Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fight For Preemies

November is Prematurity Awareness Month®!

Join the fight for preemies and help the March of Dimes®!

Unfortunately, we all know someone or have heard of someone that has had a preemie. You may be a preemie parent yourself. November 17th is the day to reach out to preemies everywhere and join the fight.

According to the March of Dimes®, prematurity rates are have been steadily rising over the last 20 years and continue to do so today. We know that a premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman. One in every 8 babies in the USA are born too early and face an increase risk of medical complications, long NICU stays, lasting disabilities or even death.

What we continue not to know is how to prevent premature births from happening in the first place. One organization that it making stride in that area is the March of Dimes®. Professionals, volunteers, advocates, etc. are all working to find ways to help these pre-term babies. Can you be a part of the fight? Of course, go to the March of Dimes homepage http://www.marchofdimes.com/ and volunteer or donate to the cause.

If you are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant, the March of Dimes® has a whole section dedicated to women with signs of preterm labor, ways of reducing your risk, and things to think about during pregnancy.

Parents of preemies that are NICU residents now can check out their "Parenting in the NICU" section of families and continue to use the resources once your child is at home. Having been through the NICU experience personally, we know that it can be very stressful for parents. The roller coaster of emotions, good days and bad days, unanswered questions and uncertainty can take their toll. The Parenting Section is a great resource for parents.

Share your story! The March of Dimes® gives you a way to share your story with others. Create a blog or post to the online community for NICU Parents. There are others that are traveling the same road that you are and can help.....or just listen.

So join the fight for premature babies! Help us raise awareness this month!


Be "Preemie Proud!"












Monday, October 19, 2009

Thank You! Thank You!

Before the week gets too busy we wanted to take a minute to say "Thank You" to our wonderful customers! Upon returning to work this morning, we had several orders to fill and emails to reply to. Your continual support of our website www.preemieproud.com is truly appreciated. We are continuing to grow and are working hard to help the parents of preemie babies. Without your continual visits to our website, we would not be able to do what we do!
Thank You!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Holidays are Coming!

Each year since the birth of our daughter, our family has been making "goody" bags to take to the families of preemie babies that are in the NICU on Christmas morning. The first couple of years we did these bags personally. In the last few years, we have started providing "goody bags" a couple times a year (including Christmas still) from our business Preemie Proud & of course, Braleigh. She is the reason we do all of this!!!

The response we receive from the NICU staff and parents who receive our goodies are overwhelming. Parents are so grateful that someone has remembered their child on Christmas morning. Emails and phone calls usually follow the next few days. The NICU staff always welcome our donations.

So.....once again, we are preparing for our (15) Annual Christmas NICU Tote Bags. Each year they seem to grow. We are hoping to include items such as preemie size clothes (our NICU usually doesn't have tiny, tiny babies), preemie hats, mitts, socks, blankets, photo albums, lotions, hand sanitizer, snacks, bottle water, mints, notebooks or journals for parents to record milestones and other important information, etc......the list can go on and on.

We are reaching out to our community this year for assistance to help make this years' bags better than ever.

If you would like to donote something to these wonderful NICU bags, please purchase something at our store and in the comment area let us know what items you would like to contribute to this cause. We will ship the rest of your order to you and keep the donated item in our donation collection bin until these bags are assembled.

New Items (with tags) purchased elsewhere can be mailed to our mailing address. If you would like to contribute, contact us for mailing information. All of your help is appreciated!