FREMONT -- This year is the second annual golf tournament for Graham's Foundation, which supports parents of low-birthweight, premature babies.

The golf outing begins at noon Aug. 1 at the Fremont Country Club.

The nonprofit Graham's Foundation began last year. It provides care packages to parents of babies known as micro-preemies.

Read more at The News-Messenger.com.

Having an infant who is facing an extended NICU stay for any reason is stressful, especially when positive outcomes are by no means guaranteed. Last fall, Cora – a NICU nurse who gave birth to her daughter Amelia at 23 weeks – was profiled along with her daughter at Growing Your Baby had this wonderful advice to give parents of micro-preemies:
 
Savor every moment you get to spend with your child; the good, the bad, all of it. You never know how many days, months, or years you will be granted with your baby, so make memories now. Don’t wait for later, because you never know how much "later" you will be granted.
 
Jennifer and I savored every minute we had with Graham and we appreciate the opportunity to honor his memory with Graham's Foundation.  If you can see it in your heart to make a donation, we'd very much appreciate it.

Most of us know that the tiniest babies in the NICU need intensive care around the clock to grow and thrive, but many people are unaware that a micro-preemie's team can include more than just doctors and nurses. Some special care nurseries utilize the services of highly-trained volunteers. These volunteers don't perform medical procedures, of course, but what they do can be just as important.

An article in The Arizona Republic profiled Don Allen, who has been feeding, holding, and offering comfort to preemies and micro-preemies in the Phoenix Children's Hospital neonatal intensive-care unit for 22 years.

[Allen] knew that dealing with sick babies wasn't an easy fix. But he followed his heart and signed up for training. It was months before he set foot in the NICU.

Today's volunteers can expect much of the same, putting in dozens of hours spread out over a year to prepare for handling premature infants.

Jamie Hammonds, volunteer coordinator for Phoenix Children's, says it takes commitment to volunteer for the NICU: "You can't just call up and say, 'I want to rock babies.'" But many are willing to do what it takes, Hammond says. "I've got a long waiting list."

We were fortunate to be able to be at the NICU every day during Reece and Graham's journey, but we knew many families that did not have the same opportunity and like Don Allen, our hospital NICU had volunteers that were there to help feed and hold the other preemies.

It might be strange for parents of micro-preemies to think of a volunteer holding their baby when they're not there.  I know for us, it did but studies have shown that preemies who are held frequently tend to eat more heartily and go home earlier. But doctors and nurses have their duties to attend to. And parents of newborns facing an extended stay in the NICU can't always be there 24/7 (as much as they'd like to be), which is precisely why there are people like Don Allen and organizations like Graham's Foundation. We try to make it a little easier for the parents of micro-preemies to stay at their babies' sides, but when that's not possible, we're glad there are people like Don Allen out there.

The foundation sends its message by sending care packages to brand-new parents of “micro-preemies” – infants born at less than 29 weeks gestational age.

This isn’t a standard assortment of magazines, diapers and baby food samples. Instead, this care package contains healthful, sustaining foods and beverages, clothes and other products tailored to very small infants, organic personal care products, and even at-home services like house-cleaning and gourmet meal delivery.

If it sounds like they’re put together by someone who knows what it’s like, that’s because they are.

Nick and Jenn Hall formed Graham’s Foundation in February 2009, about two years after their infant son, Graham, died due to complications of his premature birth. Even as they worked through the grief of that loss and the care of Graham’s surviving twin sister, Reece, they began thinking of helping others in their same situation.

So far, Graham’s Foundation has distributed about 350 care packages to nearly every state, three Canadian provinces and some overseas military bases. Even though that’s nearly one a day, Nick Hall estimates actual need may be a hundredfold greater than that. “There’s way more need out there. There are so many families going through this,” Hall says.

The goods in the packages are mostly donated and range from organic snack and comfort foods from such major brands as Annie’s Homegrown, Clif, and Oregon Chai to Starbuck’s, Trader Joe’s and Papa John’s. EO organic personal care products for parents and Preemie-Yums clothes for premature infants add a personalized touch.

“Most people find us online, and we work with about a dozen NICUs where we have our posters in their family lounge,” says Hall. “Or sometimes the extended family requests a package.”

The foundation relies on corporate and individual donations to pay for shipping costs.  On its website, it sells its “Hope, Resilience, Miracles” bracelets for $10 each as a symbol of support for parents on their journey through NICUs.

As far as the foundation’s future goals, Hall sees it keeping on doing what it’s doing – reaching more parents in need with care packages that say more than words can.

And he envisions that it may, at some point, be able to provide support to fathers in particular who are going through their own unique NICU experience, who often find themselves in situations that threaten their wives’ and children's’ health at the same time.

He knows the need is there, because when he went looking to share experiences on the March of Dimes website and elsewhere, he found it was “98 percent moms.”

Nick Hall doesn’t take anything away from moms’ need for support. The experience of NICU is certainly very hard on moms. It's usually quite some time until they can bond with their baby,” he says. “But it’s particularly difficult for dads. There's really nothing that they can do."

Nothing, that is – except to listen, be there, and care.

How many hours do you think you've spent or will spend sitting at your baby's bedside in NICU? How many times have you been so anxious about your baby's condition or so eager to be with your baby that you forgot you and your partner even had needs?

Jennifer and Nick's twins, Graham and Reece, were born at 25 weeks. Their daughter Reece came home after 4 months, but baby Graham became an angel after only 45 days. Jennifer and Nick remember well the physical and emotional strain of having a micro-preemie in the NICU. They created Graham's Foundation to help take the edge off those hard times for parents.

Read more at able2able.

With most of 2010 still ahead of us, it's only natural to dream about what the year will bring. As we think about the care package requests we will receive in the coming months, we can't help but feel an immense amount of gratitude toward all of the people and organizations that allow Graham's Foundation to operate.
 
With that in mind, we wanted to offer up a colossal thank you to everyone who makes what we do possible, starting with our generous cash donors. Without their contributions, shipping care packages across the country would be impossible!
 
Then there are the big-hearted companies that donate the products and gift certificates that make up each care package.

Read the Graham's Foundation March 11, 2010 Newsletter.

More than anything, Nick Hall wanted to do something.

Because after all, men are supposed to take charge – to fix things, protect their families. But it was all out of his hands.

Parenting a preemie is incredibly taxing, and for a moment, try to imagine doing it under the watchful eye of America - the world, even - as gracefully as possible.  Michelle Duggar, star of "18 Kids and Counting," is the proud mama of 19, and the parent of a micro-preemie.  Baby Josie, born on December 10, weighed a scant 1.6 pounds at birth.  Duggar delivered her baby 15 weeks early, while suffering from pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.  Updates on baby 19's health have been limited, as the road to stable health for a preemie is arduous and timely.  Baby 19's situation was even precarious enough for the whole family to temporarily relocate to be by her side for the holidays.

Read more at Examiner.com

PR Log (Press Release) – Dec 03, 2009 – Graham's Foundation, a charity supporting parents of micro-preemies facing extended neo-natal intensive care unit stays, announced that it has partnered with genetic art pioneer DNA 11 (http://www.dna11.com). For a limited time, DNA 11 is offering discounts on custom art pieces to Graham's Foundations supporters in addition to donating 100% of the proceeds from these sales to the foundation. Customers who use the discount code "grahamsfoundation" at checkout will receive $100 off each order they place.

Read more at PRLog.