At 35w 6d gestation, I had a placental abruption and The Starfish was born 29 days early. She spent a week in the NICU at Tampa General Hospital, where she received donor milk while we were waiting for my milk to come in. Even though I had been leaking colostrum since 27 weeks, I wasn’t able to pump out anything at first. I wanted to “repay” the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida (where the donor milk she received came from), once I was sure I had stashed enough to get her to 1 yr EBF. In March 2022, I started the process of becoming a HMBANA donor and sent my first batch down to Florida. I now live up in Maryland and my donor file was transferred to the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank, where I can continue to donate to NICU babies like my preemie!

 – Michelle, milk donor

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