Blog
We are looking for some enthusiastic individuals to join our team in a voluntary capacity. We are currently searching for a Blog Manager and 4 Social Media Team Members (2 for Facebook and 2 for Instagram). Please see the advertisements below, feel free to share with your friends.
If you would like to apply please complete a volunteer application and in the 'other comments' note which position you are applying for.
We have an amazing team and hope you will become a part of it!
Market stall at Tranquil Soul.
Thankyou to Tranquil Soul in Port Kennedy for inviting us along to their Wellness Market. It was great to get out in the community, raise awareness of high-risk pregnancy, prematurity and the issues facing babies in neonatal intensive care units. Some attendees were truly shocked to hear almost 4,000 babies are admitted to neonatal units in WA each year!
Our Inkless Print Kits were a hit! They make such a great gift for any newborn baby. You can purchase via our web shop, postage on these is FREE Australia wide.'
Thanks again Tranquil Soul, we had a great day!
Tiny Sparks WA is pleased to open enrolments for our 'Developmental Play Group' for Term 3, 2017.
Who: Children 6 months to 36 months
When: Wednesdays 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Where: Meerilinga Children and Family Centre Cockburn
Dates: 19 July, 2 August, 16 August, 30 August, 13 September
Cost: $45 per term
What: Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy visiting at every session on a rotational basis. An opportunity for children to be monitored within a small group setting and for parents who have experienced similar journeys to meet in a safe environment with a strict wellness policies. Places are limited to 12. Acceptance of enrolment is first in first served.
Written by Mum Allyson.
Grace was my fifth pregnancy, having had one miscarriage at 12 weeks in between my first two children. I had three sons; 5 ½, nearly 3 and 15 months when Grace was born. My pregnancy had been difficult with regular bleeding and a hemorrhage at 18 weeks where I felt I had lost my baby but scans showed that I still had a fetus.
Grace when she arrived at King Edward.
I was on the last day of 23 weeks when I felt strong pains in the evening. I went up to the Albany Hospital and they gave me Ventolin to stop the labor. Initially I didn’t realise it was labor as I was induced with my boys. That seemed to settle so by 9am the next day when my husband, Richard, bought the boys to see me, everything seemed to be okay. By Midday my labor had progressed remarkably and I was being prepped to fly to King Edward as they thought the baby would be born soon.
We were transferred to the awaiting Royal Flying Doctors airplane. The engines were going and Richard was being strapped in when my waters broke. The RFDS Midwife made a lifesaving call when she said I would be transferred by ambulance back to Albany Regional. It took them a very short time to get me back to the hospital when Grace was born encaul at 3pm on November 26 1997. She was just 24 weeks gestation and a very tiny little girl (585gms). The three doctors and one midwife decided to do everything they could to support her survival as they have since told me that she looked strong and healthy enough to try.
The hospital was not equipped for such a tiny infant and a friend has told me that all available staff were called to cut down tubes to help with her survival. There was no ventilator, so when they had successfully intubated her my GP spent just under six hours hand ventilating her. They called the Neonatal team who arrived by RFDS just before 9pm who stabilised her, which took quite a while and then flew her up to KEMH. I was told that up to 4 aircraft were involved in her birth and transfer. Regional families could not survive without the RFDS.
Grace spent 10 weeks on a ventilator and took two months to reach one kilogram. She was discharged after 4 ½ months from the nurseries at KEMH in April 1998.
This year she turns twenty and has done incredibly well. She graduated high school last year and is currently working at Bunnings for a Gap Year before she goes to Perth to study Social Work. Her plan is to work with the families of Pre-mature babies at King Edward or Princess Margaret.
I support Tiny Sparks WA and all the work they do because I have walked the journey of having a baby prematurely without support and being from the country it is even more isolating. I would have loved to have the nurture and encouragement that they offer to families when we were going through the difficulties that only those who have been through it can understand.
We welcome families sharing their stories on our blog. If you would like to share your story please send approximately 500 words and a few photographs to admin@tinysparkswa.org.au with the subject 'Family Story'.
We are excited to announce that we have opened a Red Bubble store. Tiny Sparks receives a commission from each sale and the art work has been generously donated for our use. With everything from t-shirts to canvas prints and travel mugs on offer there is something to make the perfect gift for anyone! Here is a sneak peak of a few of the designs, to see all that we have on offer click through to our Red Bubble store. Spread the word far and wide.
