Lost my EBM stash :(

[Lisa B]

I"m an EEer and until yesterday had about 3L of EBM stored in my freezer. Months of hard work. My fridge/freezer died slowly over a couple of days!!! We saved DS immediate milk in the fridge by putting on ice and spent our tax return on buying a new fridge which was delivered the same day. It emphasises the feeling that I have that EEing is always like sitting on a wobbly fence, just waiting to fall off and hoping like hell you won't. All my hard work is gone . I made DP throw out the mushy EBM from the freezer as I just felt like crying.
(w
Anyway, I'm just debriefing and sharing my sadness with my BB friends. DP isn't so understanding (well thinks practically) and thinks the stock will just build up again and now we have more room for food.

[Babyluv]

Oh no
Liquid Gold, how disappointing!

[Cherished]

I'm so sorry. I have only ever expressed 2 bottles and it too ages! I can only imagine how upset you are

[Charlotte91]

Oh no! I know how important EBM is. I was devestated when I lost 2 bottles (I had about 15, plus some small ones), they defrosted on the way home when we finally bought DD home.

That sucks really badly!

[Epacris]

All my love and sympathy goes out to you. Heartbreaking.

[ButterflyForever]

Hugs
I had to throw all mine out as well, when one of the kids left the freezer door open
I had 2 drawers full of the stuff.
My hubby had the same thoughts as yours.
MEN!

[Lisa B]

Thanks guys!!! Sorry to hear some of you lost your EBM too.

[MantaRay]

That is devastating hun Losing EBM really is heartbreaking - I hated throwing out even one lot . I hope you are able to build your stock up hun

[teesmum]

hey Lisa B - were you actually using your freezer stash? or are you still pumping in excess of your little one's needs? i ask b/c i have a considerable stash frozen, some of which is reaching its expiry so would be happy to share to tide you over if need be.

[Miss E]

Totally understand Hun

Expressing gives meaning to the age old saying about 'crying over spilt milk'

[Fleur]

Ahh Lisa, I'm so sorry

[~ Mylitta ~]

I had over 9lt in my deep freezer at one point and we started to have power issues in the house. I was terrified I was going to lose it all! I had been stockpiling because we thought I might have to wean DS in order to go through IVF and hated the thought of early weaning. I was so lucky that not only was I able to continue breastfeeding through IVF and the pregnancy, but our power was fixed and I didn't lose the 9lt. I ended up donating it to two special little bub's.

I can certainly understand how much work goes into expressing though, and totally sympathise with the loss of your precious milk!!!

[Lisa B]

Teesmum - thanks hunnie, so kind to offer. I had enough in the fridge and was making enough to cover myself. I now have a big stash again in the freezer hence my need to cut back on pumps which I mentioned in the EE forum today. If you are in Melbourne and need any let me know as I have heaps to spare.

Mylitta - how did you end up donating your milk? I've tried to do that with my excess but because I haven't had all the health checks with the hospital so they won't take retrospective milk. I tried through the website human milk for human babies but couldn't work out how to use it probably (I think) so got no responses.

Thanks everyone for your support. It's so nice. EEing is hard enough without loosing your work.

[HotI]

There is a FB group for those looking for and looking to donate ebm. i get updates from the 'human milk for human babies - Victoria' one but there are others in different states.

[~ Mylitta ~]

There is a FB group for those looking for and looking to donate ebm. i get updates from the 'human milk for human babies - Victoria' one but there are others in different states.

That's the same facebook group that I found the people I donated my milk to

LisaB - I hadn't had any additional blood screening done besides the blood tests I had routinely done at the start of both my pregnancies. I was willing to get more done if the recipients had asked for them though. I met both the Mum's in person though, so they got to meet me before using my milk. I asked the first lady who came to my house to pick up a large amount of milk what her thoughts were in regards the safety of the milk, and basically she said that in her opinion there's probably not a huge amount of things that can get passed through the milk, and because she was meeting me first she could see that not only did I look healthy, but both my two breastfed children looked healthy too. She said that she assumes that someone breastfeeding their own children would be generally trying to do the right thing healthwise. She did mention that when she had accepted milk from mother's who no longer breastfed their own children (as in, they just maintained a milk supply in order to express and donated) that she did ask for health screens because they no longer had that strong reason to make sure the milk was totally safe.

Before donating the milk though, I did make sure they know that I'm a non-smoker, no one smokes in our family, I don't drink alcohol, no drugs etc etc...