A nurse's thanks

This is one of the nurses who cared for Henry while he was in the hospital, she's helping to untangle all of his tubes in this picture so David can have a cuddle. David wasn't able to see his son every day, so these rare cuddles were precious.

I ran into that nurse today while taking my eldest son to school, and of course I had Henry with me. She stopped me to thank me for the presents I had delivered on Thanskgiving. She was on the verge of tears when she was thanking me for my Thank You card, telling me how wonderful it is to hand out presents to the parents there, how much those parents appreciated that someone out there was thinking about them at such a hard time in their lives. She was just so thankful!! :)

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And I of course can only take credit for the idea and the leg work, I've had so many people helping me. She was thrilled to hear about what http://www.fodeo.com/ is doing, with their donation of disposable cameras and an accompanying video service to make a beautiful DVD montage of those pictures. Much like David, many people aren't able to see their tiny fragile babies much while they are in the hospital, some of them live too far away. Some of them can't take that much time off work, especially for those who have babies in the hospital for months and months on end. Some have other children at home and can't split their lives enough or maky enough clones to be in two places at once. So the nurses will be able to take photographs in the absence of the parents, the parents will be bale to make a free DVD from those pictures, and they will have an emotional, beautiful momento from an important time in their babies lives they might have missed.

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And so I am *SO* looking forward to delivering these with my husband and my two little boys. I am crossing my fingers and toes that I can get enough donations to help fill the rest of the bags up, but now matter what I know these parents will be happy. And that's the whole point. :)

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If you didn't see it in the first post, this is what I wrote in their thank you note:

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"For every holiday you've spent in the hospital, for every hour of sleep you've missed, for every life you've saved, for every loss you've felt, for every parent you've helped, for every kiss you've given, for every life you've touched, for every hope you've given, and for everyone else who has forgotten to say it or didn't know how.... THANK YOU."

Christmas donations well under way...

Big Update! I am still expecting things in the mail, but this is a look at what I have so far.

Here is a closer look at the 8 preemie outfits donated by http://www.sootherstore.com/. These are sweet little unisex white outfits with built in mittens and matching hats, they are Perfect for these bags!

And here is a shot of all the things I have so far.

15 bottles of Bath & Body Works Antibacterial Soap*

15 bags of Hershey kisses tied up in bows
15 pairs of preemie socks (discounted thanks to http://www.preemiesrus.com/)

8 gift bags
8 outfits (donated by http://www.sootherstore.com/)

8 Thank you cards (the ones in the picture are from http://www.cardsbyemily.etsy.com/)

Tissue Paper

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I am still expecting several things in the mail, including a couple of outfits, some hand knit preemie hats, and the disposable camera & DVD service sets from http://www.fodeo.com/. So that means my new WANTED list looks like this:

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At least 5 preemie outfits**
7 more gift bags
At least 70 more Thank You cards

15 mini bags of coffee

15 mini boxes of chocolates

15 mini tealight holders

15 mini candles

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So! There is still a ton of things I'd like to get for these Christmas bags! I'll be getting what I can, making what I can, and hopefully a few more people step up to help out a bit for this special holiday project. :) Spread the word!

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(( For more ideas of how to help, go here: http://flyingnunns.blogspot.com/2008/11/preemie-project-round-1-not-too-late-to.html ))

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* I thought I ordered the hand gel, but didn't. My local store doesn't have enough hand gel in stock to trade these in for me, so I'm trying all the other local B&BW and hope to get these all switched out for hand sanitizing gels soon.

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** If donations are received quickly enough, I can use money to get clothing discounted through http://www.preemiesrus.com/, so those looking to help towards the clothing costs can save money by doing it this way.

More thank yous...

Here are the card companies that helped me make Thank You cards to include in the gift packs for Thanksgiving. Check them out! I need loads more cards for Christmas, so if you make Thank You cards please email me to participate! -----> sara.nunn@gmail.com

cardsbyirene.etsy.com

CardsByEmily.etsy.com

cardwear.etsy.com

LeasLetters.etsy.com

cardsbyjenna.etsy.com

blueleaves.etsy.com

tinybirdarts.etsy.com

coffeebeancards.etsy.com <---- me!

First big donations for Christmas

And now on to Christmas!! :)

I should be getting mail here in the next few days with some extra items, like a few more outfits and some hand knit caps, but for now this is what I've received for the Christmas bags:

1. 8 donated preemie layettes from www.sootherstore.com. These little white outfits are perfect! unisex, built-in mittens, and a little matching cap.

2. 30 donated packages from www.fodeo.net. Valarie at Fodeo has donated 30 disposable cameras to give to the parents in the hospital. it is a luxury for parents to be able to spend time with their babies in the hospital, I was only able to see Henry about 2 hours a day and we even lived close by. So these cameras will be able to be used by the parents AND nurses. The best part though?! Is the service donated with it! Fodeo is a service that will make a fully edited custom video montage of the pictures!! This donation is SO AMAZING! Go have a look at the website to see what I'm talking about.

3. 16 bottles of full sized hand sanitizers from Bath & Body Works. I took advantage of some really amazing post-Thanksgiving sale flyer I got via email, and was able to purchase $117 worth of stuff for $48! So I used donated money to purchase thsoe right away.

I still need many things, like hats, blankets, clothes, candy, coffee, and a few extra bags - but I'll chat about that in a few days after I get the last of the mail I'm expecting. :)

Today's Delivery - Thanksgiving 2008

Today was the day! The gifts I made with personal and donated items were delivered by hand by Henry, Philip, Catherine & I. Catherine (my friend!) took the palce of my husband, he'll come with me for the Christmas delivery. We spent about an hour in the SBCU (Special Baby Care Unit) chatting with the nurses, looking at babies, showing Henry off, and Philip even got to hand deliver 3 of the bags to mommies who were there with their tiny new babies.

Below are some photos, make sure you click at the bottom to get to all 3 pages of photographs. Next time (at Christmas) I will take pictures of us actually *in* the hospital, which I got too distracted to do today!

I need to pack for our Thanksgiving holiday, which begins tomorrow. When I return I'll post about the next steps, and what we need to do for the Christmas deliveries!! It is going to be good, but I still need TONS of help!






Contents of each bag:
1 bag of coffee
1 chocolate box
1 full sized hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works
1 hand knitted preemie hat
2 pairs preemie socks
1 hand tied bag of hershey kisses
1 envelope of 5-6 handmade thank you cards from Etsy members

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

And thank you to everyone who helped SO MUCH with these gifts! When I get back from my vacation I'll be sure to include links here to all of you contributors who have shops or blogs! But for now... I SERIOUSLY need to get ready for our trip!! :)

Thank You to the nurses

"For every holiday you've spent in the hospital, for every hour of sleep you've missed, for every life you've saved, for every loss you've felt, for every parent you've helped, for every kiss you've given, for every life you've touched, for every hope you've given, and for everyone else who has forgotten to say it or didn't know how.... THANK YOU."

That is what I wrote inside the Thank You note given to the nurses at the NICU/SBCU at our hospital, the nurses who kept Henry alive almost two years ago. Today I am making my first gift deliveries. Gifts to go to the parents who have preemies in the hospital over Thanksgiving. Parents who want more than anything to be thanksful and happy and showing their baby off to the world, but instead are caught worrying and torn between life inside the hospital and the life going on outside those walls.

This website is going to chronicle this gift giving progress, mainly so I stop congesting my family picture site with it. My once-small project has grown into a much bigger one this year, and my hope is that it does nothing BUT grow and that I can help more and more parents each holiday season, and bring a little smile to that many more people who are so hungry for one.