Sarah - Wife & Zookeeper turned stay at home mom.

Since I started my business in 2020. I have met (online & IRL) so many amazing women and moms. With a few, our business relationship turned into acquaintances, which evolved into being friends.

Sarah is one of those friends - this is her story.

"Nine years ago we tried to start our family. After over four years of being unsuccessful the “good ol’ fashion” way. We started our IVF journey. After two rounds of IVF we learned that we would not be able to have a biological child. But there was still a very good chance I would be able to carry a baby to term. That is when we started looking into embryo adoption.

(Bruises from the "MANY MANY shots that had to be daily for months to get my body ready" - photo submitted by Sarah)

I wanted to be a mother! I wanted to know what it felt like to be pregnant, I wanted to know what it felt like to give birth and I wanted to know what it was like to breast-feed. So our search for a donor family began! After just a few months, we were matched with a donor family. Which is ridiculously fast! We were gifted two embryos; a little boy and a little girl. In December of 2020 we implanted the little boy embryo. On December 31st we got a positive pregnancy test!

(Sarah's husband Nick carrying the heavy case that contains their adopted embryos - photo submitted by Sarah)

(Transporting the embryos to the fertility clinic - photo submitted by Sarah)

(Sarah & husband Nick showing off the implantation ultrasound of Baby Boy T)

The rest of the pregnancy went on uneventfully. We were so happy and grateful to get to enjoy every little bit of the pregnancy. After a scary and difficult birth Theodore made his arrival on September 5th 2021 via an emergency C-section.

In the hospital Theo latched immediately. My milk came in and I found breast-feeding to be incredibly rewarding and surprisingly easy. (Highly recommend seeing a lactation consultant BEFORE birth!) I continued with a few more consultations with a lactation consultant… Just to make sure I was doing everything I could to keep Theo thriving. He was diagnosed with both an upper lip tie and tongue tie. The procedure to have them corrected was very easy and with a few sessions at a chiropractor our breast-feeding journey continued. I am very happy to say that after one whole year I never had to supplement with formula or donor milk.

(A very pregnant Sarah visiting with Bess the orangutan at the Phoenix Zoo. She says Bess "is THE best mother I know" and often asks herself "what would Bess do" when it comes to mothering her son - photo submitted by Sarah)

I cannot wait to see where the next year takes us. It will be interesting to see who decides to win first me or Theo! But for now we’re both still enjoying breast-feeding and our special bond it has created."

In October 2022, Sarah and Theo made their "debut" as Liquid Goldsmith models - these are a few photos from that day (courtesy of Desert Sky Imagery).

(Sarah nursing Theo "on set" of the Liquid Goldsmith photoshoot)

(Theo admiring Sarah's breast milk jewelry by Liquid Goldsmith)

(Custom single band Milk Drop Ring with breast milk, lock of hair, blue/silver glitter flecks)

In early February 2023, Sarah found herself in a whirlwind of life events. Her husband, Nick, quit his job at Intel and accepted a new position out of state, they moved to Virginia and bought a new home. But the most exciting is that she became pregnant with their second child, Baby Girl J, who was born September 2023. She, also an adopted embryo, is a genetic sibling of Theo (same sperm and egg donor). Sarah carried her to term and they have been successfully breastfeeding for 6 months!

Theo is now a little over 2.5 years old and Sarah was able to breastfeed him for 25 months! I'm sure Bess the orangutan is mighty proud of her. 😉

Thank you Sarah, for being my friend and inspiration / motivation to start this blog.

For a chance to be featured on the Liquid Goldsmith blog, you can submit your story here.