Lauren Reed
Baton Rouge, LA
What would you do if something happened to all that breastmilk you’d pumped and stored in the freezer? I'm sure every donor mom worries at least a little bit about what she would do if she lost her ‘stash of milk.’
Last year my parents' house was struck by lightning and burned down. Thankfully, no one was home, but I was storing my breastmilk in my parents' deep freeze. Fortunately the freezer was housed in their detached carport and was unaffected by the fire.
Our local firefighters really SAVED THE DAY when they transported about 1,200 ounces of frozen breastmilk in milk bags from my parents’ house to the neighbors' deep freezer located right across the street.
Five days later our neighbor called and shared that the door to their deep freezer had propped open overnight and all the milk had defrosted! My mom, mother-in-law, and I went over there and brought all the bags of breastmilk to my house, nearby in the same city. Much of the milk was still frozen, so I put those bags in my freezer and they were soon on their way to the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas. I put the rest of my milk that was mostly defrosted to use right away.
I’m grateful that I was able to pump more than enough for Liam, my own baby, for 14 months and still had milk to donate to the babies in hospital NICUs.