Hi All,
    On the septuplets, this morning on Today and on a radio show, an RN,
Julie Oliver said, "we will get the mom and dad to hold them." And "
'we' will get them to know their mom and dad." I was so angry I could
not see straight. Back in 1984 when I delivered a 24 weeker, everyone in
the NICU, was amazed at the fact that we (his parents) always brought a
normal, typical reaction from him. It was obvious, he was squirming, and
if it had been possible would have turned toward our voices, smiled and
looked at us, i.e. he recognized us! Infants have brains in utero and
the main things that are imprinted in the brain is the voices of the
people they are nearest too (mom and dad?!?) and moms heartbeat. The
business environment jumps on every new research and study out on
infants: as there are bears out with heart beats for the baby to sleep
with as the research shows that this is soothing as are tapes of soft
sounds and female voices, why are some of the HCPs who work with these
situations every day, not getting it through their heads - 'we' are not
going to get the babies to know their parents - you are just going to
have to get out of the way so that the mom, dad and babies can get back
to what they started months ago, attaching, bonding, and becoming a
family. Enough of my rant for the morning. Here is the list I have thus
far on donations to the family, live press conference at 10:30AM (EST)
on CNN.
    Proctor & Gamble - lifetime supply of diapers (if it is the 2 years
stated on a post yesterday) they will need to buy diapers, as being
premature, they will not be close to potty training until well after
their 2nd birthday (adjusting for the prematurely).
    Home - the Gov. of  Iowa has asked business & community to donate
toward this
    Wright Chev - Father works here, they donated a 12 or 15 passenger
van (heard both sizes)
    Gerber - Baby Food - I wonder if this includes SIN?!?
    Toys R Us - strollers and car seats
    missed the company - 7 years of cable service
    Motts - 16 years of Apple juice and apple sauce - yeah, better to
use that diluted than baby food version
    missed who - a year's worth of groceries (check for $5200.00)
    Ambrose College - full scholarships for all 7 babies

    I was so happy to hear the Ted Koppel asked the question, and that
someone has stated that the mother is considering breastfeeding. I agree
that all of us who can, should send a note, maybe offer to donate to a
local LC (or even have us all here contribute to helping local LCs and
LLL Leaders get in contact with this mom), also contact the pump
companies and tell them that jumping on this donation bandwagon, may be
the BEST money spent on helping their sales, recognition and
recommendations from breastfeeding advocates world wide.

Leslie Ward
Vine Grove, KY
"The ones that matter most are the children. They are the true human
beings." Lakota proverb