Good News!

The last two days have been amazing for the Helping Hands program! We received our first donation of a large bin of fabric and crafting books. We also received a sizable donation from the Sisterhood of the Rodef Shalom congregation of blankets, hats and booties! Denise, one of our moms in the Bereavement support group, is a teacher. The school she teaches at wanted to do something to show their support, so they did a drive for the Helping Hands program. They collected three huge boxes of snacks for snack bags, toiletries for the toiletry kits, books, and a few gas cards. There will be more books on the way as a donation from the schools PTO. Way to go Denise!

The Helping Hands program has been chosen by the TJX foundation to receive a $2,500.00 grant. Denise was also instrumental in assisting Helping Hands in receiving the nod on this grant. Thank you Denise! With this grant, we are hoping to supply local NICU’s with gas cards to help the parents defray the cost of travel to and from the NICU. With gas approaching $4.00 a gallon, this will surely be appreciated!

Wish List!

If you are interested in making a donation to Helping Hands, we are in need of the following items:

Baby Material
Baby Fleece
Kids Fleece
Yarn (soft enough for baby’s skin)
Toiletries
Snacks (non perishable items)
Baby Stickers or Scrapbooking materials
Mat Stacks 6 ½ by 4 ½

If you are interested in dontating, please contact us at helpinghands@parentresourcenetwork.org. Thanks!

Special Delivery!

Over the weekend, Megan made a delivery to Children's Hosptial of Pittsburgh!
She was able to donate the following:

• 70 NICU blankets
• 20 PICU blankets
• 50 hats and booties
• 90 Crib Cards
• 100 Books
• 2 Boxes of assorted craft kits

Thanks to everyone that donated! Children's indicated to Megan that they are in need of preemie and baby booties - so if anyone has some to donate, please contact us!

Julia's Story

Aidan's Story

Since the birth of my son, I have felt compelled to help other preemie moms. There is certainly a connection felt between those moms that have had the same experience as you - one of seeing your child for the first time, through a plastic box, with tubes and wires covering most of their body, unsure of what to say or do as the nurses hover around your tiny baby.

From the moment we found out we were expecting, we were excited! We did everything right, went for all the doctor appointments and read all the baby books! What those books didn't prepare us for was having a baby that would be born early, so sick and so tiny. At just short of 30 weeks, I had developed Pre-Eclampsia and the only cure was delivery. Our son, Aidan, was born at weighing just 2 lbs, 12 oz. He was also born with a birth defect called Cleft Lip (which was unrelated to his prematurity). The whole NICU experience was a lot to take in, but we were making our way and Aidan was doing well. Unfortunately, at one week old, Aidan developed an infection in his stomach called Necrotizing Entercolitis (or NEC). NEC is common among preemies but is typically treated with medication and stopped feedings. In Aidan's case, those did not help and things were not getting better. The infection had caused small holes in his intestines, so the only option was surgery. At 10 days old, my little peanut had surgery to removed 1/2 of his large intestines and an illeostomy to allow his stomach to heal. Recovery was slow, but Aidan was one of the lucky ones - he survived. We spent at total of 71 days in the NICU before coming home. Three years and three surgeries later, Aidan is a happy, healthy toddler. He amazes me every day!

Aidan is my inspiration - he is the reason why I want to help other families!

Welcome to our blog!

Hello Everyone!! Welcome to the Helping Hands Blog! Helping Hands is an outreach program of the Parent Resource Network (PRN). PRN is dedicated to providing support to families with a child that was born prematurely, with a chronic illness or birth defect. PRN is made up of volunteers that have been through these experiences and are seeking to help other families. Support is provided through Hospital Outreach, Parent Mentoring, Support Groups and the Helping Hands program.

The purpose of this blog is to have a centralized spot for information relevant to Helping Hands. We would like to assemble information on how you can best help our program. We will be listing information on how you can start a donation drive or fundraiser on behalf of Helping Hands. We will also be listing ideas for projects that may be donated to local Pittsburgh NICU/PICU units through Helping Hands. If you have any suggestions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us!