The Ulster Hospital’s Neonatal Unit turned purple on Monday to support World Prematurity Day.
On average six children are born prematurely every day in Northern Ireland, almost one every four hours.
The Neonatal Nursing staff had been busy crafting handmade, keepsake cards for each baby spending time in the Unit with a beautiful imprint of their feet along with the gift of a book for mums and dads to read to their baby.
Lisburn Mum Hannah Porter praised the Neonatal staff for the tender care her twin daughters Ruby and Emily have received since their birth at 33 weeks on Tuesday 11 November.
“Ruby was born weighing 4lbs 11ozs and Emily was 4lbs 12ozs,” said Hannah. “The staff have been amazing, they are incredible. The girls came early and the staff have been angels. They have looked after them like they are their mummies too.”
Hannah described the homemade crafts – including Jammie Dodger biscuits for Mum and Dad as, “just so sweet.” “There is a little purple knitted pouch with a purple ribbon inside which represents the lengths of the girls’ bodies, it is so thoughtful.”
The Neonatal unit also received a visit from the charity TinyLife who presented parents with gift bags and story books to acknowledge the day.
Jill Trimble give birth to twins, a boy and a girl at 30 weeks. The support of Tiny Life proved so invaluable that she became a Family Support Officer with the charity.
Jill said, “The charity Tiny Life bridges that gap for parents from the Unit to a community setting. Tinylife and the Neonatal Unit here at the Ulster Hospital work so well together and it is so important to have that working relationship together for our families. World Prematurity Day is a very important date in our calendar,” said Jill.
Jill continued, “November 17 can be just another date to most people but once you have given birth to a premature baby it becomes a very important date in the calendar. We have brought ‘Letters of Light’ to the Unit today from parents whose baby was born prematurely and have written letters to patents who are currently on the Unit. It’s words of encouragement really for parents who are currently going through this while they spend time on the ward.”
Neonatal Interim Lead Nurse Katrina Wilson added, “November 17 is a big day for the Neonatal Unit and for a lot of our families. Our staff have been prepping all weekend with banners, with the cards and gifts for our families. As Jill rightly said you don’t really know this particular date until you have had a pre-term baby and we try to mark this day for our families as best we can.”
Neonatal Nurse Gemma Kingham and Tinylife Family Support Officer Jill Trimble