How Carter's is Making NICU Life a Little More Normal

The post is sponsored by Carter's on behalf of Everywhere Agency however as always all words and opinions are my very own.

When I first became a mom 13 years ago Carter’s was one of my favorite stores to shop at for my little boy. I loved that the store was 100% dedicated to children and offered a wide variety of clothing options. I can also remember stalking the stores during sales because seriously, is there anything better than getting tiny clothes on sale making it easier to buy more tiny clothes??? Our first child Zion weighed just over 6lbs at birth. Since he was my first I had no basis to judge his size, all I knew was the newborn clothes were way too big for him! My mom bought him a couple preemie outfits to wear which fit him like a glove. One of my biggest tips for new mamas is buy a preemie outfit or two just in case your little one is under 7lbs! Carter’s has been in the preemie clothing game for a while providing clothing and hat options for those small babies between the 5-7lb range. Eleven very short months after Zion was born I gave birth to our daughter Elle at 28 weeks gestation. She weighed 2lbs 11oz and was only 14 inches long. At birth she wasn’t stable enough for clothing, but at about 3 months her nurses surprised me one morning by having her dressed in the sweetest pink romper! It was preemie sized but she was swimming in it! Her feet barely reached the knees and I had to roll the sleeves up several times to find her hands! We tried, but the cumbersome preemie outfit just made the routine of temperature checking and diaper changing difficult and we ended up taking it off leaving her once again in a hat and diaper. At 7 weeks Elle was discharged and she weighed 4lbs 7oz. Clothing still didn’t fit her, but we made do by layering bodysuits and rompers to keep her warm. Three years ago I gave birth to another 28 weeker and we dealt with many of the same clothing options. At 4 weeks Hollis was stable enough to wear clothes, but they too didnt really fit him. On top of that, he was much more fragile than Elle and his care required many tests and blood drawn and more tubes and IV’s. Traditional preemie clothing has metal snaps so couldn’t go through x ray machines and in order for him to have one arm free his entire outfit would have to be removed. Once Hollis was healthy enough to be in an open air bed, we had to take extra precaution that he clothes did fit and fit well. Draft air could lower his temp quickly which delayed his time in being discharged. For preemie moms and dads clothing is that much more important when it means allowing our babies a better chance at coming home! Carter's listened when parents like myself explained that traditional preemie clothing doesn’t actually fit premature babies or work well when they are still in the NICU. They created a line of clothing that is now smaller going up 6lbs. Another feature is velcro sleeves so now one single arm can be free when an IV or PICC line is in place. In addition to that the metal snaps were replaced with plastic ones so no longer do our babies have to be fully undressed for tests to be run. They even came up with the cutest sayings for the preemie bodysuits! My favorite is "My Superheroes Wear Scrubs." While these changes may seem minor to some, to preemie parents this offers a bit more normalcy for us and comfort for our babies.

When Carter's asked me to partner with them and hand deliver bodysuits to the 100 babies at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital NICU I immediately said yes. As you can imagine, this place holds a very special place in my heart. For 10 weeks VCH NICU was our home away from home. They gave so much to us even beyond what I ever expected and I was thrilled I would be able to do something to give back. I’m a giver at heart. My number one love language is receiving and giving gifts. Even as a child I would take my last bit of earned money to buy something for someone else especially if I knew it was something they wanted. It made my heart happy to GIVE.

When Hollis was first born I received very few gifts. In fact outside of my parents and in laws and a couple close friends, no one welcomed Hollis into the world with gifts specifically for him. I don’t hold this against anyone. I understand there was probably concern of how I would handle receiving clothing he couldn’t yet wear or items he couldn’t yet use. But for me, the gifts normalized our situation. Gifts made me feel like the expectant mother awaiting her child’s arrival. Gifts gave me so much hope and put a smile on my face when so many other things were happening around me. I was honored to have the opportunity to do that for other families and that Hollis was able to help in the gifting! It made it so much sweeter giving back to the hospital that helped save Hollis’s life. Thanks to Carter's every single baby and family at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital NICU received a gift. I am blessed beyond measure to be a part of that.