Gift for Mom with Very Sick Newborn

[Anonymous]

A childhood best friend has a very sick newborn that is awaiting open heart surgery. Parents are staying at a Ronald McDonald house near the hospital (their home is several hours away). I'm in another city and want to help. Any suggestions on what I can do for her, them or the baby? Send something - gift cards, flowers???

Any other moms or friends of moms that had sick babies that have ideas that can help are great.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'd send a card letting them know that you're thinking of them and their baby (name baby by name) and a gift card to a restaurant nearby (Panera or whatever). You can find whatever restaurants are nearby on google maps, maybe even print out that out and include it with the gift card since they may now know the neighborhood either.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do flowers - they start to die after a few days. I think gift cards for things they can use right now would be really appreciated - like gas cards because they'll be doing a lot of driving or cards to grocery stores where they can order from Peapod so they don't have to go out. That and a nice card telling them you're thinking of them. Good thoughts for your friend and her baby.

[Anonymous]

A grocery gift card would be wonderful since you have to buy your own groceries when you stay at a Ronald McDonald House.

[Anonymous]

Do not sent flowers or a card. The flowers will die like one person suggested, and the card will likely not be read since there are lots of things to read regarding the condition their child is faced with, your card will just be one extra burden to read. As a parent of a former sick child, I would buy her a toilettery bag she can throw in her bag with some items (you can get from target) that she can have handy like lotion, roll on, mints, wipes etc - this is incase she sleep in the hospital and needs to freshen up in the morning. A gift card to local resturants where they can eat is also a wonderful idea.

[Anonymous]

I posted here a few months ago about my friend in the exact same situation.

Find what the closest grocery store is and get them a GC for that place.

They can get anything they need from there.

Target and WAlmart would also work if it's close enough.

[Anonymous]

Gift cards. I got one for my friend for the Dunkin' Donuts in the hospital where they were - that got used all the time since they were spending all their time there.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

When my child was in the NICU I really appreciated everything that people sent. Flowers, cards, balloons, emails, comments on facebook, everything. It just helped knowing that people were thinking about me and my child. It gets very lonely being in the hospital so much. You really become disconnected from your friends and family.

Also the hospital is a pretty boring place, especially if you are going to spend days or weeks at a time there. I read a ton of books and magazines. They were mostly fluff, but a much needed diversion to help me keep my sanity.

[Anonymous]

The best gift we got was cookies from Cheryl's Cookies.

[Anonymous]

Call the Ronald McDonald House where they're staying and ask them where the residents can get easily. Then get a gift card from there. I used to work at a Ronald McDonald House, and the only places people could get *easily* were KMart and McDonalds - everyone wanted to know how to get to Walmart but there wasn't one for 20 miles.

Also - find out if their hospital charges for parking. If so, find out if they'll take a charge card. If they do, get a prepaid Visa and tell them it's for hospital parking. After about a month people can *sometimes* get a break on hospital parking, but not much - and those costs can really add up.

Also - find out if they're interested in Caringbridge, which is a kind of facebook specifically for people who are seriously ill to share updates with their friends and family - they might not want to put medical info on facebook, but Caringbridge lets you control who has access a little differently so people can sometimes be more open. The hospital where the baby is can probably hook them up.

Finally - if she's interested - there's a group locally called "Mended Little Hearts" that's a support group for people with kids with heart conditions - they might be national, I'm not sure - that she might be interested in contacting.

[Anonymous]

Ditto previous suggestions. If the baby is likely to be in the hospital long term, you might consider a subscription to a magazine like US Weekly or People or something else that doesn't require a lot of thought, but passes the time.

[Anonymous]

Really, a mom with a sick child needs a teething necklace. Bad advertising on an old thread.