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Lacey Strong at Boston Children's Hospital

12/21/2015

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Lacey is a beautiful girl who had the heart of a true warrior. A contagious smile and monkeys were two things that were given to us as a part of who Lacey was.

Her gown must have taken one heck of a trip around the hospital, the mail system, the country and goodness knows anywhere else because it was mailed in early 2014 and didn't arrive back to us until mid-2015. So we have no idea where it went/ended up in the in between, but somewhere down the line it finally made it's way back to us.

We e-mailed her family about re-sending the gown and that is when we learned Lacey had passed away. We then created a special angel bear gown that had a monkey just for Lacey's family. Once they received it her mom called me and then e-mailed me as well about creating some special gowns for Christmas in honor of Lacey. 

Collectively we came up with a unique embroidery design just for the project and then went to work on the gowns you can see below. We used up some more of our extra older-style gowns in both sizes and genders, with each one picked out by Lacey's mom as well. 

Here is a photo of Lacey's parents when they dropped off all their care packages and gowns to Boston Children's Hospital.
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NICU Surprise Boxes - December 2015

12/18/2015

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The end of this year we have completed six NICU Surprise Boxes totaling 180 NICU SMOCKS​ going to hospitals all over the United States! We received an huge influx of smocks from seamstresses all over the country that either were not able to directly donate to their local hospital or wanted to be a part of something much bigger, so we graciously accepted all of them that came our way whether it it was just a few or nearly a hundred in each package and divided them up among the hospitals our families nominated throughout the year.

Below are the remaining hospitals that we sent NICU Surprise Boxes too, but that we did not have any NICU stories to share with them. They are still special requests that we did not want to leave out.


Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas
Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska
​
Greenville Children's Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina 
All of the ladybug hats were donated by Camryn Renea's Heart Journey and the scarf bibs were made with leftover pieces of gowns.
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NICU Surprise Boxes: Providence Alaska Medical Center

12/17/2015

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Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska is where we sent a NICU Surprise Box to in honor of sweet Charlie Victoria.
The hospital has the state's only Level III NICU and provides care for newborns at 22wks gestation in addition to severe birth defects that require advance care. They also have great transport teams allowing them to service the entire state, to include the military population as well. They have a 66 bed NICU which allows them to care for newborns that need to be transferred there for more advanced care in addition to their normal flow of deliveries.

Below is the Garcia Family's NICU story and their sweet Charlie while we was in the NICU and then a photo that is of all their lovely littles in today's time.

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​On May 31st 2012, I went to a routine prenatal appointment. I was 30 weeks pregnant. I told my midwife I had tachycardia and, she sent me to labor and delivery. Once there, the nurses weren't able to find my daughter's heart rate. The Ob came in and was able to find it. But, it was 60-80. I was told that my daughter was in distress and I needed an emergency c-section.

I was in shock. I could feel her kicking and moving around. I didn't understand what was wrong. My 5 years old was there with me. I tried to explain to her that the baby needed coming out and that a nurse would take care of her while the doctor took care of mami and baby sister. Meanwhile, the front office staff was trying to get a hold of my husband. On May 31st 2015, at 11:30 am, Charlie Victoria was born 10 weeks premature. She was transfered to the NICU at Children's Hospital at Providence, Anchorage, Alaska. The NICU staff was the most caring people on earth. They were our angels during the 6 weeks Charlie V was there.

They helped us understand that Charlie V wasn't in distress. She has a Complete Congenital Heartblock: a heart condition that develops due to lupus maternal antibodies crossing the placenta and, attacking her heart. The NICU doctors and nurses, social worker and parents navigator, pediatric cardiologist and 
electrophysiology 
team, front office team...I can't thank them enough. Charlie has a pacemaker now. She had surgery at 8 months.

She is a sassy, strong willed, brilliant 3 years old that loves princesses and play-doh. She will need pacemaker surgery/heart surgery the rest of her life, but she is showing all of us how brave and strong she is. She is our heart hero.
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Below is the NICU Smocks and other goodies we included in the NICU Surprise box for Providence Alaska Medical Center's NICU.
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NICU Surprise Boxes: Geisinger Medical Center

12/15/2015

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Our third preemie gown donation this December was to the NICU at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. This donation was made in honor of Angel, who is not only a NICU graduate from the hospital, but also one of our gown recipients too!

They have a Level IV NICU and another associated facility has a Level II NICU as well. We've included Angel's story below.

The Level IV NICU at Geisinger's Janet Weis Children's Hospital in Danville offers the advanced "Cool Cap" and cooling blanket treatment for newborns who are suffering from brain swelling or lack of oxygen. As the name suggests, the treatment cools the newborn to keep it from swelling. Newborns born anywhere in Pennsylvania can be flown to the NICU in Danville if they require this treatment.

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Angel Breha was taken care of by the Janet Weis Children's Hospital in Danville, PA for 3 weeks before my fiancée and I got involved with her as her foster parents.

She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (with no swallow reflex) and I appreciate everything they did for her in those 3 weeks. The nursing staff was very excited the first day I went to see her, because due to her unfortunate situation of being in foster care she had no one to bond with.

They feared the toll this would take on her, she was already so fragile. I appreciate all they did to keep her healthy and socialized. As her foster parent I was going in to the NICU with absolutely no medical knowledge very much like a new mom. I was extremely scared and overwhelmed but the staff trained me on suctioning and G-tube care.

​With their encouragement I was confident enough to bring her home. She is almost 2 years old now and we recently adopted her!
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I am always moved to tears on these NICU stories and to see just how far each amazing kiddo has come despite the rocky beginnings - below are the NICU smocks and other goodies sent to Geisinger Medical Center in honor of Angel and her life's journey! The ladybug hats are from Camryn Renea's Heart Journey in memory of her courageous heart's battle.
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