"When my son was born full-term in January of 2005, I received the usual assortment of baby gear... tons of 0-3 month and 3-6 month outfits, blankets, bottles, rattles, baby books, prepared casseroles and meals, etc. All of these were very much appreciated. A mere eleven months later, when my daughter was born sixteen weeks early in December of 2005, I found myself again receiving precious little baby gifts. The difference? With a tiny preemie still in the NICU, our needs were drastically changed. There was nothing "typical" about our situation and what normally constituted a perfect baby gift suddenly became, well, useless. Thoughtful, but useless. So what to give the new preemie parents? Here are ten simple ideas for frugal gifts that are a perfect fit for those parenting these tiny miracles...
Please head over to Baby Cheapskate to read the rest of my guest post! I have lots of ideas to share for thoughtful gifts that won't break the bank...
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3 comments:
Hello! I read your article and I just wanted to say I thought your suggestions were great. If you don't mind me asking, how is your daughter doing? My son was born at 25 weeks and I am always curious how older micropreemies are doing. Thank you again for writing such a thoughtful article.
Hi Katie! Congrats on your 25-weeker. How old is he now?
My daughter is now 3 1/2 and doing great. She attends a mainstream preschool and does very well socially. She does receive some speech therapy (for work on some intelligibility) and occupational therapy (mainly for hand strength). She also wears glasses as she is very nearsighted (of course, so am I!)
She has a strong immune system and no ongoing respiratory or feeding issues. She's on the small side- 10th % for weight and 25th % for height, but really just looks "petite" compared to her peers, not sickly.
All in all, we've been very lucky and she's doing great... still the same feisty spitfire she was in the NICU!
Let me know if you have any specific questions; I'll be happy to answer them.
Thanks for writing back! He is doing really well (knock on wood). He is nearly 8 months (4 months adjusted) and so far seems to be doing pretty well.
We have been lucky so far and apart from bad acid reflux and moderate high muscle tone in one leg (which he seems to be growing out of) he is acting fairly age appropriate for a 3 1/2 month-er so he isn't to far off. And like your daughter he is just a petite little guy in the 3% for height and weight.
He has developed an ability tune out noises that a full term baby would react to (ie loud bangs, loud noises on tv/people, or his apnea monitor). Did you notice anything like that with your daughter? Some people have said that perhaps because of the long NICU stay he is able to tune out noises (he has past all hearing tests but we have more scheduled) have you experienced anything like this with your daughter?
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