My friend is 25 weeks pg & is now in the hospital with severe placenta praevia. She went into early labour a week ago which they managed to stop. They have given her lots of antibiotics to stop any infections & given the baby 2 lots of cortisone. They have told her that the baby will probably be born in the next week, maybe 2, but no longer than that.
The baby will be in NICU for at least a few weeks, and of course the parents are worried. They have a 2 year old son who is staying with grandma atm, but he doesn't really understand what's going on.
What I'm asking is what is an appropriate gift to give? What did you ladies appreciate being given with a premmie?
My gf gave birth at 30 weeks to her little DD (who is now a strapping 3 year old!)
We organised a cot quilt (handmade, with her name appliqued on it) and my gf later said it was the most perfect gift as she used it to cover cover them both when they had kanga time (? I think that is what she called it: when they had skin on skin time together) in the NICU. So it was a practical gift in that respect.
But my gf has also since told me she loved it because it was a sign that we totally believed and trusted that her DD would make it. She said that the concept of a quilt had a sense of "permanency" IYKWIM?
Let me know if you want details of where to get them made.........
My thoughts are with your friend. It must be tough on them all.
Karla something which you see a lot of in NICU is little teddys with a special message printed on them... it's a way of "personalising" a clinical space, if you know what I mean. If you want to get something practical for the parents, perhaps buy a weekly parking ticket for the parking station?
My bub was prem and taken from what has been said, try to arrange a lift club to take her to the hospital afterwards. If her DH is working and can't get off, she would need to get to the hospital and back for feeds, so if you could help her in that way, she would like it. Also dinners that she can just warm up, or pay for a cleaning service to clean her house the day before bub comes home.
I would have liked something like this. We lived 60 km away from the hospital, so getting someone to take me there was always tricky!
Hi there Karla,
Sorry to hear your friend is going through such a scarey time. I gave birth to my DD at 28.6 weeks and she is now 2 and doing fantastically!
I think your friend would apprieciate any gift - as someone else said, it is so nice just to have others trust that your baby will be ok.
Gift ideas: I got a little angel pin that I stuck to DDs humidi crib to watch over her. I also got a little outfit from "earlybirds" the only thing that would fit her for a while (they have a website - just google it - or if you're in Melb the RWH has heaps of great premmie outfits). My sister gave me a bear to cuddle - as I couldn't hold DD for some time. Also ensuring that your friend has transport to the hospital and food pre-prepared for when she has to travel to and from the hospital and wont have the time or inclination to cook food.
I really wish your friend all the best and think that it's great that she has you there to support her - you are obviously very caring and thoughtful.
Gift idea?
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