Baby Olivia Showing Some Preemie Prints Love!

A very good friend of mine, who is also very involved with Preemie Prints, posted this beautiful picture on our Preemie Prints facebook page today. I just wanted to tell her thank you and post the precious pic for everyone to see! It brought smiles & tears to my eyes when I saw it, becuase I know what a strong and beautiful baby girl this is. I'm very blessed to have her and her lovely family in my life. Baby Olivia was born weighing 3lb 9oz and has been a strong baby from the moment she entered this world. I look very forward to getting to know her just like I have done with her sister who was also a preemie. What a sweet photo!! ~Amber

Preemie Donations Warm Our Hearts

The Brazos Valley Knitting Guild dropped off a beautiful donation of preemie hats today! They will be partnering with us on future projects for local & national NICU families that will include booties/hand mitts, preemie hats, outfits, angel wraps, and prayer shaws for angel families. We are very excited and blessed to have their support and partnership. Each and every donation touches so many. The people who make or buy the donated item, our organization, the receiving NICU families, hospital nurses, and of course the tiny babies...all receive special blessings and joy from just one item. So thank you to every supporter, donor, and to our new friends at The Brazos Valley Knitting Guild!

A Preemie Prints NICU Grad Quads Team Shoot in Houston, Tx!

Please enjoy our inspirational photos and consider supporting our mission to share hope with families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. Our programs include an online support group, the gift of photography, group events and meetings, information, and email support. Our mission is to connect parents and let them know they are not alone. We thank our supporters, volunteers, and donors for allowing us to touch the lives of NICU, preemie, and angel families. We pray these special memories will help the parents to remember how strong they are in overcoming an extremely difficult time!

For this very special quads NICU Graduate shoot, we decided to have two of our Houston, Tx area volunteers team up for this lively shoot. We hope you enjoy these precious 4 and their smiles bring much joy to you today!! Thank you to Alisha & Karina for volunteering and taking such beautiful photos for this family.

A note from mom:

"Olivia and Chloe spent 63 days in the NICU, and Emma and Luke spent 69 days in the NICU. Chloe had pneumothoraces that required chest tubes and intubation for a few days. Otherwise, they had normal preemie issues - apnea and bradycardia episodes, needing oxygen with feeds for a while, and reflux. My husband and I were able to spend every day with them before they came home just shy of their original due date."

Volunteer Photographers:

Alisha Cornett & Karina Johnson - Houston, Tx

A note from Alisha

"It was fabulous, and seeing all four babies together happy and healthy was absolutely precious. Traci and Richard are blessed with four healthy babies. They were a joy to photograph, and the mommy helpers were a great asset to the quickness of each sequence and keeping the babies happy and giggling."

A note from Karina

"They played, crawled or rolled and were chewing on just about anything since they are teething! With big smiles and beautiful eyes they captivated all the ladies in the room. The quads were great, they were having so much fun with the homemade toys people made for them! It was so nice to see some ladies from the community and Church come together to help Traci out for this shoot. It wouldn't have been as smooth with out their help, thank you everybody!"

These images are property of Preemie Prints, our volunteer photographers, and our families who have allowed us to share them with you. Please do not use for any purpose.

Here are A Few Photos From Alisha...

And here are a few from Karina!

Welcome New NICU Photography Volunteer in Fort Polk, LA

Dorinda Herald

Herald Photography

www.dorindaherald.com

heraldphotography@yahoo.com

Service Area: Fort Polk, LA

About Dorinda:

"Ever since starting my career in photography, I have wanted to find a way to give back. I believe God has give me this gift to serve others (1 Peter 4:10)"

Sweet Baby Lottie's NICU Graduate Photos!

Please enjoy our inspirational photos and consider supporting our mission to share hope with families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. Our programs include an online support group, the gift of photography, group events and meetings, information, and email support. Our mission is to connect parents and let them know they are not alone. We thank our supporters, volunteers, and donors for allowing us to touch the lives of NICU, preemie, and angel families. We pray these memories will help the parents to remember how strong they are in overcoming an extremely difficult time!

A note from mom:

"Our daughter, Lottie, is our 4th child living. She was born 4/4/12 at 27.5 weeks at 1lb, 15 oz. we were at riverside for 63 days and finally were released on oxygen and a monitor.we were home for 8 days and followed up with our BPD clinic. When they downloaded her apnea monitor, she had 53 bradys and desats dropping into the 50s and was immediately admitted to Children's main campus."

Volunteer Photographer:

Michelle True - Selma, ID

A note from Michelle

"Pictures taken of Lottie Rose, age 4 and a half months. Her family includes two older twin sisters, Eleanor and Millie, and an older brother Dominic. Her mother is Jess and dad Tim. Had a great time working with this family, they are all so nice. Little Lottie has a surgery scheduled for next month, so maybe we can add her to the prayer list. The just under 2 year old twins were so sweet fawning over their little sis!"

These images are property of Preemie Prints, our volunteer photographers, and our families who have allowed us to share them with you. Please do not use for any purpose.

www.preemieprints.org

  

Zinc Deficiency and Diaper Rash

Photo Credit

Several weeks before our daughter was due to be discharged from the NICU, she developed a severe diaper rash.

We tried everything- several different types of cream, airing her bottom out, bottom baths, etc. Despite all of our best efforts (doctors and nurses included!), our poor little girl was still red as a cherry, and in extreme discomfort.

As a mom this was incredibly difficult to watch. When your baby has so many pains and struggles that most normal babies don't have, its hard to see their level of discomfort increased by something so simple.

Enter one brilliant Neonatologist! One of the doctor's on our little girl's team had come across an article in a medical journal about zinc deficiencies. Zinc deficiencies are more common in preemies because the third trimester is when they store it up (our daughter had skipped that last trimester all together). Sometimes zinc deficiency can cause severe diaper rash, rash that is not alleviated by cream.

Since we had tried everything else, we were desperate and decided to give this theory a shot. An extra zinc supplement was added to her regular daily dose of supplements.

Miraculously, within days the rash cleared.

I share this because only one doctor out of four thought of it, and only because she had stumbled upon it in a medical journal. Perhaps its not a common problem, and perhaps not every doctor is aware of it.

If your preemie develops an incurable diaper rash, I recommend asking your doctor about the possibility of a zinc deficiency. Here's to your baby's healthy and happy bottom!

Good Samaritan Community Photo Shoot

Please enjoy our inspirational photos and consider supporting our mission to share hope with families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. Our programs include an online support group, the gift of photography, group events and meetings, information, and email support. Our mission is to connect parents and let them know they are not alone. We thank our supporters, volunteers, and donors for allowing us to touch the lives of NICU, preemie, and angel families. We pray these memories will help the parents to remember how strong they are in overcoming an extremely difficult time! 

In addition we have chosen to donate a potion of our time to surrounding organizations who also support families facing difficult situations. Good Samaritan is an amazing organization helping so many each year! We are blessed to be able to work with them and offer the gift of beautiful photography to their families as well! 

A note from our volunteer about the beautiful shoots...

"I was recently given the honor of photographing precious families that are part of the Good Samaritan group. This was my second session with them in the past few months. In total, I have photographed 9 families. These families have ranged from expecting their first child to newborns all the way up to having multiple children. These families are amazing in both their personalities and in their choices to carry their unborn children in difficult situations.

Some of the sessions were rather easy as the baby did not move very far, or the children were old enough to actually take the directions was giving them; although, sometimes their mom and dad had to translate to them first. I think the hardest session I had was with a set of twin little boys named Juan and Fran. They absolutely did NOT want their picture taken, a desire to play with the other children at the sessions, and an inability to understand the directions I was trying to give them. So I had to get a little creative with them. In the end, I did get some good photographs of them and their family as well as all the other families that I have been introduced to.

I am so glad, greatful, and honored that I was chosen for this assignment and can't wait to photograph more of these families in the very near future."

~Mellissa Roy, Volunteer Photographer Bryan College Station, Tx