L’il Aussie Prems | L'il Aussie Prems Blog

L’il Aussie Prems Facelift

January 15, 2008 By Julia Toivonen 1 Comment

Watch this space as L’il Aussie Prems will be having a facelift. It has been months in production already and we are making the final adjustments. We are hopeful that by the start of February the new site will be launched.

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Queensland Premature Baby Support

January 15, 2008 By Julia Toivonen Leave a Comment

After months of working on PIPA’s new website i am proud to say that it is now live!

PIPA was formed in 1980 to provide a support network for the families dealing with the Premature birth of their baby in Queensland and Northern New South Wales Hospitals. For over 25 years their work has been carried on by a large number of volunteers whose lives have been touched and changed by a premature birth. Their site provides support on many levels and is a place where parents can find information on all things relating to their premature baby.

It was a pleasure creating and working on their new website for them. Giving up my time to help groups that support premature babies is passion of mine. If i can help groups in anyway possible i feel that i have accomplished something huge and it is very rewarding to know that what i have done no matter how small helps the parents & families of premature babies.

www.pipa.org.au

Filed Under: L'il Aussie Prems, Premature Babies

New ~ Premature Baby Support Forum

January 15, 2008 By Julia Toivonen Leave a Comment

L’il Aussie Prems has a new modern support forum for families of premature babies.

The old forum was great in the day but the security features on the new one are so much better which means less spammer sign ups (less strain on my email) and the backend features just blow you out of the water and the forum is now much more user friendly.

I spent 2 days working on the new forum because it isn’t a simple case of throwing it all together because you get errors along the way when trying to add/change things. When you get errors you then need to search for the solution but the first one you find isn’t always the right one. It can take hours to just do 1 thing but i am very patient and it has paid off with the new premmie forum.

I tried to find a template that either matched what was already there or find something that was easy to follow. There are 100s of templates available but i also wanted something to follow on with the sites pastels theme as it reminds me of premature babies, soft & gentle.

I hope you all enjoy the new premmie forum and i better get back to my email as i haven’t looked at it for a few days and have over 900 emails to go through!

www.lilaussieprems.com.au/premforum

Filed Under: L'il Aussie Prems, Parenting

Prem Of The Month

January 2, 2008 By Julia Toivonen 1 Comment

Each month we will be featuring a premature baby for “prem of the month” in our newsletters.

“Miss January” is Talia Rivka and her mother Kathryn

Where was Talia born? KEMH in Perth

What was her gestation? 26 weeks, 6 days gestation

And her birth weight? She was 855g – now at 6 months corrected she’s finally over 5kg, woo hoo!

What do you remember most about your NICU journey?
Wondering if Talia would ever come off CPAP. Struggling to breast feed. Singing songs through the humidicrib window. Wonderful kangaroo cuddles. Pumping, pumping, pumping…

What might the NICU staff remember about you?
I was the mother who refused to give out my premature babies name for 5 days while I waited for my husband to come back to Perth. Even now there is a nurse who still asks after “Tic-tac”.

What has been your proudest moment since Talia came home?
Talia has some developmental delay (for example she is still not rolling) so we don’t take anything for granted, and every little milestone is a real buzz for us. Recently she figured out how to stay sitting up and we were just ecstatic. And I’m still producing a little bit of breastmilk for her, which is borderline miraculous given my problems with supply.

What is your top tip for other mothers of premmie babies?
Take lots and lots of photos of your premature babies – and make sure you keep a copy of them somewhere safe. I lost a lot of photos when my computer died and I didn’t have a backup. Also I wish I’d kept a journal, even if it was brief, because all those vivid early memories which I thought I would never forget are starting to dim now that time is passing and so many new memories are being created as Talia grows.

If you wish to receive our newsletters so you can read the journey of next months premature baby you can register here and if you would like to see your premature baby as “prem of the month” please email admin@lilaussieprems.com.au

Filed Under: L'il Aussie Prems, Parenting, Premature Babies

L’il Aussie Prems Was Featured In….

December 31, 2007 By trikiron Leave a Comment

Practical Parenting magazine in January’s issue!!

Very exciting news for L’il Aussie Prems. The mention of the website is huge! I have been very lucky with media over the past 10 months and to be in another one of Australia’s largest parenting magazines is such a thrill. Having a premature baby has opened up the world to me. Not only with creating L’il Aussie Prems but also to have met the amazing people that i have and how inspirational & passionate they all are.

Premature babies are amazing little people that fight for life and even though it wasn’t the path i expected to take i am glad that i am on the path and able to help parents and relatives with their journey. I hope that L’il Aussie Prems brings joy to many families and that they know, they are not alone.

If you wish to view the sites mention please visit our Media Coverage page or if you are already a subscriber to the magazine the mention is on page 45.

Filed Under: L'il Aussie Prems, Premature Babies