October 2009

Welcome to the L'il Aussie Prems October 2009 Newsletter. Since our last newsletter we have 37 new registered members. We welcome you all to our community and please be sure to introduce yourself and your little premmie babies to us, we would love to meet you. We are excited to announce that we have over 1000 members registered on our forum. We are so pleased to know so many families are receiving the support they need to help them through their journey. We would like to offer congratulations to our members and their children who celebrate their birthday in October Caleb (FT), Trent, Jack (FT), Tyron (FT), Rachel (24+2wks), Lilia (28wks), Kieran (FT), Alex (FT), Linda, Gemma & Teagan (36wks), Georgia (FT), Kristy, Eric & Jade (28wks), Tristan (36wks), Maddison (32wks) & Jaiden (31wks) and everyone else celebrating their birthday this month, happy birthday! If you or your childs birthday is not included but should be please reply to our birthday thread on the forum so we don't miss it next year! Preterm Infants' Parents' Association Inc (PIPA) are holding their Annual "Prems in the Park" Picnic and parents of premature babies/children, family and friends are invited to attend. A great opportunity to meet new friends and reunite with some familiar faces. Sunday 15th November 2009 at New Farm Park, Brisbane. Lifes Little Treasures (LLT) are holding their "Prems in the Park" picnic on Sunday 22nd November 2009 starting from 11.30am at Lincoln Square, 604 Swanston Street, Carlton. Please contact LLT if you wish to attend. Congratulations to our members who have recently given birth. Welcome to the LAP family Angela born at 35+4 weeks weighing 2.8kgs. We hope you all have a great month. L'il Aussie Prems

In this issue: * Welcome * Latest Forum Topics * Sponsor a Premmie Parent Bag * Money For Jam TV Appearance * Photo Competition Winners * Featured Product * Ickle Kids Competition * Premmies of the Month * Miracle Beginnings Book * Premmie Baby Car Signs                                                      Our Sponsors Bellabee Candle Designz psych~Empower Maree Jaeger Photographer Overall Being Our Supporters LaToriana Sheryl Massey  C.H.I.L.D

LATEST FORUM TOPICS Bed time Adelaide mummies Did you take anything extra Do you know where you will send your kids to school And the winners are *drum roll* Child care Ronan is starting kinda next year Cervical length chart What do they call MCN pattern Star signs Life as a triplet mum Story books Weaning off CPAP                Join our forum

SPONSOR A PREMMIE PARENT BAG Our Premmie Parent Bags have been created for Australian families who currently have a premature baby or babies in NICU or SCN. As a community of parents here at L’il Aussie Prems we have collated these bags to help other families find the ground support they need to help them on their journey through hospital. Our aim is to keep each bag totally free to families and we would love your help to ensure this continues. As they are only available through our website each bag is posted direct to each families home address. Postage cost for each bag is $10.00 Australia wide. We invite premmie families and the general public to sponsor a bag. Your sponsorship money is put directly towards postage of our premmie parent bags. We welcome you to submit a personal “hope” message which will be printed and forwarded to each family with their bag. Please visit our sponsors page for details.

OUR TV APPEARANCE - MONEY FOR JAM Wednesday the 21st October was an exciting night for us. L'il Aussie Prems founder Julia Toivonen was featured on channel 9's Money for Jam at 8.00pm. Follow Julia and Shane Crawford's journey and their meeting with our fantastic sponsor Pumpkin Patch. Click on the image to view our appearance on national TV

FUNNY PREMMIE PHOTO COMPETITION WINNERS!!! We are very excited to announce the winning entries in our funny photo competition. Congratulations to the winners and A HUGE thank you to the amazing photographers who have dontated a prize to the winner in each state.                WA Winner - Ava                                              NSW Winner - Madeline                                  SA Winner - Nakita                   ACT Winner - Talia                                                 VIC Winner - Harrison                               QLD Winner - Kadee Please see the list of brilliant photographers that very kindly donated vouchers for the competition

FEATURED PRODUCT - OCTOBER The Breastfeeding Bag This stylish pillow is perfect to give comfort for the on the go breastfeeding mum. This product features detachable straps, mobile phone pocket, newborn change mat/burp pad and a pillow. When your breastfeeding days are done just remove the pillow and off you go with your stylish bag!  Limited availability. www.lovemum.com.au

ICKLE KIDS COMPETITION Are you sick of hearing "Mum, are we there yet?" or "Dad, I'm bored!" - well Ickle Kids helps parents to entertain their kids when they are out and about. Our unique range includes travel toys, kids' activity packs and educational toys to entertain kids when they are travelling in cars or planes, dining out at restaurants or a rainy day at home. For a chance to win ickle Kids’ best selling educational toy – “Pull the String” (valued at $28), visit their online store www.icklekids.com.au and tell us in 25 words or less “what is your child’s favourite toy from the ickle Kids range and why?” Please email your entry to us at admin@lilaussieprems.com.au Closing date is Sunday 15th November. The winner will be notified by email and will be announced in the next newsletter. As part of entering, all entrants will be subscribed to the ickle Kids newsletters. Please note, anyone wishing to unsubscribe can easily do so at a later date.

PREMMIES OF THE MONTH - October Kadee & Samara and their mum Vic Where were Kadee & Samara born?  Kadee and Samara were born at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital What was their gestation? 25 weeks And their birth weights? Kadee was 752g and Samara 769g What do you remember most about Kadee & Samara's time in hospital? The compassion and friendliness of the nurses, the approachability of all the Drs/Specialists - everyone had the time of day for you. I also remember my first cuddles, especially the first twin one, and first big girl baths. On top of that, I also made quite a few life long friends there. Do Kadee & Samara have any ongoing health issues? Kadee has Chronic Lung Disease, has a tracheostomy to help overcome subglottic stenosis and had osteomyolitis in one arm and rib which caused the bone to stop growing. She has had extensive surgery on her airways and is facing plenty of operations on her arm as well. All of this was caused by a Staph infection she got at 5 weeks old. Kadee's also suffered the common prem things like glue ear and ROP laser surgery. Samara has no ongoing issues that we are aware of at this stage. What has been your proudest moment since Kadee & Samara came home? Every day! The girls have just amazed me with what they are capable of and how they are growing into gorgeous young ladies.

MIRACLE BEGINNINGS BOOK Miracle Beginnings is a book for mothers seeking hope and inspiration after experiencing premature birth. Written by Raquel, a mum living in Sydney, this book is all about her experiences, feelings, thoughts and her battle with depression after two of her children were born prematurely. A very kind donation of 10% from every book purchased by our members will be donated to L'il Aussie Prems. Please mention L'il Aussie Prems when ordering your book. Please take a look at the Miracle Beginnings website. www.miraclebeginnings.com.au

PREM & PREMS ON BOARD CAR SIGNS Purchase your very own unique “prem on board” car signs with suction cup for your premmie baby. Only available through the L’il Aussie Prems website this is a fantastic way to let other drivers know that you have precious cargo onboard. Each sign is fitted with a suction cup and is reflective at night.  All signs are $13.00 each + postage starting at $1.50. Purchase your car sign