Caroline’s Closet

I will never forget the first day I saw my baby in clothes. My tiny girl, tucked sweetly in a preemie-sized sleeper, looked like a *real* baby for the first time. It took my breath away and began the long process of healing for me.

I’ve never been super open about this, but I struggled to force myself to hold Caroline on her first few scary days. The cords and lines. The monitors. Her tiny naked body. All of it terrified me. Though I was encouraged to touch her and hold her when her stats were good, her little body felt unnatural in my arms. I was afraid I’d hurt her and I didn’t think I’d survive if something worse happened to her.

I couldn’t even change her diaper without crying. But that all changed when she finally had clothes on.

I later found out that her nurse had purchased the first outfit she wore. And the outfits after that? They’d been donated by other families and nurses. Since you can’t purchase preemie clothes in-store, Rob and I had nothing of our own. Every outfit she wore was graciously donated and sent home with us for her to wear for weeks afterward.

A few months later, I returned to the NICU to give back all of the clothes we were lent. I also brought with me several sets of NEW preemie clothes, and vowed to always give back so that parents with tiny, sick babies might benefit from seeing their dolls in real clothes, too.

For Caroline’s 1st birthday in April, we asked family and friends to forgo gifts and instead send gift cards so that we could purchase preemie clothing for our NICU friends on Caroline’s behalf. And there it was: Caroline’s Closet was born. I pledged to myself that I’d donate preemie clothing to our NICU in April (Caroline’s birth month) and September each year under the name Caroline’s Closet.

September is NICU Awareness Month. Please consider a monetary donation to Caroline’s Closet this month on behalf of the NICU warriors who came before you and those who will come after you. Together we can bless the families in several Boston-area NICU’s... and maybe someday take this ship Nationwide ;)

Since 2020, we have donated over $3,000 worth of clothing, mittens, and swaddles to the South Shore Hospital NICU. This year, we want to double that amount!

To purchase directly from the Amazon wishlist, follow this link.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. All named donations will receive a name shout-out in the card presented to each hospital on October 2022, and I’ll be sure to post frequent updates here.