Did you know that the saddest day of the year is the Monday of the last full week in January? This year it was January 23rd, I can't say I noticed it being any sadder than any other day but there doesn't seem to be much good news around at the moment either.

So at Pop N Grow we are want to cheer everyone up and spread a little happiness with a week full of good news.
Over on our Facebook page our supporters have been sharing their good news stories,

Nicky told us that what made her happy was  'knowing my baby Freddy is now happy and healthy with his whole life ahead of him!' and that 'Being mummy to my incredible son who amazes me everyday and having a man in my life who loves us both unconditionally, and even helped save our babies life' is what makes her smile.

There are a few birthdays this week amoungst our supporters too, Alison told us 'It is my 35th birthday today the first birthday as a single Mum and it made me smile when I saw that my 14 month old son had scribbled under where my Mum wrote his name' and Viki's daughter is celebrating her 2nd birthday this week Viki says 'Waking up every morning to see the smile on my daughter Amelia's face. Looking forward to Wednesday when she celebrates her 2nd birthday'
Happy Birthday to Alison for yesterday and Amelia for tomorrow.

Lyn told us her good news was that 'I am just glad to be able to support the pop n grow good works! such good work' and that is good news for us too, getting the Pop N Grow message out and keeping babies warm are our goals and knowing we have the support of so many people makes us happy and keeps us going.

Thank you all xx

Oliver's story

Oliver

'Normal' baby grows aren't always the easiest to get onto a baby, I remember my friend and I babysitting for my friends 4 month old Nephew and even though, between us, we had a fair few G.C.S.E's, several A levels and were just about to to graduate with honours degrees, the poppers on a baby grow very nearly defeated us, throw in canullas, feeding tubes and wires and the simple task of dressing your baby becomes a whole new challenge, even for the seasoned professional parent.

This time last year I was a Mum of 2 boys and was just about to find out a third baby was on the way, I considered myself a seasoned professional parent, I'd changed hundreds of nappies, perfected the art of dressing a baby without really thinking about it and poppers were now a doddle, never in a million years did I imagine what I would be faced with in just a few months.

All was going well until I was 30 weeks pregnant and then it all went wrong when my waters broke, they did break in the hospital car park which was handy but little did we know we were getting on a 5 week emotional rollercoaster ride with an uncertain end.

I had to have steroid injections to give Oliver’s lungs a boost as the Dr’s expected him to arrive within 48hrs however Oliver had other ideas and thankfully stayed put.

Then followed 5 weeks that pretty much followed the pattern of; home from hospital, waters break, back in hospital, home from hospital, waters break, back in hospital etc etc until I reached 35wks, the doctors decided enough was enough and issued Oliver with an eviction notice, Oliver, however, had a few more tricks up his sleeve and decided that turning from head down to breech to transverse on a regular basis would confuse the doctors and having heartbeat decelerations would scare everyone half to death, he then threw in a major heartbeat deceleration which had the alarms going off, staff running in from every direction and Mummy heading off down the corridor for an emergency c section.

We thank every lucky star in the sky that Oliver arrived safe and well, he had to go to the special care baby unit (SCBU) for one night before being put on what they call transitional care, this meant he was allowed to stay on the ward with me for most of the day but going up to SCBU every 6 hours for monitoring and to be given his intravenous antibiotics.

The first day of Oliver's life are rather hazy, I wasn't well enough to do anything for him so the midwives looked after him, when I first saw him in his plastic 'bubble' crib he had been dressed by the midwife but his canulla, tubes and splint meant one arm was in and one arm was out of his babygrow, he looked so uncomfortable, later in the day a babygrow with a sleeve big enough to get on properly was found but I was terrified of catching his canulla while dressing him and we soon went back to one arm in and one arm out.

I really wish we had had access to a Pop N Grow babygrow in the hospital, it would have made things just a little better, Oliver would have been comfortable and that would have meant a lot.

Fast forward to today and Oliver is one day off being 5 months old, the memories of last summer are still with us but Oliver is doing great, he is such a happy baby you would never guess the start to his life had been such a rocky road.

So I would just like to say thank you to all the staff at the Royal Gwent hospital, Newport you are amazing people who do an amazing job in difficult circumstances, by being involved with Pop N Grow I hope I can help other parents and babies who are facing difficult times, I am trying to give a little back to the people who gave us so much.

*** Oliver is doing his bit for Pop N Grow by entering a cute baby competion, if he wins he will be donating the baby gift hamper prize to Pop N Grow for their February auction, to vote for Oliver please follow this link  Vote for Oliver  and click 'like' under Oliver's photo, Thank you ***

Pop N Grow website
Pop N Grow Facebook page

What can you buy for £4.73?

The answer is not an awful lot nowadays! Gone are the days when my £1 pocket money would last a week, I am a child of the 80's and I remember when I could go to the corner shop to buy penny sweets and the ice cream man sold a '10p special' which was a ice cream cone with a strawberry ice lolly stuck in the top, now you would be lucky to get an empty cone for 10p.

I read an article the other day comparing prices in 1960 to today, it made interesting reading, in 1960 £4.73 would buy you;
104 loaves of white bread, 157 pints of milk, 94 litres of petrol, 78 portions of fish and chips or 2 barbie dolls
whereas now now you would only get 5 loaves of bread, 10 pints of milk, 3 litres of petrol, 1 portion of fish and chips or just half of the cheapest barbie doll.

I doesn't seem like you can a lot for a fiver now but you might be surprised to learn that £4.73 is the price of 1 Pop n Grow baby grow, £4,73 can help to keep a special care baby warm, £4.73 might not seem a lot but to those babies and their parents it is priceless.

So thank you to all of our supporters, we appreciate every single penny that is donated and all of your help in spreading the word about Pop N Grow :o)

For more information on Pop N Grow or if you would like to make a donation please visit our Facebook page or our website
Pop N Grow Facebook page
Pop N Grow website

Dydd Santes Dwynwen hapus ..........

That's Happy St Dwynwen's day to non Welsh speakers.

St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, which makes her the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine and today is her day.

Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and there are few  versions of her story but I'm going to go with this one........

Dwynwen fell in love with a prince called Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should marry someone else. Dwynwen was so upset that she could not marry Maelon that she begged God to make her forget him. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice. God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed; her second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry.

Not quite the happy ending we were all hoping for is it! But in her 3 wishes Dwynwen did a selfless thing, wishing for the benefit of others, for Maelon, who I'm sure was very glad to be unfrozen and for all the people out there in the world to have their hopes and dreams fulfilled.

So Happy St Dwynwen's day to you all and especially all the special care babies out there, my one wish is for them all, whether still in hospital or back at home, to be happy and to be loved  xx

It's the year of the Dragon

Today is the first day of The Chinese New Year, the Chinese zodiac is based on 12 animals, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig and this year it's the year of the Dragon. People born in the year of the Dragon are energetic, warm-hearted, charismatic, lucky and natural born leaders.

Bob, the Pop N Grow Dragon, predicts an excellent
year for Pop N Grow.

I was born in the year of the Tiger, apparently I am lucky, brave, competitive, unpredictable, stubborn and obstinate, some who know me might agree with the first 4, nearly all who know me would definitely agree with the last 2!

My little boy Oliver was born in 2011, the year of the Rabbit and Rabbits are fragile just as Oliver was fragile when he was born, he didn't get the best start to life and spent his first night in the special care baby unit of the Royal Gwent hospital in Newport but Rabbits are also determined, resilient and strong and I have to say I tend to agree, he went through more in the early days of his life than some will go through in a lifetime but the future is bright and whether you believe in astrology or not my little determined, strong and resilient rabbit is doing great.

The Dragon is the symbol of good fortune and marks progression and perseverance, lets hope the dragon brings good fortune for Pop N Grow and all special care babies in 2012.

Happy Chinese New Year

Show your support with the Pop N Grow wristbands .....

Pop N Grow wristbands

Now you can show the world that you support Pop N Grow with these fab and funky wristbands, they are skinny style and come in gorgeous green or perfect purple.

To get one just head over to the Pop N Grow facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Pop.N.Grow#!/Pop.N.Grow

The wristbands cost £1.50 each including postage so where ever you are you can spread the word and help to keep neonatal babies warm.

I never noticed that ...

It's funny how we don't always notice something or realise something until it actually becomes a part of our lives, like when you buy a new car, suddenly it seems every other car on the road is the same as yours, same make, same model, same colour, of course there hasn't suddenly been a huge invasion of identical cars it's just you never noticed them before, never realised there were so many already out there.

This kind of realisation happened to me not so long ago, but not with a car, for me it was a song, it's from a few years back but some of you may know it, Wires by Athlete, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uriGngTXyrE I've heard this song so many times, I've hummed along to it on the radio but I never really paid attention to the lyrics and didn't realise that the song is about a baby in special care and the lyrics describe lead singer Joel Pott's feelings about his baby daughter who was born prematurely. The lyrics are beautiful and will strike a chord with many parents who have been in the same position as Joel Potts.

It also got me thinking about how much I actually knew about special care babies before I became Mum to a premature baby, the answer is not a lot, I knew about special care baby units and had read numerous magazine/newpaper articles on the subject but until I was there faced with the reality I didn't realise that the things that seem straight forward and easy suddenly become huge and difficult, the simple task of dressing your baby is not so simple if you have to juggle wires and tubes and you're worrying about hurting your precious baby because they have a cannula in their hand.

This is why Pop N Grow is such a wonderful idea, it makes something just a little bit easier, for parents and for the Neonatal medical staff, but for Pop N Grow to go from strength to strength people need to be aware that we exist, to 'notice' us and to pass on the message.
If you would like to help us spread the word please share our facebook fan page and help make life a little better for Special care babies.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2308275876489.2134084.1537083337&type=3#!/Pop.N.Grow

Anna is off to a flying start

Pop N Grow supporter Anna Andrew is off to a flying start with her weight loss challenge, she had her first weigh in yesterday and has lost an amazing 3lb in her first week, that leaves her with 11lb to lose in 6 weeks.

There is still time to sponser Anna, just pop over to her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/349346608413360/

Anna's weight loss challenge

Anna Andrews is aiming to lose lbs to raise £'s for Pop N Grow.

Mum of 3 Anna will be joining Weightwatchers and hitting the Wii fit board in her bid to lose 14lbs in just 7 weeks and raise much needed funds for Pop N Grow.

"Paula (founder of Pop N Grow) is such an inspiration" says Anna " What Pop N Grow are aiming to do is soooo achievable, but they need lots of support and all important funding. So, it is for them I am doing this"

Anna is looking for people to sponsor her weight loss either by offering a total amount (E.G £5 in total) or an amount per lb lost (E.G 50p per lb lost), any amount, big or small will be much appreciated and will go towards funding Pop N Grow baby grows for Special Care babies across the U.K.

If you would like to sponsor Anna please head over to her event page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/349346608413360/your
and leave your pledge in the message box - money will be collected at the end of the event when the challenge has been successfully completed!

Good Luck Anna we know you can do it!

Anna also has a blog where you can follow her progress http://annasweightlosschallenge.blogspot.com/

Introducing the Pop N Grow baby Grow .......

The Pop N Grow baby grows are specially designed to allow nursing staff to attend to special care baby's needs.The sleeves are larger than a normal baby grow, which allows it to be slipped over the arm and any bandaging due to canulas or any other medical tubing.There are also poppers along the shoulders to allow ease of access and a specially designed 'mitten foot' to allow access to the babies feet without having to take the baby grow off.Reaction to this new style of design has been 100% positive and requests for stocks of the baby grows are coming in thick and fast.

How it all Started ........

On 19th September 2011, Paula Smith, from East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Amelia.

Due to complications, Paula had the agony of seeing her baby moved to the hospitals neonatal Intensive care unit (NICU). But, instead of allowing this awful situation break her, she came up with a plan to help new babies, new parents and nursing staff too.

During Amelia's stay in N.I.C.U, when all she wanted to do was hold and comfort her baby, Paula could only sit by Amelia and watch her sleep "...She had to have a cannula in her hand, and a rather large bandage to keep it in place, as well as a feeding tube in her nose." Paula explains. "When I first saw her with all the tubes and machines attached, my gut instinct was to pick her up and run away. My precious baby was so poorly and there was nothing I could do to fix her."

Countless parents will understand the helplessness that Paula felt, Paula continues "It was while I was watching Amelia sleeping that I realised how scary it all looked. The baby grow she had on was only done up to her chest and the arm of the baby-grow was flopped by the side of her, as the sleeves weren't big enough to cover the bandage.

I thought, with a few adjustments and some simple poppers placed along the top of the sleeves, a new design of baby-grow, specifically created for babies in special care units, would make life so much easier, not only for parents, but for nursing staff too."

Returning home from the hospital, Paula asked her dear friend Alison Wright if she could help create a few poppered baby grows for the local hospital, Alison came up with the design and the Pop N Grow baby grow was born.

Now, Paula and Alison, with the help of a growing group of volunteers and supporters are aiming to supply special care units around the UK with these new baby grows totally free of charge.

With a simple idea, a good friend, bundles of creativity and lots of determination, Pop N Grow has come a long way in a very short time

Welcome to Pop N Grow

Come in, sit down and enjoy a virtual cup of tea and biscuit with the volunteers at Pop N Grow.

So who are we and what do we do?
Well in a nutshell, Pop 'n' Grow is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers and whose aim is to supply every Neonatal intensive care unit (N.I.C.U) and special care baby unit (S.C.B.U) in the U.K with specially designed baby-grows totally free of charge. The baby grows are designed to make dressing babies with canulas and or tubing easier and to make it easier and quicker for nursing staff to carry out treatments.

Of course to achieve our goal we need to raise awareness and raise funds and that is what this blog aims to do, I'll be blogging about the latest Pop N Grow news and fundraising events as well as news about our supporters.

If you have any ideas about what you would like to see here let me know, just leave a comment under a post.