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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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I have a friend who had a placental abruption while delivering a beautiful full-term baby boy this week.
He was rushed away, though, not breathing, etc..., and he will have been on the cooling blankets for 78 hours today (she gets to hold him for the first time today!).
They aren't sure about the extent of damage, if any, and only time will tell, but I would guess they will be in the NICU for some time further before he is well enough that they can take him home.
I know there are so many ladies here who have born many similar crosses, and I was wondering if there are any resources, gifts, ideas you could offer for reaching out to my friend.
Is there a lifesaver you found invaluable during such a hospital stay? Any particular baby gifts? Mama gifts? Funny onesies 
Help me brainstorm!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 10:04am | IP Logged
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Is she going to nurse, Lindsay? Pumping already?
That's a big thing, to be able to pump in comfort. A pretty nursing cover is always nice IMHO.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 10:49am | IP Logged
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Its her third, and she's pumping already. Good idea!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 11:42am | IP Logged
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what about snacks for her that she can have there.. rather than having to go to the cafeteria or a vending machine.. something good for her that won't pull her so far away from the baby.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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MelissaClaire
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 11:49am | IP Logged
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I know at our NICU there were private rooms and no food was allowed in the room. Thankfully we were only there a week and I was able to stay with him the whole time, but I hated to leave him alone for even a minute--or to dash down to the cafeteria to eat. It was SUCH a blessing to me when a friend came and just sat in the room with him so I could go down and have a few minutes to eat and take a quick walk around outside just to get some sunshine.
Another time my dad came up and stayed with the baby so I could go down and eat lunch with my husband and the rest of the kids.
A good book or magazine would probably be a welcome gift as well.
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Melissa
Mom to a dd ('02), ds ('03), ds ('05), dd ('07) and baby due 9/01/09
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 17 2010 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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My recommendation was along the lines of Jodie's. When we had to spend an extended stay in the hospital a friend brought up a nice basket, and contained within was everything needed to eat delicious and healthy in the room - a honeybaked ham (you could purchase a half size ham if you didn't want to do a full size, but the bigger size was nice for visiting family and friends!), really nice cheeses, crackers, oranges, bananas, hearty muffins, honey butter. It was so perfect and appreciated! We ate on that basket for a week. Our friends even popped in to replenish crackers and muffins mid-week! They dropped off a case of bottled water and juices as well. So very appreciated!
It's sort of a big gift, but I thought you'd get the idea and be able to pare it down to fit budget or circumstances. You could possibly ask friends to go in on in with you.
And a Mass card remembering our intentions. Treasured! And kept!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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KackyK
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| Posted: June 18 2010 at 6:28am | IP Logged
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What about her other children? Can you offer babysitting time? My 5th dc was in the NICU for 4 weeks. It was hard to ask different people to watch the kids so I could go visit. I didn't want to over ask anyone in particular. So it sort of became a juggling act there.
I second Melissa's advice for a good magazine or two.
We couldn't have food either in the room, it was a big common NICU area where he was. But the cafeteria food did get old and expensive! Some way to offset that would be nice.
Oh and back to the homefront...when my brother came to visit us when our son was in the NICU he was still in college. He was really really helpful not just with babysitting, but he cleaned my house (like really cleaned it, with dusting and everything!), did my laundry and then at night, when he visited the NICU with my dh, he took beautiful black and white pictures for us.
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KackyK
Mom to 8 - 3 dd, 5ds & 4 babes in heaven
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JaysFamily
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| Posted: June 18 2010 at 7:21am | IP Logged
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~A gas card since driving back and forth to the nicu several times a day gets expensive.
~A gift card for a coffee shop near the hospital.
~Light housework
~Babysitting
Dinner a couple of times a week
~A care basket at the hospital with healthy snacks, water, wipes for freshening up, pocket puzzle books
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Jaysfamily
wife to Jay
mother to DS(5)
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4 lads mom
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| Posted: June 18 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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Wow,such terrific recommendations!! I have had three babies in NICU, two for a month...and someone brought up a safety pin with all of different saint medals, and Miraculous Medals to hang on baby’s crib for one of the babies.....very nice...and a little coin purse full of coins for that occasional diet coke or bottled water, or coffee..that was so nice to have. Also, a box of protein bars that can be eaten quickly if they want to step out for just a moment, but don’t have time to eat a whole meal....
Prayer cards, any kind of Sacramentals, Holy Water, etc...are so, so nice to have on hand.
God Bless you, Lindsay, this is such an important ministry.
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Mom of four brave lads and one sweet lassie
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 18 2010 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the suggestions ladies!
I am long distance from this friend, but there are other friends in the area, and we were going to go together, so some of the local ideas might be manageable.
Brainstorming helps so much! It looks like a week from tomorrow is the earliest she will be out, so I hope we can get some things to her soon.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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sewcrazy
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| Posted: June 21 2010 at 6:16pm | IP Logged
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One thing that I enjoyed was a good disposable camera and a coupon for developing . Life is so hectic with a baby in the NICU and children at home, I didn't think about taking pictures. You can now get 1 time use digital cameras.
Also, as others have said, food. Maybe a box of healthy but quick to eat snacks--granola, dried fruit, nuts and such. And a pretty water bottle (most NICU's will let you have a water bottle in the area, especially a nursing mom)
I have done the NICU 4 times out of 5
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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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sewcrazy
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| Posted: June 21 2010 at 6:33pm | IP Logged
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One thing that I enjoyed was a good disposable camera and a coupon for developing . Life is so hectic with a baby in the NICU and children at home, I didn't think about taking pictures. You can now get 1 time use digital cameras.
Also, as others have said, food. Maybe a box of healthy but quick to eat snacks--granola, dried fruit, nuts and such. And a pretty water bottle (most NICU's will let you have a water bottle in the area, especially a nursing mom)
I have done the NICU 4 times out of 5
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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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SusanJ
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| Posted: June 23 2010 at 3:17pm | IP Logged
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Sorry if I'm repeating ideas, trying to hurry . . .
When ours was in the NICU things we appreciated were:
people visiting us in the hospital and wanting to see our baby (not always allowed but often is in small doses)
having books around to read. We spent hours just hanging out by the isolette and having a book was great--newborns sleep a lot but you want to be there
I pumped for a few weeks and hated it. I always tried to pray a rosary during that time. maybe send a rosary cd you like for your friend to use while pumping or any other time
someone went grocery shopping for us and just stocked our fridge. we were never home for meals but it was so nice to have nice things like orange juice and snacks to grab when we were so stressed out and going back and forth
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Baby in NICU--Ideas?
