Drew and Mia's story, born in Wellington hospital, 30 June 2009
Its 26 degrees in the Wellington neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, and Drew (2.6kg on the right) is visiting his twin Mia (1.8kg on the left).
Mia is dressed in 3 woollen clothing layers and 3 woollen blankets. Underneath, she has an electric blanket that is on the minimum setting. She is only just maintaining her temp at 37 degrees. Soon she will be able to go home. She just needs to get to 2kg in weight before being released from hospital.
But the NICU is very busy and born at 38 weeks she is considered an "older" baby, and with parents that have already had one baby before she is discharged from NICU early in order to make room for other babies coming into the very busy unit. The head charge nurse Paul stresses the importance of keeping Mia warm at home.
I immediately rush down to The Fabric Warehouse and buy several metres of black merino, as no other colour is available. I rush to sew up some extra merino blankets and a small merino sleeping sack, just like the one used for premature babies in the Wellington NICU unit. Work done, we now have enough blankets and sleeping bags to keep them warm. But finding clothing to fit Mia in these early weeks will be a struggle.
At home we dress Mia in 4 layers of woollen and cotton clothing as best we can, put her inside the merino sleeping sack and then wrap her in three merino and woollen blankets. Drew is a little easier to dress as all of the premature clothing that we have been given fits him with ease. We heat the room to a comfortable temperature, set our alarm clock for three hourly feeds, and Mia and Drew thrive. Eventually we let Drew's stomach become the alarm clock letting us to get an hour or more extra sleep.
Mia, Drew and their elder brother Sam have been the inspiration for my business. As they have grown I have introduced clothing in bigger kids ranges to help keep them warm. Recently I have introduced a new premature range focusing on babies from 1.8kg as I remember how hard it was to find clothing to fit Mia.
Mia and Drew are now five, beginning school on 21 July. Mia is still little at 13kg, but full of energy to chase her bigger brothers around!
Mia is dressed in 3 woollen clothing layers and 3 woollen blankets. Underneath, she has an electric blanket that is on the minimum setting. She is only just maintaining her temp at 37 degrees. Soon she will be able to go home. She just needs to get to 2kg in weight before being released from hospital.
But the NICU is very busy and born at 38 weeks she is considered an "older" baby, and with parents that have already had one baby before she is discharged from NICU early in order to make room for other babies coming into the very busy unit. The head charge nurse Paul stresses the importance of keeping Mia warm at home.
I immediately rush down to The Fabric Warehouse and buy several metres of black merino, as no other colour is available. I rush to sew up some extra merino blankets and a small merino sleeping sack, just like the one used for premature babies in the Wellington NICU unit. Work done, we now have enough blankets and sleeping bags to keep them warm. But finding clothing to fit Mia in these early weeks will be a struggle.
At home we dress Mia in 4 layers of woollen and cotton clothing as best we can, put her inside the merino sleeping sack and then wrap her in three merino and woollen blankets. Drew is a little easier to dress as all of the premature clothing that we have been given fits him with ease. We heat the room to a comfortable temperature, set our alarm clock for three hourly feeds, and Mia and Drew thrive. Eventually we let Drew's stomach become the alarm clock letting us to get an hour or more extra sleep.
Mia, Drew and their elder brother Sam have been the inspiration for my business. As they have grown I have introduced clothing in bigger kids ranges to help keep them warm. Recently I have introduced a new premature range focusing on babies from 1.8kg as I remember how hard it was to find clothing to fit Mia.
Mia and Drew are now five, beginning school on 21 July. Mia is still little at 13kg, but full of energy to chase her bigger brothers around!