Go Donate Yourself

When I got pregnant Ryan was inspired to start donating blood. Now he goes as often as he can, and has even graduated to donating double red blood cells. I've been donating blood since high school, what seemed like a good excuse to get out of gym class, became something I just did. I've had to take a break since they don't want me to donate while I'm Zane's primary nutritional source, but you'd be surprised at what else I can give away.

Cord Blood
After doing a ton of reading, it was clear that there is absolutely no reason for me to bank cord blood. Cord blood banking is expensive, and unless you have a family history of leukemia, sickle cell disease, or other genetic troubles there is absolutely no reason for you to shell out that kind of cash. But it does seem a shame to let all those stem cells go to waste.

So donate it. That's what we did.

After Zane entered the world, my very fantastic and patient OB collected the sample (x liters!) and boxed it all up in a donation kit that was provided for us. Ryan called the number on the kit and they sent a currier to pick it up. It was easy, painless, and that blood either went to help some poor child who could use it or to a lab where they will play with it to come up with new medical solutions. Either way, someone wins. Why would you bank it and spend all that money when you could actually help someone (or multiple someones)? Go here to read more.

Breast Milk
Yes, you can donate this too.

I make more then Zane needs, and now that my emergency stash in the freezer is built back up I don't mind setting some excess aside for other babies who need it.

I donate through the International Milk Bank Project. At least 25% of the milk I send them goes to help infants in Africa who are suffering from malnourishment, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. The rest is distributed by Prolacta to premature and critically ill babies here in America. They are the only distributor of human milk formula made from 100% human milk. The funds they raise selling the pasteurized breast milk to hospitals go to further their efforts in Africa.

Donating breast milk is a bit tricky and the process to get approved and set up was long and a bit of a pain in the ass. But they try to be as helpful as they can, and walk you through every step. There are other bits of yourself you can donate too.

Bone Marrow
If you're not on the registry, you should be.

Go here (http://www.marrow.org/) and request a kit. You swab your cheek, send it back to them. You're now on the list of potential lifesavers.

Blood
It's obvious, but if you can you should donate. The Red Cross lists local collection sites.

Organs
Is that little box on your drivers license checked? As morbid as it is, you should talk to your family about what to do with your bits when you're done with them. And make sure it's in your will. Don't forget to discuss eye and tissue (aka skin, bone, and heart valves) donations. Despite the virulent urban myth, medical technicians' first priority is your health and well being. They will do absolutely everything in their power to keep you alive and well even if you're listed as an organ donor. When you do pass on, your body is treated with respect and in almost all cases an open casket funeral is possible after donation. Read up on organ donation at Donate Life America.

The Fridge is Dead, Long Live the Fridge

It's not a good night when you find yourself ordering a refridgerator over the internet at nine o'clock at night. Rather then being upset, I've chosen to view this as an opportunity to embrace the quaint American tradition of zero interest and zero payments for six months.

It seems that all new appliance purchases for the Suburban Farm go this way. We wanted to replace the fridge, but we wanted to do it when we were ready, not because the ketchup had grown fur and started crawling about the place threatening to eat the dog. The dishwasher and the hot water heater were similar stories, except they involved water leaking everywhere. (Good times.)

Thankfully the chest freezer outside was working so we moved all the frozen stuff out, and we migrated all the fridge stuff up into the freezer to keep things, with the help of a couple of bags of ice, at normal refrigerator temperature. Aside from some condiments and a freakload of breast milk, we didn't loose much food.

Loosing the milk REALLY sucked. Expressing breast milk is not the easiest or most liberating thing I've ever done. I had slowly built up a very nice stockpile, some of which was in the freezer, and I was planning on donating my excess. Since we had to tap into it so hard my stockpile has been depleted to emergency rations, and now I've got to build my pad back up before I can feel comfortable giving the excess away.

The refrigerator is nice. It's very shiny and clean and has actual drawers rather than cardboard boxes. It's even got an ice maker. (We're so uptown!) I like the freezer on the bottom since it puts the food we eat the most (produce) right at eye level. No more forgotten carrots or radishes, or at least that's my hope. We'll also save on our electric bill, since the former refrigerator was manufactured sometime in the Reagan administration (ok, it may have been as late as Bush, Sr. but that's still at least 15 years ago!)

This is just how life is. You hem and haw over buying a refrigerator for four years, and one day the universe says, "You know what! I am sooooo tired of you bitching about your refrigerator. Get over it already. It's all you talk about anymore. Blah blah blah. You're soooo boring. If you're not going to do something about it, then I'll make you do something about it. Ha!"

I wonder if we should start thinking about a new stove, a gas stove. Wouldn't that be grand...

- Gretchen