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Premmie Hero 1st Runner
Up
Karen is a mum to
six young children. Karen amazingly 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 over 220 gowns across Australia, some as
small as a $5 note.
Karen sends her gifts of love to families
across Australia, most of whom she will never have the chance to meet.
Her thoughtfulness and generosity have lead to her to winning an award as
our 1st runner up premmie hero. Karen knows what it is like to have a child
in hospital, and is 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 has a blog and facebook group that she updates
regularly on what she has recently donated and you can see the gowns
she has just created showcasing the beautiful & bright material she
has used.
Karen won a $200 RedBalloon gift certificate, a uniquely designed
medal and a framed certificate, & received a 12 month
subscription to Pratical Parenting Magazine, the major sponsor of this year’s awards.
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Premmie Hero 2nd Runner
Up
Julie Clarke has achieved so much for
the premmie baby community in NSW. Julie has a son who was born prematurely
at 27 weeks in York, England, 25 years ago. She moved with her family to
Australia and realised that there was
no support available and soon started a support group, NNICUPS. This
group is going very strong today and Julie and her husband attended the
group’s 25th anniversary ball last year. Julie has worked tirelessly
over the last 17 years and has always been involved, many of those years as
President. Julie’s main aim is to support parents in need as they
find themselves thrown into a crisis situation and throughout the years,
Julie has been (and still is) a mentor to NNICUPS Parent Support.
A major achievement of
Julie’s was initiating the construction of “Hope
Cottage”.
Through fundraising and the help of 3
local Rotary groups the dream became a reality and Hope Cottage is situated at Nepean
Hospital and now helps hundreds of families every year.
Julie is passionate about helping other
groups start around Australia and has been involved in helping two
charities to form throughout the years. Julie is a matriarch to many
friends and families and continues to support families in
need.
Julie won a $100 RedBalloon gift
certificate, a uniquely designed medal and a framed certificate, & received
a 12 month subscription to Pratical Parenting Magazine, the major sponsor
of this year’s awards.
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Premmie Hero
Nominee - Kristie Plath
Over the next few months we will be
featuring some of our amazing Premmie Hero 2009 nominees. Read about their
amazing achievements and the support they give to families of premature
babies throughout Australia.
Kristie Plath lives in Townsville, North
Queensland, with her Husband Jason, and their 2 sons Lachlan 2yrs 7mths &
Riley 9 mths. Kristie was given a very abrupt introduction to NICU &
Premmie babies in 2006. Before that she had NO idea that NICU’s and
premmie babies existed. No one she knew had ever had a baby that was so
early or sick that needed to go to NICU. Nevertheless, she has now lived
the NICU roller coaster, with the highs and lows, but they made it out the
other side. Kristie and Jason are forever different people and realise that
the road never really ends for premature babies.
Kristie’s
identical twin boys were born at 27 weeks, due to twin to twin transfusion.
Lachlan was 1000g and Darcey was 716g, they were both very sick, ventilated
and the family were not given many positives in the early stages as it was
really touch and go, minute to minute. Day after day the amazing doctors
and nurses in the Townsville Hospital NICU, kept their boys going with some
positive reports coming their way. Sadly at 5 weeks of age (32 weeks),
Darcey contracted “NEC” a very serious bowel infection, he was
rushed to have half his bowel removed. The paediatric surgeon told them
that he didn’t think he would be able to do anything, but the man is
a magician and he was able to remove his perforated intestines and leave
enough for him to survive, but Darcey was ventilated again and very, very
sick battling for his life. Then 5 days later both boys were diagnosed with
‘PVL’ brain damage, which is basically from lack of oxygen and
always causes disability. Sadly Darcey passed away when he was 6 weeks old,
his tiny 1000g body could not cope with the trauma anymore, the world as
they knew it was gone for ever. Lachlan was still very sick, he had lost a
lot of weight and was having difficulty breathing and coming off the
ventilator. Slowly he was getting stronger , they sat by his issolet day
and night trying to give him their strength, what was left anyway. The
rollercoaster ride saw Lachlan go to SCN only to go back to NICU, then
back to SCN and back to NICU again but finally they made it home.
Walking out the door with Lachlan, they were different people. Different to
those that had walked in and they were hoping never to return.
Once they were home, Kristie
realised that there was nothing in Townsville to support parents of premmie
babies once they were discharged from hospital. The babies receive follow
up appointments by doctors but mums and dads were given nothing. Kristie
decided to start a parents support/playgroup group for all NICU
and SCN graduates. The group meet at Ronald McDonald House in
Townsville. Kristie is the Townsville representative for PIPA, (Preterm
infant parents associations). She attends the hospital, co-ordinates
fund raising and is the contact for parents with premmie kids needing
assistance or further information and support.
Lachlan is now 2 yrs 7mths and doing well. He has
spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, which means he can’t walk without
support yet, but he works really hard and has had a round of botox
treatment in his legs which has helped him a lot with his walking. Lachlan
also has a new baby brother Riley who is 9mths old. Riley is doing very
well and had his own time in NICU. For anyone in Townsville or moving to
Townsville who would like to go to the playgroup organised by Kristie or
needs any information please contact her on 0413 621 434 or go
to the PIPA website for more information.
www.pipa.org.au
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Latest Forum Topics
Our premmie support forum is
home to over 800 members. You will be sure to find topics on milestones,
premmie issues, experiences through the NICU/SCN, morning teas, live
chats, support, photos and more..
New with 25 weeker
New with 24 weeker
Your Hospital
First Curl
What are your plans this Friday
night
He's doing it! and properly
Your child's glossary
Breastmilk is what you eat
Caitlin is home and first
pics
Delays in
movement
WOOHOO
Join our forum
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Lifes Little Treasures
Annual
Charity Lunch
Lifes Little
Treasures invites you, your family and friends, to join us for our annual
charity lunch to help raise funds to support families with premature
babies.
LLT Charity Lunch to
be held at CANVAS. Enjoy a beautiful meal prepared by renowned chef Pierre
Khodja.
With an amazing Speaker and Raffle with great prizes
All proceeds will go to Lifes Little Treasures Inc to assist
their ongoing support of Victorian families with premature babies.
Where: Canvas
Level 1, 302-320
Burwood Road ,
Hawthorn VIC 3122
When:
Wednesday 12th August 2009 from - 12pm – 2pm
R.S.V.P: Monday 3rd August 2009
Cost: $65 per person with a glass
of red/white (all other drinks at bar prices),
Tables of 10
available
www.lifeslittletreasures.org.au
Proud support
partner
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Survey
PREM Triple P:
Developing a parenting program for parents of very preterm babies
under 24 months
Researchers at the University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane
and Women’s Hospital, Mater Mother’s Hospital and the
Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre (Royal
Children’s Hospital) are collaborating on a project to develop and
trial a new variant of the Positive Parenting Program - Triple P developed
for parents of babies born very preterm. The new variant of Triple P
“PREM Triple P” would be delivered to parents in group sessions
while their baby is still in NICU and include individual telephone sessions
after the baby has gone home. Prem Triple P would include information
about positive parenting strategies, coping skills and partner support.
Researchers believe that Prem Triple P will impact on the cognitive
development of very preterm babies at 24 months corrected age by positively
changing the parent-child relationship and parent discipline style.
Researchers are also interested in Prem Triple P’s effects on motor
development, language skills and behaviour at 24 months corrected age.
Professor Paul Colditz, director of the Perinatal Research Centre and a
chief investigator on the project commented, “Parents of very preterm
babies often feel uncertain about how to deal with the needs of their
preterm baby as he or she grows and how to deal with the stresses. Prem
Triple P is being developed to meet these needs and will be properly
research tested to ensure it delivers on this aim”.
Triple
P is a parenting intervention that is backed by 30 years of research and is
widely implemented in Australia as well as 17 other countries. The aim of
Triple P is to improve children’s behaviour and development through
enhancing the parenting skills and the confidence of parents. Researchers
in Triple P have been extended the program to suit various parents,
children and parenting issues. Professor Matthew Sanders, the founder of
Triple P and a chief investigator on the project stated, “This is the
first time that Triple P has been applied to parenting a very preterm baby.
This is an important study that has the potential contribute to the quality
of life of families of preterm babies.”
This project is
currently at a piloting stage and feedback is required from parents with
preterm babies to ensure that PREM Triple P meets their needs. A web-based
survey of parent’s reaction to PREM Triple P and the parenting tasks
of parents of preterm babies is currently being conducted. If you are the
parent of a preterm baby aged under 24 months (corrected age) we invite you
to participate. We also need parents of term babies to participate as well
so we can compare the two experiences. So if you have friends or family
members with a term baby please invite them to participate as well! You can
find the survey at the following website . If
you would like to discuss the project please contact the study coordinator,
Dr Koa Whittingham on 3636 5539 or koawhittingham@uq.edu.au . The
chief investigators of this project include: Professor Paul Colditz,
A/Professor Roslyn Boyd, Professor Matthew Sanders, Dr Margo Pritchard,
A/Professor Peter Gray and A/Professor Michael O’Callaghan. The
researchers involved would like to acknowledge a RCH Foundation grant in
the funding of this pilot research.
Take the
Survey
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Baby ~ Birth
Announcements
We all
know how amazing the birth of a premature & SCN baby is and we
welcome you to add their birth announcement on our website. We
encourage parents, grandparents, friends and relatives to submit a birth
announcement.
You are welcome to add any additional information
and a message from the family with your announcement. We all look
forward to celebrating with you. We also encourage you to join our
support
forum
where you can meet other families who have been down the path of premature
birth and those families who are going through the rollercoaster ride at
the moment.
With every birth announcement
submitted you will receive a birth announcement card (postcard
style) designed by one of our amazing members. The cards are suitable
for singletons, twins, triplets and more. You can choose a card for each
baby individually or choose all names to be included on one card.
Cards are available to families who have
already submitted an announcement. If you would like one please email your
postal details to us.
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