Journey in Adoptive Breastfeeding: Part 3

It has been almost 10 months of pumping about 10 ounces of milk a day. I was surprised with how fast that can fill up two deep freezers. So in January I started looking for people to donate my milk to.


A friend of a friend recommended a lady to me whose daughter has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. According to this family, SMA is the #1 genetic killer of infants, and 50% of babies do not live past two years of age. The little girl, who is about 9 years old now, (let's call her "E") has weak muscles,which affect her ability to sit up, speak, eat by mouth and breathe completely on her own. Because she cannot swallow, E is fed through a g-tube. Due to SMA, she is prone to respiratory infections that are life threatening. When the family started adding breast milk to her diet at the beginning of 2009, and they saw improvements in her health right away! I'm not surprised--breastmilk is awesome! So I was able to contact this family to donate my milk. I had blood tests done to ensure that I wouldn't pass any diseases to her and had to fill out extensive forms. My hope is that my extra breastmilk will help E live a little longer and a little better.


So where are we in the adoptive process?


We were selected by a birth mom who is pregnant with a girl and due in May. Since then, our son Miles' birth mom has contacted the adoption agency, that she is also pregnant. She does not yet know how pregnant she is or the gender of her baby. But, she has asked if we will adopt Miles' birth sibling.


The adoption agency has given us the choice, adopt the baby girl we were originally selected for, or adopt Miles' birth sibling. Adopting both is not allowed by state law. For us, the emotions are hard, but the decision was simple. We have always said we would adopt a birth sibling of our adopted children, if we can. We know its best for Miles, our family, and Miles' birth family, for us to adopt his birth sibling.


So now we just sit back, store breastmilk and wait. More to come...