The Playpen

We are extremely excited to kick off a new ongoing series at The Playpen entitled The Preemie Adventure! This personal and inspirational series is a collection of real-life stories from real-life parents that deals with the emotional roller coaster associated with pre-term birth. The Preemie Adventure is designed to feature up close and personal stories, advice and information regarding prematurity, along with photos of preemies, then and now. Aline and I drew a great deal of inspiration from the photos along the walls of the NICU during our daughter’s stay there, and we have committed ourselves to providing support and encouragement to parents who are going through the same experience now.

Our first story comes from Jennifer, who writes a terrific blog called Blessings From Above.

Jennifer is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and has agreed to share the amazing story of her son, Kyle’s, whirlwind premature birth. Please join me in thanking Jennifer for her honest and uplifting submission, and be sure to stop by her site and drop her a comment. Thanks, Jennifer!

Kyle’s Story

During a family vacation to Disney World, I was diagnosed with Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes (PPROM)…which is a fancy way of saying that my water broke VERY early. I was 22 weeks pregnant and was told that there was very little chance that the baby would survive.

We were devastated as they went over the statistics. My due date was still 121 days away. We had a 90% chance that the baby would die in the delivery room. If he beat the odds and survived, it would almost surely be with severe disabilities and a very poor quality of life. We were even offered medication to speed up the “inevitable”.

Thankfully, I lasted almost two weeks on bed-rest, which gave the baby some much needed time to develop further. At 24 weeks and 5 days, Kyle was born weighing 1 pound 6 ounces. Again we were warned that his chances of surviving, let alone leading a quality life, were not good.

We were devastated when we saw how small he was. And it was not a tiny, cute little baby kind of small. He obviously was very sick. Despite all the problems on the inside - things like his lungs and heart not being developed - we were struck by how different he looked on the outside. One of his eyes was still fused shut. His skin was transparent and covered with hair. Even his ear lobes had not yet developed cartilage and just hung there.

You will hear many parents of preemie’s state that their NICU stay was a rollercoaster ride and this description is so true.

During Kyle’s 119 days in Florida Hospital South’s NICU, while he had some good days, he also endured heart surgery, 69 days on life support/ventilator, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), anemia, bilateral hernias, Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD), Chronic Lung Disease, bilateral renal calculi (small kidney stones), jaundice, aspirations, Respiratory Distress Syndrome, 3 bouts with pneumonia, hyperglycemia, 11 blood transfusions, high blood pressure, numerous infections and Stage 3 Retinopathy of Prematurity requiring Eye Surgery.

Thanks to many answered prayers, today Kyle is a happy and healthy 18 month old (14 months adjusted age). He is the happiest baby and loves to be the center of attention. He is close to walking on his own and is adding new words to his vocabulary weekly.

If there is one remnant of Kyle’s extreme prematurity, it is the slow rate in which he has grown. Although it is finally starting to get better, since the day we left the hospital we have received comments on Kyle’s small size. An automatic question of strangers seems to be, “How old is your baby?” When he weighed 7 pounds and I would answer that he is six months old, people would look at me like I am crazy. Kyle is now almost 19 pounds, which considering his start in life, is amazing to me. Still, I feel like I always have to defend his small size and am looking forward to the day that he is actually on the growth chart!

We had a great appreciation for Kyle even before his prematurity because I had such a difficult time getting pregnant (he is an IVF baby), so even his conception was nothing short of miraculous to us. But everything now is even more precious to us and we take nothing for granted. We have learned some valuable lessons through this trial and we’ll never be the same. When I look at Kyle now, it is hard for me to imagine that he once weighed just 18 ounces. I am amazed by the accomplishments he has made, he truly is our miracle baby. “This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

If you would like to submit your preemie stories and photos for inclusion in The Preemie Adventure, drop us a comment, or email us at matt@redsparks.com.

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone!

The Playpen has been a fantastic experience for us. We’ve met a lot of terrific people and have learned a lot from our readers. It almost seems *hint hint* that our little baby blog here has become more successful than our actual business. Hmm. How did that happen?

A few posts ago, we featured some of our favorite products from our online baby boutique, RedSparks. As you can read in Our Story, we started our shop when our daughter, Frankie, was born prematurely. We just weren’t able to find preemie clothes that were hip and cool enough for any daughter of ours! Throw my wife, Aline’s, keen eye for fashion and a love of shopping into the mix, and we ended up with a line of baby clothing and accessories (micro-preemie through 4T) that we are very proud of. Business has been picking up which, in today’s economy, we hope means we are doing something right. Note: this could also just mean that people are out of money, so they are just staying home and making more babies, If you know what I mean. Either way, we love it.

Now we’d like to ask for our readers’ help in growing our business the right way. To thank you for your comments, we are giving away one of our coolest baby gifts, the Bright Baby First Learning Box!

This activity box is a fantastic, fun and interactive learning tool for your wee one. Packed full of developmental and sensory objects, the Bright Baby Box is sure to quickly become one of Baby’s favorites.

Box includes:

Shaker teether
Baby animals book (touch and feel)
First words board book
123 flash cards
Bathtime bath book
Colors cloth book

All we ask is that you take a quick tour through RedSparks and leave a comment telling us what your favorite products from the line are and, more importantly, what you would like to see more of. Be honest…marketers all over the world pay millions of dollars every day to sit in focus groups to get this kind of information…we are grateful to be able to get it for free! (Well, sort of).

We’ll pick a winner at random on Saturday, September 6th…ALL comments will be entered into the drawing, so if you think of something else after you have already commented, its cool. Comment again!

We would like to sincerely thank you for your honest opinions and comments. Its not easy getting a business off the ground these days, and your help in making RedSparks a success is truly appreciated. Now stop reading and go shop!

Matt & Aline
The RedSparks Summer Sale is coming to an end. Don’t miss out! Receive up to 60% off on today’s hottest fashion and accessories for preemies, infants and toddlers!

We have reached a milestone in my daughter’s life. Tomorrow, she starts school. Granted, its preschool, but this particular school goes all the way through eighth grade so, for all intents and purposes, today will be the last weekday she spends at home with Aline, barring holidays and sick days.

Naturally, I have found a way to twist what some other parents would see as a monumental and joyous occasion into a dark and twisting vortex of worry and over-analysis. Don’t judge…it’s my way.

Even before I had a child I was aware that children are tempted by drugs and alcohol at a much earlier age than I ever was. According to the SAMHSA, many kids start drinking in middle school, and one out of every two 8th graders has tried alcohol. So that means that by the time my daughter is thirteen, when she brings home a friend from school one of them will have hit the bottle. And Talking with Kids states that the average age by which kids try marijuana is 12. That’s an average, people.

I personally tried alcohol for the first time at a party my junior year in high school, and didn’t even touch weed until I was about 24. Why? Because my parents were all over it. I was terrified of drugs. I believed that my face would melt off like the guy from Raiders if I even came near a bong. According to them, they never took drugs, they hated them. My mom hadn’t even tried a beer until about 20 minutes ago, and that made her so sick she almost died. They never backed down in their story; whether it was truth or fiction we believed it. At least until we were old enough to start making intelligent decisions for ourselves. And this concept, the sentence I just wrote, is what concerns me the most about kids, drugs and alcohol. If I had tried them at that young of an age, would I have had the sense to limit their use, as I did when I was older? Would I have known to put the twelfth beer back because, just maybe, I would miss work the next day if I drank it?

I don’t think so. I think I would have simply latched onto how cool they made me feel and gone after that feeling over and over again, making more and more bad decisions and ultimately ending up with a life that is not quite as nice as the one I have now. I didn’t have the limits that we learn to set for ourselves through experience. I had no “off” switch.

By contrast, there is the technique employed by parents of some of my friends growing up. Let your kids know about your experiences, particularly the bad ones, with drugs and alcohol. Put yourself on their level. Show them you understand. Illustrate to them how bad misuse at an early age can be so that they may benefit from your mistakes. If you are upfront and honest with your kids about your own experiences, they will respect you that much more for it and will avoid getting tangled up in the whole mess altogether.

One of the things I love the most about The Playpen is your comments. I love the immediacy of the medium. I am always completely interested, surprised and sometimes even shocked at the diversity of responses we get to our posts, even if it is still only a handful. That being said, I would love to hear which method you have, or intend to employ when trying to keep your kids safe and healthy throughout their adolescence. Upfront and honest about your own alcohol and drug experimentation (I know, I know…there ARE some of you who truly haven’t used either, but that would completely ruin this post!), or as an old boss said to me a long time ago, “Lie Lie Lie, until you can’t lie any more! By the time they figure out you were lying, they’ll have the sense to make their own decisions.”

Matt
The RedSparks Summer Sale is coming to an end. Don’t miss out! Receive up to 60% off on today’s hottest fashion and accessories for preemies, infants and toddlers!

A while ago, a blog friend of mine made a random comment on their site that, for whatever reason, I cannot seem to shake. It wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, but it was just one of those things that sort of opened my eyes to a new perspective and made me think. My interpretation of the comment was that putting a child into preschool too soon is not only not a benefit to a kid, but could also be damaging to them from an emotional and developmental standpoint.

My daughter starts preschool in a week. She is three-and-a-half years old. In order to make a clean comparison, lets take finances out of the mix. Granted, there are many people out there for whom anything but preschool for their children is not fiscally viable (how’s THAT for a sentence!) As U.S. home values drop, inflation increases and expenses rise, both parents must work to make ends meet. For the purpose of my question you will ultimately read at the bottom of this post (I hope), I’d like to exclude this group from the debate.

I am interested in other reasons parents may have for sending or not sending their children to Pre-K. In our case, we feel that our daughter needs it, and can benefit greatly from it. She is a bit ahead of the curve intelligence-wise, yes…at least for now. But, that aside, we have simply come to the realization that we are NOT the type of parents who can devote every hour of every day to nurturing our daughters creative, analytical and behavioral growth. Before you judge that statement, let me also say that we are good parents. We spend a lot of time with her, and I know for a fact that anyone coming in from the outside to observe would agree that she is being raised well. But we simply can’t offer her the stimulation that a structured, scholastic environment can. Is “scholastic” to heavy a word for a preschooler? I don’t think so. Her classroom has computers. There is a complete library with a preschool section and reading days every Friday. Tuesdays are art. Thursdays are music. There is cooking, theater, organized sports, even swimming. HOW, pray tell, would two lowly individuals like ourselves possibly be able to expose her to that type of diversity? They study ABC’s, learn the Pledge of Allegiance, foreign language…oh, did I mention that they play outside all the time too? Not only will she love it, but she will be challenged, and she enjoys challenge. I recently bought her a new ABC puzzle. She spent HOURS with me doing it over and over until she had almost all of them (has anyone seen the “S”, by the way?). Personally, I can see no better way of keeping her entertained, motivated and focused than preschool, and stand by our decision to send her. (I didn’t even touch on the socialization aspects of it…how many playdates can one person REALLY set up on their own?).

The counterpoint to this argument is one shared by many of my close friends. They believe that birth through, say, four years old is bonding time for the children and the parents. That those years should be devoted to play, development and discipline in the home. They feel, I think, that the child should not be made to be away from home for long periods of time, and that the home environment and consistent presence of the parents is far more beneficial to a child during these early years when children are so impressionable. Preschool, for them, is more damaging than good in that it takes away the opportunity for the parents to instill the character traits they wish onto their children and places it firmly in the hands of people they do not know. They often feel that parents who do put their kids into Pre-K are guilty of hyper parenting, and place unnecessary and undue stress and expectations on children who are not yet emotionally ready to carry that burden.

Clearly, you know which side of the argument I fall into. You will never convince me that my daughter will not be happier, more well-rounded and more successful in life (not only financially, but emotionally as well) if she is exposed to more, learns more and processes more from her current age on. But I am also aware that there are billions of intelligent and creative people who have very happy and comfortable lives who didn’t attend one hour of preschool growing up.

My final question is simple. Do three and four-year-old children benefit more from early education or from the continuing attention, love and comfort they receive at home? I know what the statistics say, but there IS more to life than the right college or perfect career. What do you think?

Matt
The RedSparks Summer Sale is coming to an end. Don’t miss out! Receive up to 60% off on today’s hottest fashion and accessories for preemies through ,that’s right, preschoolers!.

Well, I think its about time we started doing some product reviews. I know what you’re asking yourself…”Who’s product is exciting, fashionable and awesome enough for Aline to even consider reviewing it?” You guessed it, ours! That’s right, we are smack dab in the middle of the RedSparks Summer Sale! The Fall stuff is coming, and we are clearing out the inventory at prices of up to 60% off. In case you’re not familiar with RedSparks, you can always check out our story. Also, I thought I’d showcase a few of my favorite products i.e.-the ones that are the hardest to let go of at a discount!

For baby girls, I love the Ghana Batik Dress. The print is inspired by an artisinal batik that found in Accra, Ghana, and it is, of course, machine washable.

Regular Price $69.00 Our Price $34.50

This is totally and completely cute, no matter how you slice it. The Bow Top from Stella Industries is adorable, and pairs perfectly with the tiered tutu skirt (shown below).




Regular Price $29.00 Our Price $17.40

See? The Tiered Tutu Skirt makes the outfit…she’s all ready for the ball!




Regular Price $46.00 Our Price $27.60

Got a cute little baby boy who needs some new threads? Check out this rockin’ n rollin’ Play Forever T from Recco S. Its got a cool kangaroo pocket in the front!




Regular Price $38.00 Our Price $26.60

If you need to dress him up a little more, he’ll look dashing in this Mulai Dip Dye Vest. Match it up with a crisp new T-shirt and our Tereli Yarn Dyed Pant (shown below). He’ll be fighting the ladies off with a stick!




Regular Price $41.00 Our Price $19.50

Check out the coordinating Tereli Yarn Dye Pant! Leave the bottoms rolled or unbutton them for a clean, classy look.





Regular Price $45.00 Our Price $26.50


Of course, not everyone has children, but everyone knows someone who has kids. RedSparks also carries a wide range of baby bath and body, shoes, gifts, books and toys. What would make a better gift for the new mommy than this Zoo Friends Bath Set? Soft and oversized, towel is 100% cotton terry and comes with matching washing mit and a rubber ducky!




Regular Price $37.00 Our Price $29.99

To check out all the fun, fashionable and stylish items on sale now at RedSparks, click the banner in the sidebar to the right, or click here.

Don’t forget, we carry a complete line of clothing for preemie girls and preemie boys too! Help us spread the word!

Aline
To stay informed with updates about new products and the addition of our fall line, set up a free account with RedSparks!

As many of you know, my wife and I started The Playpen as a resource for parents, new and old–particularly those of preemies.

Now, we are asking for your help

But first, I thought I’d give you some quick and interesting preemie statistics and hopefully provide some thought-provoking insight into the “world” of premature babies.

1. Babies are considered premature when born at 37 weeks or earlier


2. In the U.S., prematurity is the leading cause of neonatal mortality at 25%


3. Nearly half of all premature births have no known cause


4. The rate of preterm births in the U.S. has increased by 30% in the last 20 years


5. The average cost for caring for a premature infant in its first year is $77,000


6. The average cost of care for a full-term baby is $1,700


7. Number of preterm births in the U.S. per year: 500,000


8. Being poor, African-American, under 17 or over 30 can increase your risk of having a preterm delivery by more than 50%


9. African-American baby girls born weighing 2.2 pounds or less are more than twice as likely to survive as white baby boys born at the same weight


10. 1 out of every 10 babies born in the U.S. is premature.

Having gone through this experience ourselves, we know how incredibly stressful and emotionally testing it can be. When Frankie was in the NICU, one of the things we used to enjoy the most was looking at all of the photographs of babies who had been through the unit before us, leading happy lives as older children.

With this in mind, we’d like to ask for your help. We are starting a new preemie segment on The Playpen entitled “The Preemie Adventure – Then and Now.” The series will feature a picture of premature infants at birth, along with a photo of the child at present day, along with a brief story from the parents describing their personal experiences with preterm birth.

If you would like to participate in “The Preemie Adventure”, please comment here or drop either of us an email: matt[at]redsparks.com or aline[at]redsparks.com.

There isn’t that much required, just a paragraph or two and some photos (which we KNOW you have thousands of). Please help us get this off the ground, and thanks in advance.

Matt and Aline
Please stop by and check out our adorable line of clothing for preemies at our online boutique!

Today, my first post as a contributing author on Discovering Dad went live! If you haven’t checked out Jeremy’s site, I recommend it. It’s a fantastic resource for fathers and a wonderful community. The general theme of my post was coming to terms with the responsibility of being a new father, and what type of changes to expect.

I thought I would do a different version of that theme here on The Playpen from a more lighthearted perspective. So here they are. Matt’s top ten changes you can expect as a new father:

1. You will no longer blast your own music in your car. My iPod contains about 80 GB of music. Around 20 MB of that is my daughter’s. That 20 MB is played approximately 99.98% of the time. This rule also applies to your DVDs.

2. You will develop an affinity for fish sticks, mac-n-cheese and popsicles. You will also discover that you can make over 780 unique dishes using only these three ingredients and some chocolate sprinkles.

3. Three Words. Body. Mass. Index. Better hit the XXL section next time you’re at Target.

4. Increased estrogen level. I am sure there must be scientific evidence to support this. You will catch yourself speaking to your child in a feminine, high-pitched voice in places where it is not appropriate for a man do be doing so…like Best Buy.

5. You will lose all of your current knowledge of NFL football. Your child-less friends will have heated discussions about passer ratings, draft picks and the best blocking fullbacks in the league, and you will feel left out completely. In order to cover your embarrassment, you will blurt out something like “Yeah, well Swiper took a mitten today and I found it behind the tree in less than ten seconds!” This will eliminate your embarrassment as it will immediately sever your relationships with your child-less friends.

6. You will inevitably end up sitting alone on the couch watching Wonder Pets long after your child has gotten up and walked off. Why? Because Wonder Pets ain’t half bad.

7. You will redirect your competitive, alpha-dog nature from things like salary, car, house and flat screen TV to things like Diaper Genies, strollers and baby furniture. “Did you get a load of that wipe warmer that Steve and Jen had? It only had one temperature setting and didn’t even light up! Ours is so much better. I’ll bet they’ve noticed it, too.”

8. Your favorite room in the house will no longer be the TV room. Or the kitchen. It will be the bathroom. Why? Because you can read ESPN the Magazine in there and the door locks. Sanctuary.

9. Yes. Its true. You will begin to love, not like, LOVE the Olive Garden.

10. You will begin to wear the same clothes over and over again, no matter how much you told yourself you wouldn’t be “that dad”. The other day I was looking at a picture of my daughter at 10 weeks old (over three years ago). Slowly, my eyes went down to the shirt I was wearing, then back to the picture, then back to the shirt. Yup.

Matt
Stop by and check out our Summer Sale…up to 60% off select clothing and gifts for baby girls and boys!

Less than an hour ago, My hometown of Los Angeles was rocked by yet another earthquake. If experience serves me, the actual magnitude will change over the next few days as news stations, eager to be first on the scene, report the best information they have at the moment. Immediate reports said 5.8, now it is down to 5.4.

My first earthquake in LA was the 1994 Northridge Quake. I had been living here for less than six months, and had conveniently chosen an apartment about a mile from the epicenter. For those of you who have not experienced a truly damaging earthquake, the experience is something that never leaves you. At the first hint of a tremor or rumble, your body stiffens, your pulse quickens and you freeze.

This one was particularly bad. Not because of the magnitute…it was really just kind of a gentle roller…but because, for the first time, I had a family. And we were all apart.

My wife was at home, Frankie was at daycare and I was at work. Once the rumbling subsided and my hands stopped shaking I tried to call. No service. I tried the land line. No service. And guess what? We had no plan. I didn’t think that it was a bad enough quake to cause any physical damage, but you never know. Sometimes it has to do with the type of fault and plate movement, as well as the depth and other factors. Regardless, I was worried beyond belief.

I promptly drove home, where Aline was fine and phone service had been restored. Frankie was ok, but they would be napping today with their shoes on, just in case. In twenty minutes, Aline and I drafted up a plan should the big one hit when we were all apart. Thats all it took, and we kicked ourselves for not having done it sooner. Tonight we will be going out to put together the earthquake kit that we have been meaning to get together for the last fourteen years.

Being unprepared for a natural disaster while responsible for the safety and well being of loved ones is not only lazy, it is just plain stupid. Thank god I get to redeem myself.

For a listing of high-risk earthquake areas and additional resources focusing on earthquake preparedness, here are some links:

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/earthquakes.shtm

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/preparedness.php

Los Angeles Fire Department Emergency Preparedness (PDF Download)

Matt
Visit our online boutique for the latest in fashion and fun for preemie, infant and toddler

OK, maybe not in its natural state. In fact, many little ones’ artwork looks a lot alike to me. But the great thing about the drawings and paintings that my daughter makes is that they are my daughter’s, and I save them all.

Recently, my husband surprised me with a gift that I would never have expected. It was original, fun, cool and unlike anything I have ever seen. Apparently, he got the idea from one on BusyDad’s posts a while ago, and was determined to get me something ever since. I was so happy when my daughter presented me with her drawing that day, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Her first “real” resemblance of a drawing, and it was me! Miraculously the drawing disappeared the next day only to find out that Matt had taken it to hang it up at work. I was disappointed that he got to keep it, little did I know that he was cooking up something.

Jennifer, who owns and operates an amazing shop called Magic Dog Studio, has come up with a terrific way of preserving your wee one’s art. She takes the artwork and turns it into a one-of-a-kind sterling silver pendant or charm, signs it, packages it in a beautiful gift box and sends it to your front door. She is a true artist, and interprets the kid’s squiggles and zig-zags beautifully. In addition to little people (she also offers a necklace bearing members of the whole family), you can do handprints, thumbprints and wall pieces as well.

To give you an idea of how this uber-creative lady works, I thought I’d show you the before and after.

Here is the drawing that my daughter, Frankie did of me (no, I wasn’t having a bad hair day, thats creative license!).

My husband scanned the drawing and emailed it to Jennifer. After discussing how it would look and what type of chain to use (she suggested a silver cord so the figure would “walk” across it), she went to work.

Imagine my surprise when I received this necklace a few weeks later.

Pretty cool, huh? Magic Dog Studio is truly an example of a creative and talented person doing something completely unique with her gift. I encourage anyone with children, grandkids, wives or mothers to give Jennifer a call and ask her to create a piece for you. Its a perfect way to forever preserve the childhood of that special little one in your life. You can contact her at: magicdogstudio@yahoo.com.

Aline
Visit our online boutique for the latest in fashion and fun for preemie, infant and toddler

Tune in next time when we show you how to create some fun and bubbly art with your child that can actually hang on the wall and not the fridge!

Matt & Aline
Visit our online boutique for the latest in fashion and fun for preemie, infant and toddler