Crunchy is as Crunchy Does

I've been thinking about the crunchiest thing I've ever done. And I'm not talking about birthing naturally, since I blame Patrice for that anyway -- I don't think it counts as "crunchy" if it's not by choice. Nor am I talking about declaring vegatarianism. For one, I cannot do that a second time since my husband would be sad. For another, I consider any life decisions made in high school not to count for much, so I don't think it was a matter of crunchiness even then. I was 14 years old then, and though the decision would last 7 and a half years, it was more about a streak than anything in the end. But all of this is beside the point.

Perhaps the crunchiest thing about me is my decision to become a breast milk donor -- and not just a milk bank kind of donor, but a "ship it to Africa" one. I scoured the Internet for a worthy organization instead of a for-profit one. I had to answer questions and questions before they would even consider me. I had to get a waiver signed by Jonathan's doctor and another one by mine. I had to get blood drawn (and I hate getting blood drawn!) and create a DNA profile. The whole qualification process took about 2 months, and they told me beforehand it would take 2 months, and I wanted to do it anyway, because those babies were sick and needed milk and I had too much. The sad thing is, there are sick babies here who need milk too, but I couldn't get it to them without going through an organization that was only looking to flip my milk for profit. So instead, I sent it to Africa.

The final box of my milk is sitting in the living room with some ice packs waiting for FedEx. I'm at the end of my qualification period, and I had the choice to either get more blood drawn or call it quits. I decided not to requalify because the second crunchiest thing about me, making my own baby food, is requiring more and more freezer space these days, and I'm out of space to store Africa milk. Besides, Jonathan continues to be very hungry, and I'm wasting away. I've told him that if he keeps this up, he's going to eat me, and then he'll be sorry, but to no avail. So even though I have "extra" milk at times, I'm going to reabsorb it from now on. The whole experience was worthwhile though, and I would do it again.