After prematurely delivering all three of her daughters and
having trouble breastfeeding twice, Katie Garza started a nonprofit called
Pumping for Preemies. So when it came time to choose a platform for her Mrs.
United States campaign, Garza’s choice was obvious.
The former Mrs. Texas competed to raise awareness of the
huge necessity of donated breast milk for prematurely born babies — and in
July, she was crowned Mrs. United States.
Garza didn’t learn that donor milk was an option until after
unsuccessfully trying to breastfeed her first two daughters, Phoenix, 6, and
Gracie, 4. And even though she was finally able to breastfeed her third
daughter, 7-month-old Aubrey, Garza was determined to make sure no other
mothers had to go through the “heartbreaking” feeling of not being able to
provide for their children.
“There’s something that was really life-giving to me a few
weeks after having Aubrey,” Garza tells Best for Babes. “Knowing I had extra
colostrum and milk that I could do something with, recalling how I wished I
could have given it to Phoenix and Gracie when they were in the NICU, knowing I
could help other babies that were like my baby — it made me feel like I was
putting on a superhero cape!”
Garza launched Pumping for Preemies when Aubrey was 4 weeks
old, and she credits the cause with inspiring her to enter the Mrs. Texas and
Mrs. United States pageants.
“After Aubrey was born and I started pumping, I had a
conversation with my husband one evening and I told him I wanted to compete at
Mrs. Texas to create awareness about donor milk and breastfeeding support,”
Garza remembers. “Pumping for Preemies came first — the crown came second.”
Since Garza launched Pumping for Preemies just five months
ago, they’ve already donated 5,200 ounces of milk.
“Whenever I tell moms that three ounces can feed a preemie
for an entire day, they’re dumbstruck. They can’t believe they can provide a
whole day’s worth of nutrition and medicine for a baby with just one
three-ounce bottle,” Garza says. “So that’s a lot of babies’ lives we’re
saving.”
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