Weymouth woman donating 1,000 onesies to NICU babies through "Caroline's Closet"
WEYMOUTH – There are many challenges for parents when their baby is admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). One of those challenges is finding the proper sized clothing that can accommodate the wires and monitoring devices required to keep a premature baby safe.
Local mom and business owner Meghan Block lived through this herself, when her daughter Caroline was born prematurely at 34 weeks.
When a NICU nurse purchased preemie clothes so her daughter would have something to wear, Block was touched and inspired to do the same for other families.
"The gift that our nurse gave us, she didn't present it as a gift. She just dressed my baby. She had her drawer of little baby clothes that she puts on her patients," Block told WBZ-TV in an interview last year. "I just think it's incredible, but I also feel like it's not their job to have to do that for us."
Now, for the fourth year in a row, Block is collecting preemie sized onesies and donating them to local hospitals.
The collection of clothes at each hospital is known as "Caroline's Closet," and is expanding.
This year, the preemie onesies will be available to NICU families at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mount Auburn in Cambridge and Saint Elizabeth's in Brighton.
Block says this year about 1,000 preemie onesies have been donated, which she'll drop off at hospitals next week. Block is also planning on keeping preemie outfits on hand for moms who contact her throughout the year who don't have a Caroline's Closet at their local hospital yet.
If you would like to donate to Caroline's Closet you can click here.