Gifts ideas for parents of a preemie

[JamaicanPineapple]

My friends son was born at 25 weeks. He is in the NICU at a hospital about an hour from us. The mom is staying at the Ronald McDonald House there and the dad is driving back and forth as much as he can between work.  The baby will probably be there past his due date (Christmas day).  BFF and I are going to visit them on Sunday and are trying to figure out a gift to give them.  We're considering one of those Willow Tree figurines from Hallmark.  But I'd love some other ideas.  Chocolates, magazines, and wine for the mom?  Gas cards for the dad?

[icedcoffee]

Gift cards for take out places in or near the hospital?

[kath16]

gas cards
restaurant gift certificates
snacks
babysitting any other children/pets they may have
books/magazines

I wouldn't worry about trinkets.

[calamity]

I would say gift cards for food places, or an amazon card to they can get stuff as needed.
You are very thoughtful for doing this

[JLV]

Gift cards for restaurants close to the RMH, snacks she likes. Does she have access to a DVD player in her room? Maybe some codes for Redbox? The gas card is also a great idea.

Best wishes to your friends and their son.

[smock]

I'd do snacks, chocolate, or other consumable things that she might appreciate staying at the RMH. And gift cards for food is always a great idea.

[OscarQ]

This site was put together by some preemie moms from the site that must not be named. preemiemomblog.blogspot.com/p/what-can-i-do-for-my-friend.html

This site also has a great selection of preemie clothes - the baby won't be able to wear anything for quite awhile but this will be greatly appreciated once clothes can be worn - www.preemiestore.com/Preemie-Yums-Micro-Preemie-Solid-NICU-Wrap--up-to-3-lbs-_p_11300.html

Another thing that I have sent to parents of preemies is this www.preemiestore.com/NICU-Dayz-Milestone-Calendar_p_429.html

Good luck to your friends and their baby.

[JamaicanPineapple]

Thank you so much everyone!!

[nikki25]

For me, the best gifts were gift certificates to restaurants by the hospital or send dinners to the house such as heavenly ham so her husband doesn't have to worry about making dinner.

I hope he gets stronger every day.

[meli554]

Ditto what others said - gas gards & restaurant gift cards
A journal/notebook to write things down
Water bottle to keep herself hydrated, stuff to snack on while she is at the hospital (granola bars, protein bars, etc)
Can you & your other friend arrange to clean her house, do laundry, stuff like that?
I would say don't bother with gifty stuff. You can do something like that when the baby is coming home.

[momof2]

I've spent several weeks in the hospital with my kid over time. Don't give them anything they have to carry around or transport home. Trying to deal with balloons, stuffed animals, etc gets overwhelming. Don't bring books she feels like she needs to keep -- magazines that get thrown away are better.

Go to the gift shop and see if you can buy a gift certificate for parking. Parking will get insanely expensive if the dad is coming multiple times. One of the best things we got was a roll of quarters for the vending machine. When you are up at 4am and the cafeteria is closed, etc, you need to use the vending machines (they may also need quarters if she is doing laundry at the RM house -- I know you needed them for the laundry machines in the hospital RM room where we were).

For the dad at home, I might consider if he wanted a meal delivered, a gift certificate to Merry Maids, etc.

[macmars45]

And as the weeks (and months) go by, don't forget about her and her baby/H. Text/call/email then too.

[BicycleBride]

For the love of god, SOFT TOILET PAPER. I am not even kidding. Having to use that scratchy hospital toilet paper every time I had to go to the bathroom in the NICU after DD was born was hell.
Similarly, a nice reusable bag to tote her toilet paper and all the rest of the post birth bathroom kit back and forth to the bathroom. Maybe a few bags actually to help organize all the stuff that just seems to collect around.
Cash. I understand people's reluctantance to give cash but really that way she can use it for what she needs. I ate a lot of hospital food because I just did not have the energy to drag myself across the street to a restaurant and hospital food can be expensive.

[amandakisser]

We had a friend coordinate with others to cook a bunch of freezer meals for us so we didn't have to cook. That was a lifesaver! You could get mom a pair of cute, comfy PJs and some fuzzy socks and slippers. I lived in pajamas all day, every day, and would have loved a new pair or two to make me feel better.
Even just the gift of time - offer to sit with the baby while she goes home to get some sleep (especially if she has other children at home - the guilt of leaving the baby alone in the NICU to spend time with my older daughter almost broke me). The NICU can be a lonely an isolating place, so going there to visit, chat, and keep her company will also help more than you know!

[ijack]

food, gift cards for gas or parking at the hospital, the offer to watch older kids or dog sit or run errands for her. Please make sure that whatever you do is happy and celebratory. Often friends and family don't know how to react to news of a preemie, but she had a baby and that's amazing and it should be celebrated! Also a care package of small things to snack on and a nice hand lotion is great.

[cabbagecabbage]

Hospital parking!!! Find out the situation. My sister had to pay $10 every time she came (twice a day) for the first few weeks. Only after some official length of time (three weeks? A month?) Could she get a parking waiver. See if you can buy passes or anything to offset that totally shitty cost.

[thegoodwitch]

Hi, newb here. I had my twins at 29 weeks and they spent nearly 2 months in the NICU. Although it's a super seeet gesture, I would encourage you not to purchase gifts like figurines, etc. I ended up putting a lot of that stuff in the trunk of my car and not finding it until several months after we were home and settled. Then I felt like a big jerk face for sort of forgetting about it. The hospital where our twins were born was about an hour from our Home, so we did a lot of driving back and forth on a daily basis. A friend of ours got us a few nights stay at the Marriott hotel right next to the hospital. This probably stands out as the most thoughtful and practical gift we received during this time. It was soooo nice to be able to sleep in a comfy bed, shower, sleep in a little, and walk over to the hospital in the morning.

Other useful stuff: Costco sized containers of Clif bars, trail mix, bottled water, etc for my car. It was nice not having to stop at McDonalds every time we went down there and needed something quick. Good luck to your friends- it's a terrifying time but our friends and family got us through it!

[bowies]

Meals, texts, free babysitting were what I appreciated the most. Also take daily or weekly errands off her plate - go to the post office, pet sit, go grocery shopping, etc. I really didn't want or need any baby presents when DD was in the NICU. I just wanted/needed other parts of my life to be easy.

[residentdj]

Preemie mom here - I had DD at 29 weeks. Things that are good - gift cards for local restaurants and/or stock up freezer with ready made meals, gas gift cards, assuming that mom is pumping milk, baking lactation cookies (at least that was helpful for me). Calls/texts checking in were also appreciated and helped get me through the 8 weeks DD was in the NICU. Trying to think if there's anything else...DD was born 28 months ago, so it seems like so long ago. Maybe see if your friend needs help with anything? For us, we still didn't have the nursery ready so one of our friends came and helped H paint and put the furniture together, which was a huge thing off our plate.

[imojoebunny]

I have taken packs of healthy, easy to make foods for friends with babies in the NICU or Children's. Sack of nuts and dried fruits, crackers and peanut butter, tuna snack packs, microwave precooked rice or macaroni and cheese packs, shelf stable Indian (if I know they like it) from TJ's or tasty Bite, canned pull top chili (TJ's is good), whatever shelf stable I can find that gives them food, without having to leave. My nephew has spent a great amount of time in hospitals, and if you miss the doctor's rounds, it is another day before you can talk to them, so there is no leaving, until rounds are done. Other options are restaurants within walking distance of the hospital/ Ronald House, or just straight up cash because living in two places is expensive, even if the accommodations are close to free. If they have other kids, you could feed/ help care for them, but it sounds like they are not in that situation. A soft fleece blanket can be nice, since hospitals are cold generally. Some hospitals are good about providing linens to families, and some, are not.

Say specifically what you are willing to offer in the future, be it, feed the cat, do the laundry, bring her a meal and hang out on a specific day, what ever it is, specific is best. It is far easier to take someone up on "I will come by next Tuesday with a pizza, if that suits you?" than "I will do whatever you want, just ask"