“How much better would the world be if we didn’t keep more than we need?”
As she shares the story of bringing her daughter Maggie into the world, Sarah reflects on the words of Marsha P. Johnson: “If you have a roof, share it. If you have food, share it.”
For Sarah, that same spirit of generosity helped inspire her decision to become a milk donor.
“I hear some people debate whether to donate or share both their milk and other things. Those are personal decisions, and I won’t judge where they land. Pumping milk, storing it—it’s all hard work, and it is yours to decide what to do with it. But I loved the idea of donating to a milk bank. Why would I keep a freezer full of milk that my daughter wouldn’t finish until she was five when another baby out there really needs it?”
Keeping Maggie Safe
Sarah never took having a baby for granted.
As a teenager, she was told that she would have trouble conceiving. After two rounds of IVF, she and her spouse, Mateus, were overjoyed to learn they were expecting. But her pregnancy took an unexpected turn when she developed a sudden, severe case of preeclampsia.
Doctors admitted her to Maine Medical Center, where they planned to keep her as an inpatient until Maggie’s birth. Four days into her hospital stay, that plan changed when doctors told her, “You’re having a baby tonight!”
Exhausted and concerned for Maggie, Sarah chose a C-section to avoid prolonging her severe preeclampsia symptoms. Her doctors agreed it was likely the safest option.
“The memories of that experience are blurry,” Sarah says. “I remember a nurse preparing me for what was ahead by telling me it might feel like there was a pit crew working around me. She was right. There were so many people in the room, each focused on their own role, while she stayed by my side, talking me through everything. She even held me while I received my spinal because Mateus couldn’t be in the room yet.
“One of the doctors introduced himself and explained that he would be caring for Maggie in the neonatal intensive care unit after she was born. When he asked whether they had our permission to give her donor milk, there was no hesitation. As Mateus still remembers, my answer was simple: ‘Do whatever you need to do, keep her safe.’”
84 Days in the NICU
Maggie entered the world at 29 weeks and 4 days. She weighed 2 lbs., 11 ounces. She was given pasteurized donor human milk for the first 24 hours until Sarah’s milk came in. “I was lucky in that way,” Sarah told me. “I know a lot of preemie moms don’t quickly develop a milk supply, but I did!” Of course, Maggie still needed a lot of support. She needed help breathing, with temperature control, and much more. Sarah didn’t get to hold her daughter for four days.
On day 7, Maggie was cared for by the milk bank’s medical director Dr. Gina Trachimowicz, who is a neonatologist at Maine Medical Center, where she was born. It’s a small world when it comes to caring for the tiniest among us, and we all want the same things: for these little ones to get the safe nutrition they need for the best start possible and the highest level of care.
Maggie was in the NICU for 84 days, needing to stay a couple weeks past her original full-term due date.
“It’s unbelievably hard to walk out of the hospital without your baby. That was the first thing we had to get used to. Fortunately, thanks to the parental leave benefits available through Boston University, both Mateus and I were able to be with Maggie every day. I got so comfortable in the hospital, it was like a second home. Before long, I found myself giving people directions if they were lost. I sat with crying mothers I didn’t know, just to hold that space for them. To let them know I understood. One of the receptionists jokingly asked me if I worked there now.”
The Gift of Donor Human Milk
It wasn’t long before nurses realized Sarah was one of the fortunate mothers with an abundant milk supply. They encouraged her to consider donating it.
No one understands the importance of pasteurized donor human milk better than the clinicians who care for babies in neonatal intensive care units. They see firsthand how this resource protects the smallest and most vulnerable among us. For those with immature digestive systems, safe donor human milk is more than nourishment. It is a critical part of their medical care during those earliest days.
And it only exists because one family chooses to help another family’s baby.
Building the World Maggie Deserves
Sarah’s practice of generosity didn’t start with donor milk. She runs a small nonprofit with her mom that recycles home goods and clothes, ensuring they don’t end up in a landfill when they could find a new home. She volunteers for her town government and has obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal grant funds to increase her community’s resilience in the face of climate change. And more recently, she was elected to the town’s Board of Selectmen.
Sarah and her family are actively and consciously helping build a better world for the daughter she brought into it.
“Maggie’s already feisty,” Sarah tells me. “Even the nurses saw it. She would sometimes give them trouble, trying to take her lines out. It might have been a little hard for them, but I’ll take it. The world needs more girls who are forceful and strong. Mateus and I are so grateful to have such a strong-willed daughter.”
And we’re so grateful to have Sarah, Mateus, and Maggie as part of our community.
Their story is a reminder that generosity rarely happens alone. It is made possible by the people who encourage us, support us, and stand alongside us as we work to make a difference.
This work relies on people who want to give—people who understand what it means to have a baby who needs something they can’t provide, people who know what it feels like to depend on the compassion of strangers, and people who come together to become those compassionate strangers for someone else.
For Sarah, donating milk is one more way to help build the world she hopes Maggie will grow up in. Together, Sarah and Mateus are showing Maggie what it means to care for others.
Little Babies, Big Difference
It’s Prematurity Awareness Month, and there are so many ways to help give tiny but mighty babies like Maggie the strong start they deserve. Whether you donate milk, make a financial gift, or spread the word, every act of generosity makes a difference for families facing fragile beginnings.
