Volunteers at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Kansas City are dressing up premature babies -- also known as preemies -- into Christmas gifts for their parents. The March of Dimes organization collaborated with the hospital nurses and staff of the St. Luke Hospital to make the families' holiday extra special. There's even a volunteer who dressed up as Santa to deliver the gifts.
Some 31 preemies are currently at the St. Luke Hospital's NICU, which means that their families will be spending the Christmas season and beyond while the babies remain treated by their doctors. The idea of dressing up these babies as gifts was to show support for their parents, who would have been in the midst of preparing for Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah at this time. It was also supposed to help ease up the worries and stress over making sure that their baby's health improves.
According to Scary Mommy, the NICU babies and their families were also gifted with a basket full of goodies that included a holiday card that has the baby's footprint, a hand-crocheted Santa hat or bowed-cap and a holiday book. "Providing these special families with an opportunity to celebrate the holidays in a memorable way allows them a sense of normalcy," Michelle Manuel of St. Luke Hospital said.
Baby> Volunteers Dress NICU Babies As 'Presents' For Their Parents-- https://t.co/RiJZDl27n1 #baby pic.twitter.com/rNZOqGQbnZ
— Baby HealthMag (@BabyHealthMag) December 18, 2016
This isn't the first time the volunteers made the holiday a memorable one for NICU families. Last Halloween, they also dressed up the preemies in superhero costumes and the story was picked up by the media, per Fox News.
Since that idea became such a success, the volunteers and the hospital decided to do the same for Christmas. The parents of the preemies appreciate the effort. "It makes us feel like we're part of a community and not like we're in this on our own," one mom, Kaitlyn Bunch said, per 13 News Now.
