The Children’s Rose - NPF Fundraiser

This is a very special rose… one that is so sweetly perfumed and blooms so well in the garden.  A bush rose that has long stems and softest pink flowers. If you love roses, consider this one… it is one to remember the children.

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NPF are having this as a fundraiser to help raise money.  Please help them if you can.

Purchase a rose for yourself, as a gift for a family member or friend currently in the Neonatal Intensive care unit, or to support the work of the National Premmie Foundation. Then plant your rose and watch it flourish as it flowers and grows over the years. These special roses help raise funds to support the work of the National Premmie Foundation.

Important note:  unable to deliver to TAS due to quarantine restrictions

Price: $16.00 per rose

Postage: $10.00 for 1 rose, $4.00 per each additional rose

When: Roses are delivered in the month of July 2010 directly to your nominated address.

ORDER HERE

A couple years ago when I was doing some volunteer work for National Premmie Day,  I was given a couple of these plants from Amanda who was then the president of Loddon Mallee Kids.  July marks the anniversary of my gorgeous premmie baby girls Lara and Victoria  and so it has extreme significance to me this rose.  It will be 9 years this year, I just cannot believe it.

Since having planted it, The Children’s Rose looks beautiful and has grown beautifully and its a very special way to remember my precious premature baby girls all 3 of them, but also reminds me of my beautiful friend  Amanda who gave them to me.    I will always remember her kindness ….

Never under estimate the power of a simple gesture.

Thanks Amanda (left) with Belinda and Bianca.

There are many people in our and YOUR community who do amazing things to help others.  Those like  the 3 girls who have done amazing things with Loddon Mallee Kids and National Premmie Foundation, are often unsung hero’s.

NOW is your chance to nominate someone you know for the Local Premmie Hero awards.

Time is running out and submissions will close very soon… so please, make your way over and nominate someone you think is deserving of this award.

La Toriana are fast becoming a leader in providing stylish, affordable quality premmie baby clothing, premmie baby comforters and premature baby accessories to family and friends touched by the birth of a premmie baby.

At La Toriana we have a dedicated category for premmie babies called“Premmie Baby” online on our website.

We have one of the largest and most stylish, affordable collection of premmie baby clothing, premature baby gifts and newborn baby keepsakes available to buy online. If you have a baby born early, or are a friend/family looking to give a premmie baby gift… contact me and I can help you to choose the right baby gift for them.

At La Toriana we showcase great Australian and New Zealand designers as well as neonatal and NICU appropriate baby clothing as well as organic premmie clothes and accessories.  Checkout our vast range of premmie wear and newborn baby items in our secure online baby boutique.  If you are looking for a  premmie baby keepsake doll, or organic baby wear for a bub that has been born prematurely, then you have come to the right online store.  La Toriana specialise in providing great quality, stylish and affordable designer label products for low weight babies and babies born early.

 La Toriana’s FACEBOOK  Profile       

  Premature baby clothing and accessory labels available online at La Toriana include Earlybirds organic premmie baby range,  Lambykins organic premature baby range, TeenyWeeny, Cuski, The Zaky, Tummybear keepsake dolls, Alimrose Design, Let Them Have Wings art, Little ONE baby magzine subscription, plus many more

www.lilaussieprems.com.au  are receiving some amazing nominations  for the 2010

“Local Premmie Hero Awards”

 They will be regularly sharing the wonderful achievements of the nominees over the coming months. Our nominees give so much to help others in the premmie community. We are sure that they will inspire you.

Our wonderful team of judges have a very hard task ahead.

If you know of a “premmie hero” who volunteers their time to help families nominate them today.

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more nominees …

Parool – Victoria

In 2003 Parool had a premature baby boy & at the time there was no support available to parents. Parool decided she had to change this so in 2005 together with 5 other premmie mums they started the charity Lifes Little Treasures of which she is now president and played a major role is forming the Premmie Foundation. She works tirelessly to provide the support network that families require on leaving hospital & most importantly strives to create awareness amongst the community.

Over the years she has made many personal sacrifices because what LLT stands for was so important to her & her beliefs. If she not on the phone she on the email 24/7, always working even on holidays!. Her ultimate wish is to provide information, support and encouragement to families with premature babies, empowering them to achieve the best outcomes for their children. She is always available when needed by a family & will do everything in her power to assist them.  She has a dream and is well on the way to fulfilling it. She’ll never take no for an answer! we are blessed to have her on our side…

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Stephanie – Queensland

Stephanie & her identical twin sister were born at 31 weeks gestation in 1996 and spent 6 weeks in hospital. From the age of 12 months until 5 years of age Stephanie suffered from numerous hospital admissions due to breathing difficulties and allergies. During this time she was desperately underweight and always looked unwell. Finally at aged 5, two ENT (ear, nose and throat) operations helped her to overcome her problems and since that time she has never looked back. From that time on she has taken every opportunity to enjoy life, be involved in numerous sports and to help other community members. Stephanie is now aged nearly 14 and is an athletic, healthy teenager. In 2007 aged 11, Stephanie decided she needed to do something to help other premature babies. She signed up to fundraise for the Mater Mothers’ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Since that day Stephanie has worked over 100 hours annually to fundraise for the unit and done so much more. Without corporate contacts her fundraising has been through an enormous amount of time and effort.

To date Stephanie has raised $15,000 for the NICU and also highlighted and promoted the work carried out by the unit and the need for fundraising to be carried out for the hospital. This has been through numerous newspaper and magazine articles and web site information. She was the premature baby who is now helping other premature babies and their families.

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Nola – Western Australia

Nola is the grandmother to little Gemma born at 30 weeks gestation weighing 920 grams (a surviving twin). Nola lives in Western Australia and was nominated by her daughter. Since her grand daughter was 4 weeks old Nola has been sewing humidy crib covers, matching bags, peanut pillows and clothes for premmie and tiny babies and donating them to the King Edward Memorial Hospital in WA with all material funded by herself and a few lovely friends. She also takes in regular updates and photo’s of Gemma into the hospital to help give others hope at the end of the sometimes long and very daunting tunnel. Nola has been a rock for her daughter and the many families with babies in the King Edward Memorial Hospital who are the lucky recipients of her good will and love for our precious premature babies.

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Dr Cartwright – Queensland

Dr Cartwright goes above and beyond his role in NICU/SCN at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital. Dr Cartwright basically never goes home, he is there early to late EVERY day, he rarely takes weekends off and when he is on holidays he rings in to ask about his patients. In fact he’s been known to ring in during the early hours of the morning at other times. He has rung his patients mobiles on many occasions post NICU to check on how their children are going and always makes sure that he does follow up appointments himself. He is also very involved if not the driving force behind a lot of research and development in the premature baby world. He has written textbooks and other publications on the care of extremely premature babies which is insightful to parents of prems.

congratulations to all the nominees so far… there are still more to come.  Each one of these “hero’s” are amazing in their help and assistance to babies and famileies of premature babies.

Below… Earlybirds sleep nest and Tummybear Premature baby keepsake doll.  These dolls are custom made to the size and weight of your own baby.  La Toriana are proud to be able to provide familes of premmie babies a choie in gorgeous clothing, toys and accessories.

La Toriana are fast becoming a leader in providing stylish, affordable quality premmie baby clothing, premature baby gifts, premmie baby comforters and premature baby accessories to family and friends touched by the birth of a premmie baby.

La Toriana  have a dedicated category for premmie babies called “Premmie Baby” online on our website. 

We have one of the largest and most stylish, affordable collection of premmie baby clothing, premature baby gifts and newborn baby keepsakes available to buy online. If you have a baby born early, or are a friend/family looking to give a premmie baby gift… contact me and I can help you to choose the right baby gift for them.

At La Toriana we showcase great Australian and New Zealand designers as well as neonatal and NICU appropriate baby clothing as well as organic premmie clothes and accessories.  Checkout our vast range of premmie wear and newborn baby items in our secure online baby boutique.  If you are looking for a  premmie baby keepsake doll, or organic baby wear for a bub that has been born prematurely, then you have come to the right online store.  La Toriana specialise in providing great quality, stylish and affordable designer label products for low weight babies and babies born early.

 La Toriana’s FACEBOOK  Profile       

 Our Preemie Journey.   Written by Nicole .

Twin girls Olivia and Tayla born 6^th May, 2008 at 30+3 weeks gestation at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco Western Australia.  Weighed 1115g and 1560g respectively.  Current age 19 months.

Olivia and Tayla spent their first week of life in NICU where they were on CPAP for a short while and also had phototherapy.  They spent another 5 weeks in Special Care and we took them home at 36 weeks gestation.  Their hospital stay was quite a smooth one compared to others but a very difficult experience nonetheless.

I found the hardest part of having our girls early and the ensuing 6 weeks in hospital was trying to juggle spending time with our tiny babies and with our almost 4 year old son Hayden.  I worried that he would feel left out or resentful that since the babies came along I had forgotten him L

One thing that has stuck in my mind when our girls were in NICU and were so tiny and helpless was when our son was visiting at the time.  My husband was holding Tayla and Hayden was standing next to them just looking at her and he started to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her, needless to say my husband and I shed a tear….

The hospital was fantastic in caring for our baby girls, however I found that support for the parents was something you had to seek out for yourself.  Once discharged we attended a preemie playgroup run by the Physio Dept for the first year of their life to keep track of their progress and to seek assistance for any issues should they arise.

 Buying clothes was difficult as there are not a lot of stores that sell a preemie range (particularly smaller than five zero’s) and we had to find double!

A for tip for a new preemie parent, take each moment as it comes.  You are your baby’s advocate so take everything in and do your own research so that you are able to make informed decisions for your baby…

 Olivia and Tayla now 19 months old. 

Thank you Nicole for sharing you beautiful story.

If you have a premmie story to share, please submit it to info at LaToriana.com.au

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also give a thought this holiday season to the many many mums who have precious little premmies who are not able to be home for the Summer holidays.  Many premature babies will be in need of specialised NICU and hospital care and cannot be home with their family and friends.  Spare a thought too for the parents who will be torn between spending too little time with family at home, and also who need to be with their precious baby at hospital.  Its such a difficult time.

PREMMIE HERO AWARDS …..   Find out more about how you can help give recognition to those individuals who help make a difference to premature babies and their families.  Nominations Open Feb 1st 2010

www.lilaussieprems.com.au/hero

If you are a business or individual  and can spare some sponsorship $$,   you may like to assist the Premmie  Hero awards… so please contact the above link.  Its a wonderful cause.

The www.lilaussieprems.com.au website is part of the National Premmie Foundation.  The National Premmie Foundation and the founding groups are what La Toriana support, so would love you to support them too.

We would also love to hear from families of premmie babies to share their story like Nicole has.  Please feel free to email me pics and your journey, we will pop it on the blog and also our Premmie baby section starting in 2010.  Helping awareness and providing information for all families of premature babies.

warmly

Elizabeth xx

With La Toriana being involved with the National Premmie Foundation since their beginning, and as this week we are also involved with 2 great businesses who are also supporting National Premmie Foundation (LittleONE baby and also the Kids Fashion Review HUNT), I thought I would tell you all about this great foundation.

Who are they?
 

  6 of Australia’s prem support groups have come together to form a national organization that will unify, and act as a guiding body for existing prem support groups, help to create new ones, help to improve the treatments and outcomes available for premature infants, and represent the interests of these infants and their families in terms of health policies, funding and standards of care.

These founding groups include 2 of Australia’s longest running and most respected support groups,

• Preterm Infant’s Parents Association (PIPA) and
• Nepean Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parent Support (NNICUPS).

The other founding groups include

• Loddon Mallee Kids (LMK),
• Lil Aussie Prems (LAP)
• Lifes Little Treasures (LLT) and
• Central Coast Premmie & Sick Newborn Support.

Although we have only joined forces in 2007, we have a combined total of 47 years experience in supporting families of premature and sick infants.

What are our aims?
To act as a parent body, guiding and assisting prem support groups by helping to:

- Raise the profile of all groups

- Raise money for family support and information, hospital equipment, education, and awareness.

- Attract members and volunteers

- Share ‘best practice’, information and resources

To be a central point of communication and publicity, providing information to families, hospitals, health professionals, relevant health authorities and the wider community.

Represent the interests of parents of prems in terms of hospital policy, Australia wide.

Raise the profile and awareness of the plight of NICU/SCU infants and their families, and issues surrounding their care and long term development. Health policy, funding and standards of care.

 At La Toriana… we have a great range of premmie baby clothing online.  Take a look here.

Warmly  Elizabeth xx

Wow… did you watch ch9 last night?  the TV show Money For Jam?

I am in awe of Julia and what she is doing for premmie baby families all over Australia.  The show was great last night and if you missed it, here is a copy… its so inspring.  Julia does a wonderful job with www.lilaussieprems.com.au and so many families really benefit from this site.

8 years ago when I had my first premmie baby there was nothing like this… only American sites, so its great to see Australia, and Julia doing great things!

If you are a business and looking to put your $$$ into a worthy cause, please contact Julia at lilaussieprems … I know she would really support you as well.  If you are a friend, family or parent touched by the birth of a premmie baby… jump on the website and you will be so pleased to make contact with others in a very similar situation.  The support on this site is so friendly, and inspiring.

I was sitting there watching the show last night and almost spluttered out and choked on my cuppa.  There… the La Toriana banner was larger than life and my hubby couldnt believe it either!!  La Toriana’s very first television appearance!!  Thank you so much for that little plug!!! 

I am so honoured to be associated with you.  Read the blog post here about premmie support

Anyone that knows me will know I support premmie babies in lots of ways, but truly I have a few special people and what they are doing for families of premature babies is amazing.  Julia is one of these very special, inspirational and well deserving people.

At La Toriana we are all about supporting families of babies born early.  We have a wide range of premmie baby clothing, toys and accessories and continue to expand the range.  A % from all sales goes directly to a couple premmie groups and we will continue to support them.

see the La Toriana premmie baby clothing range online here. 

please indicate in the comment box if you would like my donation from your sale to go to lilaussieprems, National Premmie Foundation or Loddon mallee Kids.

 

 

 La Toriana’s Profile

At La Toriana we have a passion for kids fashion.

Our labels include, Alimrose, annieB, Lambykins, Princess Allure, FairyFloss Creations, Eternal Creation, Vanchi, TikiBoo Kids, Little Pearls for Little Girls, Tea Princess, Three Little trees, Tummbear, Dolly Up, babyjo bamboo baby wear, nest organics, early birds premature baby clothes, teeny weeny premmie baby wear, Oopsidaisi, boxy design, anamalz, Briit design, Bump buddy, cheeky little soles, Sounds for silence, Deshabille, eco peko, fINNIGAN fINN, gertie and me, Hey baby, huggalugs, i candy, lazybones, locolili, miniwhisk, mon tresor, nana huchy, nanny pickle, OOBI baby, penny scallan, Tabitha Emma, Tippie Toes, Princess Ratbag, Alannah Rose stationary, Mulberry Muse, Vintage Kid, Wild Things of Noosa, YmamaY, Xanna,  and so many more!

We have one of the largest and most stylish, affordable collection of premmie baby clothing, premature baby gifts and keepsakes available to buy online. If you have a baby born early, or are a friend/family looking to give a premmie baby gift… contact me and I can help

We showcase great Australian and New Zealand designers as well as neonatal and NICU appropriate baby clothing as well as organic premmie clothes and accessories.  Checkout our vast range of premmie wear and newborn baby items in our secure online baby boutique.  If you are looking for a  premmie baby keepsake doll, or organic baby wear for a bub that has been born prematurely, then you have come to the right online store.  La Toriana specialise in providing great quality, stylish and affordable designer label products for low weight babies and babies born early.

warmly

elizabeth xx