Merry Christmas 2015!

As we approach Christmas, Tiny Sparks wanted to thank everyone for their amazing support and contributions over the past year, and a very special mention to the volunteers who helped us make this Christmas very special.  As you may know, we put out a call for quilts.  Would you like to know how it turned out?  Here's a video to give you a glimpse!   We are overwhelmed and so grateful for the outpouring of support and love from everyone.  The quilts we received were simply amazing.  We know that each one was made with love and will brighten the day for families all across Western Australia.

From all of here at Tiny Sparks, Thank you.  Merry Christmas, and Happy New year.

Busy Bee Wrap

On Sunday morning, 29th November 2015, dozens of keen volunteers flocked to the Tom Dadour Community Centre in Subiaco to join in Tiny Sparks WA's 'Christmas and Care Package Volunteering Busy Bee'.

Volunteers assisted with wrapping Christmas Ornament gifts, packaging milestone cards, packing Care Packages and attaching studs to donated NICU gowns among other tasks. Between volunteers who assisted throughout the morning plus sewers, knitters and quilters who stopped by throughout the day almost 40 people joined in the Busy Bee! 

Thank you so very much to everyone who contributed in any way to a very successful and productive morning. All Christmas presents are wrapped and ready to be distributed thanks to these busy bees! They say 'many hands make light work' and that was definitely true in this instance!

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Christmas 2015

Each year approximately 200 babies around Western Australia spend their very first Christmas in a neonatal intensive care unit or special care nursery.  Some of them have not yet met their brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunties, uncles or the rest of their families.  This can be a very challenging time!

This year, with your help and support, we would like to give every baby a special Christmas ornament that can be treasured by their family for many years to come.  This is in addition to the Christmas Quilts donated by hundreds of volunteers who have spent their time sewing over the past couple of months.  Thankyou so much!

We have partnered with Foote and Flame to design a unique and special ornament.  Their support by donation of time, product and design is to be commended.  I'm sure they would welcome a 'Like' on their Facebook page as a show of thanks.

Jennifer & Daniel Foote (Foote and Flame) together with Amber Bates (Tiny Sparks WA) and their children.

Pictures

Volunteer April Ratajczak blogs for us

Ever since becoming a mum, I take a lot of pictures.  I cannot put emphasis on "a lot" enough.  One reason is I am an expat, so all of my family and friends back home don't have the luxury of stopping by for a visit to see Emily themselves.  The other part?  Pure obsession with my daughter.  I find myself, especially at the end of really hard or trying days (hey, this toddler stage is hard work!), laying in bed flipping through and looking at photos and videos of Emily from a few months ago, asking myself "how has time passed SO quickly?".  I also am in total awe and amazement of how far our little 29 weeker has come.  

I was recently emailing a photo of Emily to someone from the NICU.  I opened up the file on the computer with all the NICU pictures.... a file that I haven't opened in ages... months easily.  When suddenly I found heaps of pictures I had forgotten, until that moment, that I had taken.  While in each nursery, I took photos of our surroundings.  I wanted to be able to show Emily one day different steps of her journey in the NICU.  The equipment, the monitors, and even small things like the furniture.  At the time, all I saw was exactly what they were.  Now, looking back, I see so much more in those pictures.

The chair's that were used during Kangaroo Care at the time were simply a chair.  A piece of furniture.   Now when I see this picture, I suddenly remember countless moments between Emily and me. Once she was able to be held, nearly every day (except when she was in isolation or I was sick) we hand bonding moments in these chairs.  I told countless stories, and when nobody was around would quietly sing or hum a tune. This was where I sat and held her for hours the day she needed a blood transfusion, because the only thing that settled her was a cuddle and her dummy.  Most weekdays, this chair is where we were when my husband came for his visit after work (and his cuddle as well).  These are the chairs I was sitting in the day the doctors told me about Emily's heart condition.  When I look at these chairs, I can't help but think of the countless memories each one of them holds.  It's now to me, so much more than a piece of furniture, and I bet anyone reading this who spent time at King Edward instantly had a memory of their own from this picture.

 

This was the first nursery and bay Emily was in.  (This was after she was out of the incubator... I didn't take surrounding pictures until a few weeks into our journey).  At the time, this seemed a little like our prison cell, and we were prisoners not only to the hospital and our bay, but also the monitors.   Now I look at it, and I see so much.  This is where I got to see my daughter for the first time after delivery.  This was where we learned to do cares and change our first nappy.  This is where we met nurses who became our second family.  Do you notice the cute name tag hung up that says "Emily"?  One of those beloved nurses' daughter made that for us, her other daughter made one that was also on her cot during our stay, and a third that was brought home and put on her bedroom door.  It still hangs there to this day.  This is where we watched Emily progress and fight, and one at a time, pieces of equipment disappeared as Emily improved.  This wasn't our prison.  This was our home and the beginning of our family.  No, it was not what we envisioned or had hoped for.  Who hopes for a premature birth and NICU stay afterall?  But this was OUR family's start.

 

For 11 weeks and 5 days, this was simply Emily's chart.  After washing our hands and saying good morning to Emily, this was our next stop... to read how she had done over night.  I look now and the first thing I see, especially as a NICU parent, is the red, but not in the same way that I viewed it before.  At the time, red marks meant we weren't going home anytime soon.  That was especially true towards the end.  For those who don't know, you can have NO RED on your chart for 48 hours to be able to go home.  Many NICU parents become anxious about that red pen.  Now, when I see pictures of Emily's chart, all the red just makes me even more proud of everything that she had to overcome during her journey in the NICU.  Every bit of red pen is a battle our Emily fought and won.  

(As a side note, I loved how some nurses would draw flowers or hearts next to her name.. as a parent, such a personal touch to see in the morning when we arrived!)

                               "It's a rough life in the NICU, but someone has to do it!"  
                                                                   (Emily relaxing)

I encourage parents who are currently on their NICU Journey to take pictures.  One day you will look back and you will see so much more than what your eyes saw the moment you took that picture.   I encourage NICU graduate parents to have a look at a couple of pictures (if you are able) and see if you too can see so much more than you realised.  

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Workshop: Going Home after a Neonatal Unit Stay

Taking your baby home after a stay in a Neonatal Unit can be very different to taking your baby home after the birth of a healthy newborn. Whilst both can be a challenging experience for parents, taking your baby home after weeks or months in a Neonatal Unit comes with a unique set of considerations. Many parents have these types of questions:

How can I help protect my baby from germs?

I'm afraid to let other people hold my baby - how do I deal with visitors?

What do I tell people when they ask me how old my baby is?

What happens when I return to KEMH or PMH for appointments? Will we be in a waiting room with sick children?

I'm nervous about having my baby home without monitors. How can I reassure myself? Do I need to buy a breathing monitor?

How long will by baby be followed up for?

This forum style workshop will discuss these issues and allow you an opportunity to ask questions, or discuss, any concerns you have surrounding taking your baby home. The workshop is open to all parents who currently have a baby in a Neonatal Unit in WA or have taken a baby home after a stay in a Neonatal Unit in recent months.

All attendees will receive a FREE gift bag on the night containing items useful for going home, including a bulk pack of Aqium hand sanitiser kindly donated by Ego Pharmaceuticals and nappy samples donated by BabyLove and much more.

We look forward to seeing you there!

EDIT: Registrations are now closed.

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