Okay, so I was all emotionally inspired after reading another blog, but I realize that I should also stick to the plans that I have made. It's just that kind of day. I did promise in my last post to inform about the joy I've expressed (among other things).
So about the news items. It still make me giggle to think that I had several TV crews at my house, and one of them even took video footage of me pumping. (Covered appropriately)
It all started with Simon being allergic to Cow's milk protein. When we found that out, we had to make some radical changes.I had to completely cut out anything containing any type of cow's milk protein in my diet. I was still pumping at the time, and that meant that anything that I ate would potentially be passed on in my milk to Simon. This left us with a HUGE surplus of milk. What was I supposed to do with several gallons of breast milk? Any mother who has tried pumping for any length of time knows just how valuable this milk is. We also ran into another awkward problem. We ran out of freezer space. Good grief, no room for food, too much milk. This problem was solved by billeting my bags of milk to other freezers. Andrew's cousin was kind enough to make room in the freezer for several grocery bags, as was someone from our small group.
I guess our friend from Bible Study, was tired of having to listen to me complain about how to get rid of this perfectly good milk, or he was tired of moving milk around to find his cookies in the freezer. Either way, he went online and posted an ad on Kijiji on my behalf, and used his e-mail as the contact point. Thankfully he screened the creepy and rude people for me, and just forwarded the sincere and interesting inquiries.
One of those interesting inquiries was from Global news. One place I never thought I would be ten years ago. On public television talking about breast milk. After the first interview, I started to get better at talking in front of a camera. I did an interview for Global, CBC radio, CBC news, French CBC, the Winnipeg Sun, and Steve Lampert (?)
It was pretty interesting to be in the public eye. After the first few interview I was a bit afraid to go out in public. What if people recognized me and started pointing and calling me a freak? I did actually get one person who had seen me on the news and complimented me on trying to help someone else out.
My publicity has been met with varying opinions. But, whatever. Simon has taught me to have thicker skin, and that came in handy at this point in my life. I had seen too many babies in the NICU who were preemies. They needed milk, and sometimes there moms just couldn't produce it. Why not give them a fighting chance by boosting their immune systems, and giving them something to drink that is easier to digest than formula?
If you are interested in the news reports, just google Sara Wiens - breastmilk. The first five pages are decent, after that they get a bit shady.
One more little snippet in my defense. (I'm not on trial, why do I have to defend?) To those people who think that I am freakish and gross and dangerous - if I were concerned about the safety of my breastmilk, why would I continue pumping for nine months! I still can't believe that I pumped until July from October. After finally giving away the milk that Simon couldn't use to a family that adopted, I did find out that he still could have used it. He had an allergy appointment and after going back on cow's milk myself, we found out that he could tolerate what was coming through in my milk. After giving away about 54 lbs of milk (or more) I still had enough to last him beyond a year, with supplementing a little soy milk.
Really, if I had sold it for $8 an ounce, I would be rich. Ridiculously rich.
Too bad I wasn't in it for the profit.
Until next time,
Sara
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