SUPER MUM sews selflessly for premature babies around Australia

Karen Cuthbert is no ordinary mum. As well as caring for her own six young children, the tireless Karen also finds time to sew exquisite little gowns and blankets for the benefit of some of Australia’s most premature babies.

Karen’s sewing machine produces a never-ending stream of beautiful garments in the most cheerful fabrics she can find, designed to meet the needs of babies in intensive care and warm the hearts of those who care for them. Since Karen started sewing her little garments she has donated 155 gowns across Australia.

Karen sends her gifts of love to families across Australia, most of whom she will never have the opportunity to meet. Her thoughtfulness and generosity have lead to her recently being nominated for a “Local Premmie Hero” award by one of the many people touched by her kindness. Karen shyly comments “I know what it is like to have a child in hospital, and I am more than happy to send families a gift and bring a smile to the faces of those with sick and premature babies around the country.”

Karen is just one of many nominees we have received that do amazing work and help for families around Australia. Please be sure to check back here as we will be showcasing some of our other amazing nominees.

If you know someone who has volunteered their time working along side families of premature babies we invite you to nominate your “Local Premmie Hero”. Please visit www.lilaussieprems.com.au/hero before the 30th April 2009.

L’il Aussie Prems on Facebook

Well we finally have our facebook page up and running. It was created some time ago but it was a little delayed! We invite you to become a fan!

L’il Aussie Prems Page

L’il Aussie Prems has fast become the premier support for families with premature babies throughout Australia.

In 2008 Our Premmie Baby Forum…

Exploded! The forum saw over 400 members join in 2008 alone and on New Years eve we reached over 100,000 posts. It is truly an amazing effort on our members behalves and they have really turned the forum into a community over the past year.

When i started the forum almost 2 years ago it was slow to start with like any forum but over time it grew. I made sure i put the site “out there” not just via online but through other avenue’s. Everyone who i have personally spoken with over time has been very supportive of the site and when they hear how well it is doing they are very suprised, which is a great thing! The forums’ members meet in each state and have formed very solid friendships. Each and every member has a level of understanding whether their premmie baby was born at 23 weeks through to 36 weeks, everyone is very supportive and compassionate to all.

The members have made what L’il Aussie Prems is today and i cannot thank them enough.  I had a vision in 2007 and now the forum has so many families, 2009 will be the year that L’il Aussie Prems shines. We have idea’s coming from left right and centre which hopefully we will be implementing throughout the year.

If you wish to join our premmie baby forum please register today!

Latest Premmie Baby Competition

The Bub Born Early website is giving away a copy of their latest creation, The BubBE book to one lucky family. The BubBE Book was created by Natasha Bowden to be a guiding hand along the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) journey. It is essentially a baby book for the premature child and their parents, in which all of the unique experiences that come with being born, or having a child, prematurely can be recorded.

To enter this fantastic competition visit the Bub Born Early website, answer the following question and email your answer via their contact us page.

Question: What hospital was the authors premature baby born in?

The competiton closes on Wednesday 17th December 2008.

Premmie Baby Birth Announcements *NEW*

Premmie Birth Announcements are now available online to all families of premature babies throughout Australia. We welcome all parents, grandparents, friends and relatives to submit the birth of their babies who either just entered into this world or were born some time ago, there is no time limit. L’il Aussie Prems realises how special all premmie baby’s are and encourage you to announce the birth of your little miracle.

To enter your little premmies birth announcement please visit our Premmie Birth Announcementspage. You may also view our Premmie Birth Announcements List.

Congratulations and we look forward to sharing your premmie babies birth with you.

Premmie Mums - Amazing Help!

Since starting L’il Aussie Prems in March 2007 the site has grown more than i could have ever imagined. I created the premmie forum hoping that the site could offer some premmie baby parents hope and courage whilst going through life of having a premature baby but it has turned into more. With over 660 members registered on the forum and growing everyday the forum has become a community for families who have faced the battle of having a premature baby or a baby who spent time in SCN.

With the premmie forum growing and thriving over time i have had many ideas, most have been implemented on the website. The site covers so many things from premmie birth stories to premmie galleries, premmie forum, premmie birth announcements, premmie buddies, premmie of the month, monthly newsletters, directory, premmie baby tickers and more so the site needs updating quite a lot due to so many stories, photos and submissions emailed in everyday. I can spend up to 4hrs a day updating and adding new information/images/stories onto the website but thankfully i don’t need to everyday.

With the workload that the website brings i needed help with not just updating the website but also with help finding information for the next premmie newsletter, contacting a forum member and asking them to be premmie of the month and arranging details and photos with them, running premmie buddies each month, moderating the forum, administrating the forum (with me), organising and running premmie kris kringle and much much more. After a year and a half of doing all of these things on my own i realised that i really couldn’t do it all, i wasn’t superwoman (although i wish i was). With having just recently giving birth to my son i have 2 more helpers on hand helping with the running of the website and it could not have come at a better time.

The women who organise, update, arrange and implement things on the site are all so AMAZING. There are around 11 mums who give up their time to help. I cannot thank them enough for their amazing help, efforts & generosity in helping the site being kept up to date and the premmie forum being “watched/moderated” because without you it would be a struggle everyday.

Premature Birth/Babies Forum

Our premmie forum has become one of Australia’s busiest support communities for premature babies families & friends. Our forum has a member base of over 630 members from Australia and beyond so you can be sure to find other premmie parents in your state or even parents who had their premmie babies at the same hospital as you.

Our forum offers families support, understanding, parenting advice, hope, friendship and networking. Our members have many “meet ups” with other parents in the same state and some parents have even started their own premmie morning teas due to the lack of support in their area.

There are many areas on the forum where you can write about your premature babies and their journey. We have parents with premmie babies in NICU, SCN, high risk pregnancies, babies who have just gone home to premmie babies who are toddlers and in school so you can be assured that there are parents who understand your situation.

We have a specific area on the forum where you can write about your premature babies journey whilst going through NICU/SCN, you can have your very own parent diary, write about your babies milestone achievements or delays, post photos of your gorgeous children, ask questions or talk about your premmie baby in our specific gestation areas. There are specific areas when you can chat to parents who have had a premature baby between 23 - 26 weeks, 27 - 30 weeks, 31 - 34 weeks, 35 weeks +.

We look forward to seeing you on the premmie forum and becoming apart of our free fantastic premmie parent community.

www.lilaussieprems.com.au/premforum

New Look Premature Baby Support Website

After almost 2 years our website has a totally new look! Our premmie support website is much more easy to follow and looks great. With everything now at your fingertips you can see why it has attracted much more reading on our site.

Everything that was on the website is still available to view including our premature birth stories, premmie galleries, premmie forum, premmie articles, premmie playgroups and more. We introduced premmie buddies on the forum about a year ago and it has been very successful with our premmie parents getting to know each other on a more personal level. It has really made the premmie forum become more of a community of premature baby parents and help to create great friendships australia wide.

We have our live chats every Tuesday night - starting at 9pm est and it has become quite a fun night. With jokes, chatter and stories about our premature babies it really makes the night entertaining.

We would like to thank one of our forum members/moderators for her gorgeous pictures of her daughter Talia which we have used to create our websites main banner. It really softens the sites look and also shows that the site is about premature babies and support on many levels.

Take a look around and feel free to add any comments and/or suggestions about the websites new look.

www.lilaussieprems.com.au

Premmie Parent Diaries

We have just introduced a new area on the forum for premmie parent diaries. They are similar to a blog but are kept on the forum so you can share with forum friends what has been happening with your premature baby. You can start threads on your premmie baby, premature birth, family life, your premmies milestone delays, your babies achievements, weight loss or anything you wish to talk about.

If you wish to start your own diary you need to be a member of the forum www.lilaussieprems.com.au/premforum . Once you have registered reply to the following thread and a diary will be created for you.

www.lilaussieprems.com.au/premforum/diary-sign-up-t3572.html

National Premmie Day

This Friday is National Premmie Day!

Being apart of the premmie foundations committee we have been working on this day since last year and time certainly does fly! We have received A LOT of support from businesse, other parenting websites, the media and families which have all been fantastic.

Being a parent to a premature baby i have to say that this community is one that i would have never known if my son was never born early. There are so many amazing people in this world who volunteer their time and energy on helping families who have been in the same situation of having a premature baby. There are 1000s of premmie babies born each year and the number is growing. Each baby has had a unique experience and been through so much which is why our premmie babies need to be celebrated.

For a list of premmie events around Australia you can visit www.prembaby.org.au . There are also events listed on the L’il Aussie Prems forum www.lilaussieprems.com.au/premforum/australian-premmie-support-groups-f49.html

We would love to hear about your celebrations for National Premmie Day so be sure to join the forum and tell us all about it but remember have a great day!

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