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Thank you for requesting to join MilkShare! We are happy to have you. Inappropriate requests are not tolerated and forums are carefully moderated. Please read our guidelines for safer sharing at www.milkshare.com. If you are seeking milk, we request that you please help to keep MilkShare alive by contributing $20 via Paypal to yaaykhadi@gmail.com prior to posting. Thousands of families have used MilkShare to donate or receive milk for their babies. We believe that this community is preserving an age old practice and giving more babies the best nutrition possible. Thank you for contributing to our success!
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milk needed for baby with deceased mother (Tri-Cities, WA...may be able to set up a milk run from PDX area)

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milk needed for baby with deceased mother (Tri-Cities, WA...may be able to set up a milk run from PDX area) Empty milk needed for baby with deceased mother (Tri-Cities, WA...may be able to set up a milk run from PDX area)

Post by kristinafrench Fri Jan 15, 2010 3:30 pm

Hello - I'm a birth doula in the Tri-Cities area (Richland, Pasco, Kennewick) and am asking for help in light of a tragedy from anyone who might be able to donate milk for a baby who has lost his mother this year.

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 from most parts of Oregon. 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? Audrey's midwife is also helping with this effort, and she is willing to make a milk run to Portland if we gather enough milk from that area. There may be more milk runs in the future, depending on the amount of milk over time.

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 for large milk quantities. 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!

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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

kristinafrench

Posts : 2
Join date : 2010-01-15

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