Extreme Couponing!

This week we decided to stay on the lighter side of things. Having a baby in the NICU can be a major financial burden, no matter how financially stable mom and dad were prior to baby's arrival. So, Amy decided to teach the parents a great way to save some money: extreme couponing! Amy, an experienced coupon-er herself, taught an hour long "Couponing 101" class for our biggest crowd yet. She received rave reviews, and many of the parents could not wait to buy up 6-8 copies of this week's Birmingham News and get started saving.

If you are interested in learning more about extreme couponing, here are a couple of great websites:



Next week will be my last "official" week with NICU Family Support, but I plan to visit as frequently as my fall schedule with allow (here's hoping pediatrics and adult health will go easy on us!).

PALs for the NICU Parents

This week, the WIC chaplain, Virginia, came and spoke to our moms. She had a fantastic presentation on coping with the stress of having a newborn in the ICU. She used the acronym "PALs" to represent the need for people, acceptance, and learning. This presentation brought out many emotions for the moms, and offered a great opportunity for the moms who had been there longer to encourage our new moms.

I plan to update this post soon with a great video on Kangaroo Care, but I am currently having some technical difficulties!

"Feeding: The Last Hurdle"

This week we invited a speech pathologist to speak to our parents. Believe it or not, they play a huge role in teaching the premies how to suck, swallow, and breathe, which is often the last "hurdle" before the baby can be sent home. She spoke about techniques for feeding, such as semi-upright positioning (holding the baby at about a 45-60 degree angle) or side-lying positioning for proper digestion. She suggested slow-flow nipples for bottle-feedings, and reminded the parents to always feed in a calm, quiet environment. She also mentioned Kangaroo Care's benefits on feedings (YAY!). In my experience, this parent hour has been one of our most successful hours because all of the parents are anxious to see their baby eating so that they can go home!

I am still trying to figure out ways to further encourage Kangaroo/Skin-to-skin care. Since the March of Dimes is a national organization, and UAB is an academic hospital, they have already thought of many of the ideas I have suggested. However, we are continuing to brain storm to determine the best way(s) to increase the use of this important therapy.