Just call me La Super Vaca!

Okay okay, let me first explain. I’m a mom of 2 sweet little girls – a 2 year old (Isa) and an 8 month old (Gabriela). With both girls, I breastfed and pumped milk to make sure my girls were well taken care of.

When my little Isa girl was born, my milk came in like a wrecking ball; ya girl was NOT prepared. I’m talking – engorgement and all. Being a first time mom, breastfeeder/pumper, I was not keeping up well. However, I am grateful for the people who helped to get me right!

I not only breastfed Isa, I also pumped. Everytime Isa would nurse, I would pump afterwards. Yes, that includes the feedings over night – if she nursed, I pumped. Basically, I was telling my body to produce more milk, while also trying to keep up with production. At the beginning, this would every 3 hours – you can imagine how tired ya girl was. It took some discipline and lots of support from my incredible husband.

I PRODUCED SO MUCH MILK, people in my community were calling me “la Vaca”. Because I produced so much milk, I had more than enough milk to feed Isa, give her milk baths, and freeze for later. Having more than enough also meant that I was filling up our freezer, not leaving enough space for our food, so I needed a solution.

At the time, Isa was just one of 9 babies in our community, so I wrote to the other mommies to see if anyone wanted/needed milk for their baby. Because some of the mommies weren’t producing nearly as much, they were VERY thrilled to receive milk. At the time, I would fill up big gallon size bags with frozen medela milk bags to give to moms. I ended up being able to give milk for 3 other babies, in addition to my Isa girl.

When Gabriela was born, my milk came in the same – READY TO GO! However, my sweet Gabriela ended up spending 5 weeks in the NICU. I would go spend time with her in the NICU so she could nurse, AND leave bags of milk, however, they would ask me to take some bags home because she wasn’t eating as much milk as I was leaving. She was definitely not as much of an eater as her sister was at that age. And unfortunately, there weren’t any other babies her age in our community, so I was filling up our fridge and freezer faster than we were prepared for.

I asked mommies if any of them just wanted milk for their kiddos, and even used milk to give Isa milk bathes, however even that wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, I ended up having to throw away some milk just to try to keep up. I sought the Lord for some better solutions, not just because I didn’t want to waste milk, but also because I still wanted to be able to bless others with the blessing that I had.

That is when I found out about the Milk Bank! I shared with one of the nurses in the NICU about my dilema, and one of them actually was a milk donator when she was nursing, so she shared with me the info. I was able to get registered while Gabriela was still in the NICU, and began my donating some time in December of 2023. It felt so good to have a place to give my milk to instead of having to throw away milk.

I continued to donate until March 2024, right before our 7 week trip to the states, and just this week I received this letter. For those of you who don’t read Spanish, it says that I donated 32 liters of milk – CRAZY. AND what blows my mind even more is the: Thanks to your generosity, 61 newborns born prematurely or with some form of illness was able to receive human milk, which helped contribute to their recuperation and development.

SIXTY-ONE! 61! 60 + 1!!!

I almost cried reading this letter. With my first child, I was able to help provide milk for 3 other babies. This time that number jumped to 61! I am SOOOOO grateful.

I thank God for the opportunity to bless others with what He has blessed me. I thank God that during a time that could have been so dark, He brought so much light out of it. 61!

God I thank you!