Dressing a Preemie

I love shopping.  I especially love shopping for kids' clothes.  My kids have more clothes than they probably have places to wear them.  On a recent shopping trip, I saw a preemie sleeper.  It actually looked pretty tiny.  When the babies were born, I thought preemie clothes looked enormous.  The babies didn't even fit into preemie clothes until they were about 2-3 months old.  I began thinking about all the ways in which my shopping views had changed over the past year and thought I should turn it into a blog post.  Fellow preemie moms who read the blog can surely relate.

You might be the parent of a micro-preemie if: 

(shopping edition)

1.  you've ever thought that preemie and newborn clothes look giant

2.  you've ever ordered hats on a micro-preemie website because

                    a.  a hat was the only thing your baby was allowed to wear

                    b.  they don't sell hats in size 2-5 pounds at any store

3.  you've ever waited 2-3 months for your baby to grow into a size 2-5 pound hat

4.  your babies had to earn the privilege to wear clothes by showing they could control their own body temperatures

5.  the NICU had to find their tiniest preemie clothes to dress your baby in (and even those were too big)

6.  preemie clothes swallowed your baby



7.  you've ever rolled up the sleeves of a preemie sleeper

8.  you've ever bought only sleepers with snaps to allow access for leads and probes

9.  you've ever avoided buying anything that goes over the head because that would mean you would have to remove the cannula

10.  you ever had a laundry bag to take your child's clothes home to wash them and return them to the NICU rather than a dresser in their nursery

11.  your child's dresser has ever been a drawer underneath their isolette or a basket inside their NICU crib

12.  you've ever bought "NICU clothes" for yourself (i.e. comfortable clothing to hang around in the hospital all day and shirts that are easy to open for kangaroo care)

13.  you've ever avoided buying clothes for your son with footballs or basketballs on them because you were told he may need a tracheotomy and would have a hard time just playing on a playground

14.  you've ever avoided buying any sleepers with ambulances on them because it seemed you may be tempting fate and you wouldn't want them dressed up for a ride in one

15.  you've ever dressed your baby up in his or her best clothes to go to the doctor because you didn't go anywhere else even though you knew the first thing they would tell you at the doctor is to undress them for their exam

16.  you've ever calculated how hard it would be to get to your child's g-tube in any particular outfit before purchasing it

17.  you've ever avoided buying your son onesies because the g-tube sticks strangely out in them

18.  you only buy your son swimsuits with the swim shirt and trunks so he won't mess with his g-tube

19.  your 15 month old can still wear size 3-6 month clothes

20.  your 15 month old's sun hat is bigger than she is (do I hear an awwwww?)

I am so blessed to get to shop for my 3 beautiful children.  When I look at preemie clothes as I pass through a store now, I am reminded of how far they have come.  To think that doll clothes wouldn't have even fit them then, I am simply amazed.  They are still both on the small side, but they are nearly 20 times bigger than they were!  Just imagine if a 7 pound baby grew at that rate, he would be 140 pounds at a year old!  Puts it into perspective, doesn't it? 

Speaking of all that shopping and all those clothes, we sure do go through a lot of laundry around here.  It's a good thing I have my little laundry helpers!