LOVE KNOWS NO DISTANCE: Milk Bank

Since many of you know, skin-to-skin breastfeeding didn't work out so well with Josie and I. However, I made the decision to continue with breast milk, but instead by pumping and giving it to her in bottles (which is still the best decision we have made.) Anyway, by pumping, my milk supply skyrocketed (in volume). In the beginning, I had no clue that this wasn't normal until I spoke to another breastfeeding mom that was getting in total each day extra, what I was getting in one pump. (I felt like a milk-supplying freak) Then I told her how I had so much extra, I had been just dumping the extra down the drain (my freezer was already stocked for the Apocalypse in just a matter of weeks). I'm sure she was sickened by finding that I was disposing of it, even I got a knot in my stomach each time I watched all that hard work, literally go down the drain.
Then someone made me open my eyes and see that this extra milk was not me being a freak of nature milk producer, but instead this was a gift! I knew Josie could never go through all that milk, so I started researching breast milk donation. I spent several days visiting website and calling milk banks (which I never even knew existed). I found out that the larger milk banks are actually (secretly) run by large formula corporations who add additives and take your milk and condense it into powder form, and make a LARGE profit off the mother's donation by selling it. I am not knocking the milk or the mother's donating it to these corporations, but that just didn't sit right with me. I wanted my milk to stay as local as possible to benefit a family in my area. There are donation centers around Chattanooga, however, they encouraged building relationships with your receiving family and was basically a black market parking lot swap meet each week (without receiving $$ for your milk of course). That didn't work for me either. I wanted to remain anonymous, but know that my milk was going to be put to good use and benefit a child or children to the highest potential it could.
I kind of gave up on the Milk Bank for a while until I stumbled on an article on Oprah.com ( Page 5 talks about my Milk Bank choice...http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Milk-Banks-Donating-Breast-Milk-to-Save-Babies/1) I found my match.... WakeMed Mother's Milk Bank in Raleigh, NC. The Mothers' Milk Bank at WakeMed is a non-profit organization that has been screening donors, and collecting, processing and distributing human donor milk since 1992. I applied and within a month, shipped out my first milk donation. Of course I do not receive any $$ for my milk, but it also costs me nothing more that a few seconds of my time to fill out my bags each day. The milk bank does replenish my freezer milk bags and pays for overnight express shipping from my doorstep. The minimum donation is 200oz. From January 23-March 3, I was able to donate almost double that! I shipped out my donation this past Monday and received a call from the Milk Bank thanking me and acknowledging they had received my donation of 398oz! My milk will be used in hospitals to feed NICU infants, Preemies, and end up in the hands of the mothers of these children, so they can take their babies home to feed. <3 To put the volume into perspective, a newborn infant eats 2-3 oz every 3-4 hours (give or take). So we will say 3 oz every 3 hours on the high end...making 8 feeding a day--24 oz a day. My milk donation will feed one infant for 16 1/2 days.
For those concerned about Josie...she is thriving and this donation didn't put a ding in her (separate) frozen milk supply. Plus, it's teaching her to share at a young age.... :)
Here is the link to my Milk Bank http://www.wakemed.org/landing.cfm?id=135.