The Memory Tree

When Lincoln passed away in February 2014, Riley Children’s connected me to the Indiana Milk Bank to see if I was eligible to donate Lincoln’s milk that I had pumped at the hospital, as well as the many bags that I had frozen at our house. They use the milk for preemie babies who desperately need breast milk to help them develop while waiting for their own mother’s milk to come in. After a very thorough application process, I was approved as a donor. So Jeremy packed up the milk and shipped it off. And I never heard anything back… Until last week.

I emailed the Milk Bank to find out what ever became of our donation, and received a very nice email in return. They said my donation added up to 164 oz of breast milk! They also have a tree in the foyer of their office that whenever a milk donation is made because of an infant passing away they add the child’s name on a leaf to the tree. I received these pictures that just brought me some much needed joy! There’s just something about seeing your my son’s name carved in a beautiful way like this that just touched my heart, and is further proof of his existence. I’m so happy to see him honored in this way, and I hope the gift of his milk helped other sweet babies in his memory.