Megan Richardson Bossier City, LA Shortly after midnight on November 15, 2011, I realized that I‘d fallen asleep without feeling my baby move. After poking on my belly, eating a banana, and rolling side-to-side, I knew something was terribly wrong when I still could not feel any movement. I immediately went to the hospital and prayed that I would have the strength to deal with what was to come. The doctors said our baby’s heart was still beating with occasional drops in rate. We were transported to Willis-Knighton South Hospital in Shreveport, LA where I had an emergency C-section and the doctors discovered that our baby’s umbilical cord was a true knot, wrapped around his neck twice. Camden Micheal weighed 3 lbs. 2 oz. and was 15 inches long. I remember hearing a tiny cry as his premature lungs struggled to function before he was put on a mechanical ventilator. As a former NICU nurse, I knew about the benefits breastmilk gives premature babies. I breastfed my other two sons and wanted to provide our new little miracle with the same start, so I began pumping every 3-4 hours. At first Camden was on IV nourishment, but soon received less than a teaspoon of my milk through an oral-gastric tube. I was concerned that I would not produce enough milk, but I was able to fill up our home freezer as well as the one in the NICU! During his third week of life, Camden developed hydrocephalus from a small brain hemorrhage, requiring a few surgeries. This rare and unanticipated development lengthened his stay in the NICU. It was during this time that I realized we needed to do something with all of my stored milk. My mom suggested that I should look into donating my breastmilk. I completed the donor application process for the Mothers’ Milk Bank at North Texas and donated 769 ounces. I donated my breastmilk to another milk bank as well, making my total donation 1,621 ounces. Donating my milk helped me look outside of my own crisis, and made me feel better about leaving the hospital day after day without our baby for nearly three months. I was happy to know that I could help other mothers provide their babies with the benefits of breast milk. On January 24, 2012, Camden had surgery to implant a shunt to drain the fluid from his brain. We were finally able to take our baby boy home from the hospital on February 2, 2012 and it did not take him long to grow into my milk supply. Today, Camden is growing and developing as expected for a baby with his medical history. He is truly our family superstar and we are so grateful to God for the blessing of modern medicine and the benefits of breastmilk.