An incredibly selfless mum donated her breastmilk to her friend’s adopted baby after her own child died.
Sarah Reike and close friend Lauren Casper were expecting children at the same time – Sarah was pregnant and Lauren was awaiting the adoption of Arsema, a baby girl from Ethiopia.
However at 20 weeks Sarah’s ultrasound showed that there were complications that ‘were not compatible with life’, and daughter Evie Caris sadly died just four hours after she was born – one month after Arsema arrived.
“I prepared my nursery for the homecoming of my daughter and Sarah planned a funeral,” said Lauren poignantly.
But before Evie was born, Sarah did something amazing. She asked Lauren is she would like her breastmilk for Arsema.
“I was wondering if you would like to have my breast milk after Evie is born,” Lauren recalled her saying. “I thought maybe you could use it to feed Arsema. I don’t know how long I’ll pump or how much I’ll be able to produce, but I’d love to give it to you if you want it.”
Lauren accepted, and the grieving mum pumped her milk for Arsema each day.
“Each time I filled Arsema’s bottle and sat in the rocker to feed her I would think about Sarah and Evie,” said Lauren. “I would pray for Sarah’s broken heart and thank God for the gift Sarah had so selflessly given me and my daughter.”
We can’t imagine how painful it must have been for the heartbroken mum to express her milk daily when her precious angel had died. However we think that by using her milk to nourish another baby, she has done something amazing and meaningful, and honoured the memory of her little Evie.
“I wish I could have breastfed my children,” wrote Lauren. “Sarah wishes she could have fed her daughter (and so do I… oh so do I). But life doesn’t always make sense. When everything is broken and mixed up, we have to create our own beauty from the pieces.”
Wow. Just wow.
