November 17th – Unite, Fight and Write to Raise Awareness about Premature Birth

Each year nearly 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely or born at less than 37 full weeks gestation. Of these more then one million die. More than one million infants die because they are born too soon.

In the past 25 years the rate of preterm birth in the United States has increased 36 percent. One out of eight babies in the U.S. are born prematurely.

On November 17th, Bloggers Unite and the March of Dimes are encouraging bloggers to unite, fight and write blog posts during Prematurity Awareness Month to increase awareness of prematurity around the world.

To learn more about prematurity, find out what you can do and give to the March of Dimes, visit their About Prematurity page.

More about the Fight for Preemies

Dyer KA. Bloggers Unite to Fight for Preemies on Nov. 17th. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. 2009. Coming This November...Prematurity Awareness Month for the March of Dimes. NICU Parent Support Blog.

More on the March of Dimes

Dyer KA. 2009. NICU Family Support from the March of Dimes. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. 2009. March of Dimes Supporting NICU Families with NICU Family Support. Type-A Mom.

Kangaroo Care in the NICU Featured on Grey's Anatomy

The most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy (November 5) featured a story line about using Kangaroo Care in the NICU. Resident tough-guy Alex Karev is on a pediatric rotation and assigned to care for a fragile premature baby.

In this short clip new doctor Reed (Nora Zehetner) walks in on Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) who is still holding a premature baby in his arms providing Kangaroo Care. Their scene ends at 2:00.



You can read more about Kangaroo Care in the NICU at the article on Type-A Mom or in the resources included below.

Another good resource on Kangaroo Care is one of the classic, comprehensive books on the topic by Susan Ludington-Hoe, Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do to Help Your Preterm Infant that is available on Amazon.

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A related article is on the Type-A Mom site under the NICU section of Mom Stages.


More on Kangaroo Care

March of Dimes. August 2009. Parenting in the NICU: Holding Your Baby Close: Kangaroo Care.

Cleveland Clinic. Kangaroo Care. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Understanding and Parenting Your Preemie: The Social Environment. Meriter Health.

Krisanne Larimer. 1999. Kangaroo Care Benefits. Prematurity.org.

Virtual Human Milk Collection Campaign

During the month of November, or Prematurity Awareness Month, Medela today will be hosting a Virtual Human Milk (breastmilk) Collection Campaign. To participate in the Virtual Human Milk campaign, visit the Medela's Preemie Awareness Program website to register and vote for your favorite NICU.

According to the press release, the four NICU's that obtain the most votes will receive at least $5,000 each worth of Medela products or education services for their facility. One NICU will be selected one in each of four geographic regions. Medela has pledged to donate $20,000 in Neonatal Human Milk Support Products.

The campaign is being launched to honor the March of Dimes' National Prematurity Awareness Month and the thousands of dedicated Neonatal healthcare professionals nationwide.

In addition for voting for your favorite NICU, you can support the Medela company's efforts by purchasing Medela Baby Productson Amazon.

More about the Virtual Human Milk Collection Campaign

Medela. November 2, 2009. Medela Recognizes National Prematurity Awareness Month With Virtual Human Milk Collection Campaign. Press Release.
Medela. November 2009. Preemie Awareness Month Program – Medela.

Gift Ideas for NICU Parents and NICU Babies

I've been working on two separate pages with gift suggestions for NICU Parents and also for NICU babies.

I realized that many friends and family may be unsure what to do about getting a gift for parents whose baby is in the NICU. In retrospect I realized that we'd had a lot of family and friends waiting to see what was going to happen instead of sending a gift.

Unfortunately, not sending a gift to NICU parents may be sending the wrong message to the parents.

I have to agree with the advise of former NICU Mother, Kelby Carr

Don't let the fact that a baby is premature or in the NICU stop you from buying a gift, either for the baby of a gift for the mom of a NICU baby. No matter how perilous the situation is, the parents and baby will appreciate a gift. It could be the sliver of joyfulness they really badly need.

My advise would be to send a gift to the NICU Parent or NICU baby, to show your love and support.

Gift Ideas for NICU Parents and NICU Babies
The Gifts for NICU Parents page provides a list of suggestions with ideas for NICU parents from the practical to actual presents. Some cost money, other are just a gift of your time.

The Gifts for NICU Babies page provides a list of suggestions with ideas for useful gifts for NICU babies. It also includes a list with ideas for putting together a NICU Basket of gifts.

I'll be working on featuring many of the wonderful resources that I found which would make gifts for NICU babies and their parents.

Image: Adapted from Chobi Capeta's Heart Bag. Royalty Free Use.

Creatively Coping: Knit a Heart Pin or Pins

I discovered a very cute and easy pattern available online for knitting little hearts.

I realize that knitting little hearts would be a great way making quick thank you gifts for NICU nurses.

The hearts could be turned into pins, used as decorations on packages or even a mobile for your NICU baby. Keeping idle hands busy and knitting is one of the ways that a NICU parent (or grandparent) can TAKE CARE to get through the NICU adventure.

This pattern is a really easy way to use up yarn leftovers as can be seen in this blog post on closely knit, love letter in yarn.

The Heart Pin pattern is available from Hannah Fettig of knitbot. It is one of the patterns available in her book, Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts For The Ones You Love, her beautiful collection of handmade gifts for your loved ones.

Pattern: Hannah Fetting. Heart Pin Pattern From Closely Knit. Knitbot.

Image: Adapted from Marieke Kuijjer. Knitted Heart. Creative Commons License.

Bloggers Unite to Fight for Preemies on Nov. 17th

On November 17, 2009 you can help raise awareness about premature births by blogging about the March of Dimes Fight for Preemies.

Join Bloggers Unite and the March of Dimes in November for Prematurity Awareness Month® to spread the word and raise awareness about their fight against premature births.

Before November 17th
Before the November 17th "Blog-in" you can help spread the word in several ways.

• Send email messages to your family and friends.
• Tweet about the March of Dimes (@marchofdimes) on Twitter.
• Follow the March of Dimes on Facebook and post messages.
  
• Put a March of Dimes badge and/or a banner on your blog or website.
• Put a Bloggers Unite badge on your website.
• Sign up for the Bloggers Unite, Fight for Preemies event.

Plan to Blog on November 17th
November 17 is the day that was chosen The March of Dimes to encourage bloggers to fight for preemies. On November 17th, bloggers are asked to post a blog on November 17th for "a baby you love and to help others."

More on Bloggers Unite
Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place.

It is their hope that by asking bloggers to write about a particular subject on 1 day of the month, a single voice can be joined with thousands to help make a difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or supporting 3rd world countries.

More Articles on the March of Dimes

Dyer KA. 2009. NICU Family Support from the March of Dimes. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. 2009. Coming This November...Prematurity Awareness Month for the March of Dimes. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. 2009. March of Dimes Supporting NICU Families with NICU Family Support. Type-A Mom.

Coming This November...Prematurity Awareness Month for the March of Dimes

Every year, 20 million babies are born too soon, too small and very sick. Half a million premature babies are born each year in the United States.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month for the March of Dimes. During November, the March of Dimes works on raising awareness about premature births in the hopes of saving more babies from being born prematurely.

Hear about the work that the March of Dimes is doing to prevent birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality from NICU Physician (Neonatologist) and former NICU Parent, Dr. Jalie-Marti:



More on Prematurity Awareness Month
The March of Dimes offers information on ways to learn, do and give to show your support for the March of Dimes' Prematurity Awareness Month.

Things that you can do:

• Raise a voice and join the MOD National Advocacy Network
• Follow the March of Dimes on
  
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Youtube
• Post a Badge or a Banner like the one below on your Blog to show support.
• Click on the image below for more information from the March of Dimes.
  

More Articles on the March of Dimes

Dyer KA. 2009. NICU Family Support from the March of Dimes. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer KA. 2009. March of Dimes Supporting NICU Families with NICU Family Support. Type-A Mom.

Ways to Help NICU Parents After the NICU

One of the biggest problems for NICU parents is starting to processes the experience and cope with their NICU experience after they have left the NICU. Dr. Holditch-Davis, professor at Duke University School of Nursing noted in a recent NY Times article,

It may be several months later when they’re ready to process what they experienced, but at that point, family and friends don’t want to talk about it anymore.

Once parents are home from the NICU and the daily activities become more routine, this is the time when many parents finally start processing their NICU experience. Researchers are starting to recognize parents with depression, anxiety and PTSD after the NICU, as noted in the blog post, NICU Admission Puts Parents at Risk for PTSD.

Helping NICU Parents After the NICU

There are several ways to help NICU parents after the NICU to reduce their risks of developing problems after a NICU admission.

• Education: Parents
• Education: Physicians and Health Care Providers
  
• Identifying Symptoms
  
• Support for Parents after the NICU
  

Education: Parents

Part of my hope for the NICU Parent Support Site is that by writing about different topics and different issues facing NICU parents, they will understand more about the normal response NICU parents can face when dealing with the many losses that result from a NICU admission.

Education: Physicians and Health Care Providers As noted in the blog post on After the NICU: Aftercare for NICU Parents, "There are many different physicians and other health care providers who might see NICU babies and NICU Parents in follow up."

The key here is educating all of the different health care providers who see NICU parents in follow up to be able to identify those parents who may be at risk by checking to see that the parents are doing well after they are home from the NICU.

Identifying Symptoms
Researcher and former NICU Parent Dr. Michael Hynan designed a helpful screening tool for determining NICU parents at risk. The Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Questionnaire (PPQ) can be easily administered. This tool can help determine if the NICU Parents might need some additional support once the family is discharged from the hospital.

If I was able to do so, I would see that all NICU parents take a PPQ (or similar) screening questionnaire to make sure they are doing well once home from the NICU.

Support for Parents after the NICU - Hospitals
Support for NICU parents can vary greatly depending on the hospital and depending on the nature of their newborn's health. Some hospitals offer good programs after the NICU with support groups, education and follow up. Others (like our hospitals) may be focusing on just getting parents through the initial ordeal.

Often the follow up ball is dropped by the hospitals, because parents are no longer in the NICU and their regular health care providers don't know, or don't think to make sure they are still doing o.k. several weeks or months after the NICU.

Support for Parents after the NICU - March of DimesSome hospitals have a NICU Family Support Specialist from the March of Dimes to help offer NICU parents support and help in navigating the confusing NICU. Their NICU Family Support website offers information, resources and online communities 24/7 online.
Support for Parents after the NICU - OnlineIn addition to the March of Dimes, Share Your Story, there are other online resources available for NICU Parents. These are the main ones that I've found below.

• Share Your Story - Community Center
• Preemie Support Group
• NICU Parents/Preemies Group
• Preemie Community Forum

If you know of others, please add them in the comments section and I can add them to our list of recommended forums.

Resources:

Dyer KA. 2009. After the NICU: Aftercare for NICU Parents. NICU Parent Support Blog.

Dyer KA. 2009. NICU Admission Puts Parents at Risk for PTSD. NICU Parent Support Blog.
Tarkan L. 2009. For Parents on NICU, Trauma May Last. New York Times.
Definition of aftercare. 2007. In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Dyer KA. 2007. Reflections on NICU Aftercare: Who should following up on NICU parents? NICU Parent Support Blog.
Dyer K. 2005. Identifying, Understanding, and Working with Grieving Parents in the NICU, Part II: Strategies. Neonatal Network. 24: 27-40.
Hynan MT. Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Questionnaire (PPQ).

Image: Modified Microsoft Clipart.