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Do you ever take gifts to the NICU nurses after being discharged?

19K views 18 replies 17 participants last post by  homewithtwinsmama 
#1 ·
I took bagels and doughnuts for the nurses when my boys were in there and when they were discharged, I went nuts and baked like 4 dozen cookies, 2 dozen cupcakes, and 2 kinds of brownies as a thank you/good bye gift.
I have a bag of preemie clothes that I want to donate to the nicu and I was thinking of taking a fruit basket and cookie tray as kind of a christmas gift. I have to go to the hospital on Dec. 5th for the twins second RSV shot so I'd be there anyways. Also, it's on a Friday and my absolute favorite nurse only works Friday-Sunday so she didn't get to see the boys before they were discharged or the one time I took them in to pick up a piece for the apnea monitor.
Is that crazy or over the top? FTR, I grew pretty close to some of the staff during our 87 day stay and overall, they went above and beyond for my boys.
 
#3 ·
For our primaries I took up little gift bags with a notecard and a picture CD from when Dakota was in the NICU. Every year on her birthday and the anniversary of when we brought her home we take up cookies. At other various times we go up and take pictures. We were really close to her seven primaries especially when we left after 225 days so we've stayed close to them and several have babysat for us since discharge. I volunteer up there now and I can tell you that the nurses love it when previous kiddos send things up there or better yet, bring them up (during non-rsv times).
 
#4 ·
We're new to this, but several families have left nice photos that are on the walls of our NICU. Two families also made DVDs with pictures and video of their high-risk pregnancy and NICU experience for other families to watch. These were really helpful when we were in the last week of my pregnancy trying to prepare for a preemie.

We'd like to do something when we're done, but I'm not sure what yet. I enjoy sewing and have realized that the usual swaddling blankets I make as gifts for friends make great isolette covers, so maybe I'll make a bunch of those?
 
#5 ·
As a NICU nurse, I would say thats a great idea! you know how us nurses love food! Its dangerous around my unit during the holidays if you are trying not to gain weight. I'm sure your nurses will be thrilled!
:
 
#6 ·
Im another NICU nurse and where I work we loved getting stuff that helped us do our job better. For example breastfeeding pillows, baby mobiles, a glider, a swing, a footstool for BFing moms. Oh and tiny clothes. We love to dress babies up, but need the small stuff.
Just my two cents,
Catherine
Mama to 2 lovely boys, 3.5 and 1 on monday.
 
#7 ·
my baby was in the NICU for a week and I was in there so much I really felt connected to the nurses. We were overwhelmed with our older child when we got home but I did manage to get a gift basket filled with Panera Bread (assorted pastries). I brought the basket and wrappings, paid $50 and said fill it.
I think it probably weighed close to 50 lbs. We had to use our stroller to wheel it in! The nurses all seemed really happy.
: In our area I think a lot of the NICU babies were due to mother substance abuse. I only saw a few other parents in the NICU during my time with my baby in there.
 
#8 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by clothdiapermama1 View Post
We love to dress babies up, but need the small stuff.
LOL. You sound just like the nurses that worked in my dd's NICU
They simply loved to dress the little ones up and even tried to coordinate the bedding and the baby!

Sheesh, I sure did love a few of my dd's nurses!
 
#9 ·
As far as I am concerned, if I win the lottery, 99% of it is going to my dd's nicu. We always say when we have the funds, they are going to the nicu. When we redo our will after our children are grown and on their own, the nicu will get money. We donate every year and will always. They saved my child so as long as its there, we will support it anyway we can.

We also used to joke w the Director we would build a parking garage for the nicu because it was tough parking, paying and walking it seemed a mile to see my dd.

When we were in, on St Patricks Day, my MIL made Irish Soda bread for the staff. I would bring stuff at night for the shift then since they usually get shafted. I would bake a bannana bread for when I went in that evening. IT was warm and the staff loved it. It got to the point when we would visit later, the front desk would say- Did you bring that bread??!!

When we left, I sent a huge and I mean huge ediable arrangement that morning and a smaller one later for the staff after 3pm. The entire staff Drs and nurses and support alike came up to me to thank me. They even took a picture of it.

When we went to follow ups, we brought bannana bread, nursing equipment, LLL's breastfeeding your premature baby books, No bigger than my teddy bear books. Several things like that. We visit at least annually now and bring treats for the nurses since I know they all love them. They always say how much they love to get visits since they get to see the finished product. The Drs also always come out.
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by clothdiapermama1 View Post
Im another NICU nurse and where I work we loved getting stuff that helped us do our job better. For example breastfeeding pillows, baby mobiles, a glider, a swing, a footstool for BFing moms. Oh and tiny clothes. We love to dress babies up, but need the small stuff.
Just my two cents,
Catherine
Mama to 2 lovely boys, 3.5 and 1 on monday.
Oh yes, I can remember nurses "snatching" blankets etc as they came around to wrap "their" babies in. Maggie's first primary wanted pictures to decorate her isolette, anything we can bring. Also, as she got bigger and fit into the "preemie" size, we bought the clothing and brought it in. Each nurse had her own favorite outfit so you could always tell who had MAggie by what she was dressed in!
 
#11 ·
My friend and I had all four of our twins discharged within the same 3-day period. When we came up for air a couple of weeks later, we sent a pizza lunch and a pizza dinner (to cover both shifts) to the NICU, with salads, etc. and I think dessert, although it's a shadowy memory at this point.

I always mean to visit, send something to commemmorate special anniversaries, and I never do. I do send a holiday card every year which has pics of the girls and I write a note, and I also send one to my favorite attendings and perinatalogists at the hospital. If I can get my act together, I'm also going to send a pic of them from the March of Dimes prematurity awareness fashion show the girls did a few weeks ago, because I think they'd be happy to see that.
 
#12 ·
Our NICU has a playroom for siblings. The local football team sponsored having this room built and furnished, but that was about 10 years ago. Fortunately, we live next door to the new quarterback coach. We're thinking about approaching him to see if the football team could adopt the NICU playroom again. We might also approach my husband's employer (Microsoft) to see if they would be willing to donate a computer so families who do not have laptops could communicate with the outside world. And to see if Microsoft would donate an XBox and games...

We couldn't afford to do all of this on our own, but we're hoping we can make it happen.
 
#13 ·
My dd was discharged the beginning of August after a 2 month stay. We took lots of treats while we were there and when we were discharged. Since then we took a huge witch cauldron full of halloween candy, and tomorrow we're taking muffins, preemie clothes (which we held a clothing drive for so we have tons) and we started a NICU Family library. We just held a fundraiser for the NICU. If you'd like to see our flier pm me. I don't want to post it publicly. We're starting a non-profit organization to raise funds, gather donations and support for NICU's. We are starting local & hope to go National.

These people helped save my dd's life. She was born at 27 weeks, and they were beyond wonderful!
 
#14 ·
We were only in the NICU for 10 days but it was such a fragile and vulnerable time that we developed some deep connections. I haven't taken any gifts for the whole NICU (that would be difficult, as there are 83 beds so the staff is huge) but we did give our favorite nurse a gift card with a letter before we were discharged. I take the babies to visit when I have doctor's appointments there, and we have always been welcomed and asked to come back again when we're in the area. Today I'm taking Thanksgiving cards with a nice note and pictures of the babies in their "baby's first thanksgiving" shirts. I have one for the general NICU staff, one for our favorite nurse, and one for the NICU social workers who were such fantastic advocates for our family.
 
#15 ·
I'm still feeling very raw and quite ungrateful to many staff


There were maybe 2/3 nurses who were great; one in particular. I want to write to her. Otherwise I've gifted a copy of Hales Medicines in Mother's Milk 'with best wishes'.

I wanted to leave something positive and pro b'feeding.
 
#16 ·
This was a difficult one for us. Our son was born @ 29 w and 6 d so he was in the NICU at the only children's hospital in our province. There they helped the most since he was at his most vulnerable. But he only stayed two weeks and I did not get to know many of the nurses. I was still in a fog about the premature birth and walked and lived like a zombie. They have only received a card so far.

Then he was transferred to another hospital for another 2 weeks. The Special Care Nursery was small there and we enjoyed it. But it was an hour bus ride and walk for me. They have only received a card so far.

Then he was transferred a second time to a hospital where he spent a month. I met some great nurses. I recently took them a gift basket with loose tea and a bodum, tea bags, and chocolates. I sent all of them a card with a before and after picture so they could see his progress from 4 lb to 8 lb 5 oz (when he was discharged).

I also needed to send something to my midwives. They were responsible for my care until I became "high risk". In our province either the midwife or the obgyn gets paid, you have a choice. Even then they visited me in the hospital and called me on many occasions. Two of them showed up at the birth of our son to be my support. So they went out of their way to be wonderful to me. And probably did not get paid to do it. So I made them a gift basket with 4 different mugs, tea, and chocolates. They could chose a mug to take home or leave it in the waiting room for their clients.
 
#18 ·
We brought lots of food while we were there. When we got home, my parents sent gift baskets to the staff. I was just too tired to handle it, so my dad took my list of favorite staff and sent little treats to everyone. We also send Christmas cards (last year and this year) and I send occasional e-mail updates to our favorite nurse.
 
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