Libby & Xzavier's Story

Families needing donor human milk are always in crisis. Always! Imagine if your sick child needed breastmilk, but you didn’t have enough – or any. Fortunately, the founders of the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin knew a preterm infant’s first foods must not be compromised. Drs. George Sharpe and Audelio Rivera founded the milk bank to provide donor human milk for babies with a medical need until mom’s own milk became available.

Libby’s story is heartwrenching. Mother of a severely low birthweight infant, she didn’t have enough milk. The milk bank provided donor milk for five weeks until baby Xzavier was mature enough to digest formula. He’s healthy today thanks to our compassionate milk donors and generous financial contributors. Xzavier’s mom shares their story. 

I found out I was pregnant with my second child on Father’s Day 2012. As we each had one child from a previous marriage, my boyfriend and I were thrilled to be adding to our blended family. We enjoyed each moment of the pregnancy; I felt good, ate well, and remained physically active; Baby and I were glowing and growing.

On July 14, 2012, my boyfriend, Gilbert, and I attended a poolside BBQ for a friend’s birthday in the Arboretum area of Austin. The host’s house featured a pool outlined by a wooden deck that overlooked a nearby ravine. We had just arrived at the BBQ, and were headed to the food table, when the unimaginable happened…we heard a snap, then the sound of wood breaking, and then we were falling. Gilbert is an officer with APD, and I couldn’t be more grateful for his first responder instinct to grab me and pull me close to him. Due to our combined weight, we fell straight down 20 feet to the ground, versus tumbling out and down as some of the other partygoers did. I was transported to the ER, where I was treated for lacerations, low blood pressure, and a sonogram to make sure Baby was ok. Thankfully I was only 11 weeks along, and Baby was well insulated against the fall.

My pregnancy progressed without further incident. I continued to eat well and stay active; I was gaining a healthy amount of weight and feeling good. We began to make all of the necessary preparations for the arrival of our son; baby showers, registries, painting the nursery, putting together furniture, washing his (little) clothes…I had just started my 29^th week and we were giddy with excitement; we only had 10 more weeks until my scheduled C-section!

On Saturday, November 25^th I woke up feeling very fatigued and just unsettled. I thought perhaps I had walked too much the day before while attending a Thanksgiving flag football game with friends, so I resolved to take it easy. As they day went on, I began to feel more uneasy, but just thought I was fighting a cold or virus. Around 4 pm I started having (what I thought were) Braxton Hicks contractions. I text my Mom and her friends, who are all medical professionals, asking what they felt like and how long they lasted; I was told I could have a few an hour; I was having them every 10 minutes. Still thinking nothing of it, I left with Gilbert and our two kids as we headed from Buda to San Antonio to take my stepdaughter back to her Mom.  We decided to stop in San Marcos to eat, and I noticed the Braxton Hicks were now coming every 4-5 minutes, so I called my OB’s office, who took a message for the doctor on call. About 20 minutes later he called me back, telling me I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. My hospital of delivery was St. David’s Round Rock, which was easily an hour’s drive from San Marcos, so I began to panic. We rushed back to the house, grabbed what we thought we needed, dropped my stepdaughter off to her Uncle, and called my Mom to come up to the hospital to be with my son.

By the time we arrived at St. David’s, I was 6 cm dilated. We knew our son was coming; it was just a matter of how soon. I was given medication to try to slow my contractions, and a steroid shot to try and give his lungs a little added oomph for when he was born. From there we waited; I was told that as long as my water remained intact, he would stay inside. It was then that I truly learned the meaning of, “every minute counts,” for every minute that my son stayed in my belly was another minute he developed and grew stronger the way he was meant to.

At 5:05 am on Monday, November 26, 2012, my water broke.  Twenty minutes later we welcomed Xzavier Kapono Caraballo to the world. He was born at 29 weeks, 6 days and weighed only 3.41 lbs. The NICU team was on standby, ready to intubate him, but they were pleasantly surprised when he came out bright pink and screaming, needing no help to breath. Being that he was under 30 weeks gestational age, he was transported to St. David’s Main an hour later for proper care. 

Xzavier would spend the first 64 days of his life in the NICU at St. David’s. Since I nursed my first son successfully for a year, I figured nursing Xzavier would be just as easy. I began to pump immediately after delivery, but 3 days later my body was barely producing any milk. For the time, what I was making was more than enough to meet his needs and I even had quite a supply saved up in the NICU fridge as well as my own freezer. However, as he grew and began to eat more, my milk supply did not increase. I was pumping 15-mins on each side, every 2 hours. I was eating oatmeal, drinking teas and dark ale beer, taking fenugreek, drinking a lot of water; you name it, I was doing it, but nothing helped. Perhaps it was the stress of balancing work, my responsibilities at home, the multiple trips to the NICU each day, and having to artificially simulate nursing; whatever the reason, I simply wasn’t able to produce enough milk to feed our son. Thankfully the Milk Bank of Austin was there for us. Xzavier began to receive donor milk at 32 weeks gestational age, and received it until he was transitioned to formula at 37 weeks gestational age.

As Xzavier’s mother, I wanted nothing more than to be able to nurse him, giving him exactly what his little body needed to grow and thrive so he could come home to his family. However, since I was not able to we were, and continue to be, humbled and eternally grateful for the mothers and babies who donated to the Milk Bank so that Xzavier could continue to benefit from donor milk. Born so early, his little system simply would not have been able to handle and digest formula, so donor milk could have, quite literally, saved his life. We still do not know what caused my premature labor and delivery, all tests for infections or disease came back negative for both me and Xzavier. The only thing we can surmise is that the deck fall had somehow affected the stability of my uterus, but that is a best guess; we will truly never know.

 If there was a way for me to give back to those who gave so selflessly to us, I would, but all I can do is raise awareness in hopes of paying it forward to another baby in need. If you are reading this as a mother who is unable to provide milk for her child and relies on donor milk to feed him/her, please know that you are not alone. Do not allow yourself to feel remorse over this; the love and affection you can give to your child are just as important to his/her development, and that you can give in abundance. If you are reading this as a nursing Mother, please consider donating any extra milk you have to the Milk Bank. There is no amount too small or unappreciated; literally every ounce counts.

May blessings be upon you all,

Libby