A prayer was answered tonight, and I am once again amazed at the generosity of donating families. Last week, one of our regular donors informed me that she would not be able to donate to us any more. The selfishness inside me hopes this is temporary, as she has been one of our most productive and loved donors. However, I understand life happens and I most definitely understand a Mama's got to do what a Mama's got to do to take care of her family.
Over the past week, I have searched for new donors through the regular milk-sharing site that I use. There have been several times over the past 4 1/2 months when I didn't know when or where the milk would be coming from next. Somehow it had worked out every time, so I trusted it would work out this time as well.
Backing up another 2 weeks - A friend of a friend was past her due date and getting discouraged. She planned a homebirth, but with Florida laws being so restrictive about going "past due," it can be a very stressful time for expecting mothers who are 10 month mamas. My friend knows I tend to go 42+ weeks, so she asked me to send an encouraging message to this mom. My heart and soul are deeply rooted to homebirth, so I sent this mom a message in an effort to give her hope and confidence in the last few days of her pregnancy. I never heard back from her (I took it to be a good sign, that perhaps she had gone into labor and was enjoying her baby). A week after sending the message she had her baby at home...my heart is smiling just thinking of it.
Being 2 weeks since I sent the message and knowing that she had her baby, I forgot that I included my phone number in that message...until today, when I received a text message saying, "Nancy? You sent me a message about being a 10 month mama." She went on to say she was touched by our story (told by our mutual friend) and wanted to donate milk to us! She already sent some with our mutual friend and we talked about arranging future donations.
I am overwhelmed with joy. Over the past 4 1/2 months I have had more tears of joy than any other time in my 27 years on this earth. To not only witness but to be part of such an extraordinary group of families coming together to feed human milk to human babies (MY baby, at that!) makes my heart feel bigger. It has given me a joy I never knew existed. I believe all of this to be part of a much bigger plan, one that I only have glimpse of so far.
