story and pictures at: www.aLizard.com I've also started a support group for local preemie moms, as the motherhood experience of having a preemie (especially a micro preemie) is very different. Please let anyone know about the preemie support group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarinSFPreemies/

Thank you and I look forward to meeting many of you in the future.
Liz McCarthy
Mom to 26w6d micro-preemie twins: Kaitlyn and Angel ^Corinne^ (10/4/05) (12 mo adjusted/15 mo actual)
www.aLizard.com
[email protected]

 

I belong to another message board and I forwarded this lady's information to someone that runs a BM donation program...I hope she can help some. this lady has gone through so much - I couldn't imagine!

 

I am wondering if this mom can re-lactate?
I have heard cases were woman who are adopting can take a drug to lactate and BF even though they have never had their child in utero.

Just curious since I did not see this mentioned and seems like the best possible way.

 

Wow! That is quite the story! I hope she finds the milk she needs!

 

This just makes me cringe.

I would never accept BM from someone I didn't know. I have donated almost 2,000 OZ of BM to the Milk bank in Denver so I believe in it. In order to donate you have to be examined by a doctor, have blood drawn, have a doc do an extensive history, fill out a bunch of paper work about diet etc, then once they get your BM, they sterilize it. After all this it is $3 an oz. I know it adds up quickly and personally could not afford it but still would not trust just ayone's BM. I think it's a very dangerous request.

 

I have to agree that it sounds dangerous to give your child milk that hasn't been screened. Can't HIV be transmitted through breastmilk? And there are many HIV+ people that don't even know they have it. I hope she finds a solution that works for her. I can't even pump enough to have a decent stash for myself.