Preemie Presents.

Last year for Christmas, I called the NICU and SBC Unit at the Sherman Hospital (where Henry was born) to see how many babies were there on Christmas morning. Then Philip, Henry, David & I all visited the unit, showed off Henry to the nurses who were amazed at how big he was, and handed over gift bags. We wanted to give presents to all the mommies and daddies who had to leave their babies in the hospital over a holiday.



When Henry was in the hospital for those almost-three weeks, it was excruciating. You are forced to split your heart in half and leave half of it in a sterile incubator miles away, while taking the other broken half back home and hope it is enough to give adequate care to the family there. Those weeks were stressful, heartbreaking, confusing, scary, worrisome, fragile, and not soon forgotten.



And I just couldn't imagine how much WORSE it would have been if I had needed to leave Henry there on Thanksgiving morning. Or Christmas morning. How much those mothers must ache to bring their babies home and show them off to the world and to celebrate the new life... but instead are in the hospital just hoping their baby can come home at all.



So this year, I've decided to do even better. I am going to cover 2 holidays instead of 1. I am going to assume 15 babies over the Thanksgiving season, and 15 babies over the Christmas and New Year season. I am taking charge of a project to make 30 gift bags for the PARENTS of the babies. Their lives are centered on their tiny fragile newborns, and they need support too.



So! This is where you come in. I am accepting donations to help with this project. I am also accepting actual stuffs to put in the bags. I can only do so much... but if only a few people want to help even a little bit I can make these gifts AWESOME. Here are my goals, and the reasons behind them.



1. 30 long sleeved long legged pajamas for preemies. I couldn't afford to do clothes last year. Preemie clothes are ridiculously expensive for the amount of fabric you get, but SO important. I will never forget one little girls in the hospital getting discharged while Henry was still there. It was late January and freezing cold outside, so they were bringing her home in a "small" fleece outfit, one of those one piece deals that sort of look like stars. But she was TINY. And even the smallest of those outfits are huge, and she couldn't even fit in the car seat. So she went home in ill fitting clothes wraped in blanket after blanket, and I'm sure she went home to clothes, even in the newborn size, which were all far too big for her.

Parents have enough to worry about, and they very rarely know a preemie is coming, so giving them just one perfectly sized mini outfit to take home can make a big difference. This is the most expensive part of the project, but I have faith I'll be able to pull it off!

2. 30 preemie hats One of the things a baby needs to be able to do before it can go home is maintain their body temperature outside of an incubator. Temperature is a big deal for those who are so wee. Henry stayed in hats for weeks and weeks, his little head just needed to be covered when he got home. I am hoping to collect hand knit hats, but for those that I can't out-source to knitters I wil just buy.

3. 60 preemie socks Preemie socks are smaller than the 0-3 month socks you find at Target, they look like thumb socks, but when they go on a preemie foot you realize how perfectly sized they are. And much like heads and bodies, these skinny little dudes need some right-sized clothes to snuggle up in and GROW BIG in.

4. 30 bags of Hershey Kisses Candy for the parents, more than 1 bag if I can swing it, but Ksises in particular to make up for all those kisses they can't always give their babies. You take for granted your ability to smother your baby in kisses... until they are 30 miles away from you and you just can't reach them.

5. 30 tealight candles A little pampering for the mommy.

6. 30 tealight candle holders Just little glass-like things to put the nice smelly candles in, again jsut to make the mommy feel special.

7. 30 mini bubble bath bottles See the above notes about pampering!! :) Very important for the mommy to care care of herself while she can.

8. 30 mini bottles of yummy Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer One of my friends suggested this and I think it is a fabulous idea, and I'll be chatting with the manager of my local shop to see if she'll give me some kind of deal on buying these minis in bulk.

9. 30 gift bags to put it all in

10. 15 packs of tissue paper

This little project of mine might end up being small, it might end up being huge and generous, it just depends on what kinds of deals I can find, how creative I can be, and whether or not anyone wants to chip in!! I will be posting pictures here of the progress here. Letting everyone know how much money I've raised (though being careful to not list amounts, but I'll certainly be naming names... especially in the card I enclose in the gifts!)... what I've doine with the money and pictures of how I've spent it, and pictures of Philip putting them together and finally delivering them to the hospital.

So, whadya say?? You can send me a bag of candy, you can send me $5 to buy candy, you can knit a hat... you can be creative and think of a way you can make these gifts even more special for the man and woman in the hospital who I guarantee you are thinking "No one understands how hard this is". Email me if you Also, I need a NAME for this project. Melissa is suggesting an acronym. Any ideas?