milk needed for baby with deceased mother (Tri-Cities...organizing milk runs from Westside as well)
milk needed for baby with deceased mother (Tri-Cities...organizing milk runs from Westside as well)
In October, a friend of mine, Audrey Ulrich, and her two-year-old son, Raphael, died in a car accident. She was survived by her then four-month-old son, Xavier, and her husband, Matt. Audrey was truly wonderful at bringing women together and I feel blessed to be a part of a tribe of women who knew her. Here are a couple of videos paying tribute to her - you can see she was a woman involved in many different areas in our community:
http://www.keprtv.com/news/69340027.html?video=YHI&t=a
http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/78482777.html?video=YHI&t=a
http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/78660512.html?video=YHI&t=a
Since the accident, local mothers have stepped up and donated their expressed breast milk to feed Xavier. Audrey was a strong advocate of breastfeeding, and was tandem nursing Raphael and Xavier. Xavier has been fed exclusively on breast milk from these wonderful mothers. He is now almost 7 months old. We are hoping to provide enough milk for him for his first year. However, we are running out of our frozen storage reserves, which at one time were substantial. Matt recently bought several kinds of formula, but Xavier will not keep any of it down - he's a breastmilk kid only, it seems. In the beginning, we had several people donate frozen milk that had been sitting in their freezer for months; we're now relying solely on freshly expressed breast milk from about ten local donors. We could certainly use more.
I realize the Tri-Cities is fairly remote for most of the women in Washington State who use this forum. Obviously surrounding communities are too far for weekly milk drop-offs, but we really need a nice “base” of previously frozen breastmilk that can supplement our weekly pumpers’ hard work. Do you know any mothers who might have a large stash of previously frozen milk within breastmilk storage guidelines that they'd like to donate to a wonderful cause? We do have a car that is taking over milk from the Seattle area THIS SUNDAY (January 17, 2010) and you can contact me for details...and there may be more milk runs in the future, depending on the amount of milk we get donated from the west side of the state.
We have set up a screening process which is in two parts, similar to a breast milk bank (whose milk is just too expensive at $3.50 an ounce): 1) complete an online questionnaire; and 2) show recent proof of negative blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. The blood test results would probably be fairly easily gotten from the doctor/midwife office from when they were tested while pregnant. If not, Matt has offered to pay for blood testing if needed for those who pass the screen. To get started, the link to the survey is here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P2ZBN5P
Please pass this on to anyone who you might think can help.
Also, we kindly ask that this STAY OUT OF THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT. Although I am very proud of this story, friends and family of Audrey's would like to keep this one quiet. Similar stories have circulated the media, and while portrayed very well, the comments on the articles got downright ugly. We are not doing this because we are "breastfeeding Nazis" or we think it is the right and only way for everyone; we are only doing this because it is what Audrey would have wanted and she would have done the same for any of us. Please contact me with any offers or questions:
Thank you!
Kristina French, CD(DONA)
birth doula and birthing from within mentor
4frenchs@charter.net
www.threeriversbirth.com
(509) 628-8790
“Do good without show or fuss. Facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, the mother will rightly say, ‘we did it ourselves!’” – From the Tao te Ching
Last edited by kristinafrench on Fri Jan 15, 2010 3:23 pm; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : added to subject line)
kristinafrench- Posts : 2
Join date : 2010-01-15
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