‘Premature birth can be overwhelming’

TRALEE WOMAN TALKS MOTHERHOOD AND IMPORTANCE OF PREMATURE BABY CHARITY

A TRALEE woman, who recently raised over €1,200 for the Irish Premature Babies organisation through a coffee morning, has spoken about her admiration for the charity and her own experience of what it is like to have a baby born prematurely.

Jennifer Kissane, who held the coffee morning in the House café at The Abbey Inn on Thursday to mark World Prematurity Day, was herself born 12 weeks early and is now mother to little Fionn, who was born six weeks early – an experience she admits was “frightening”.

“When your little baby is born initially, the worry sets in almost straight away because they are whisked to the special care unit and the next time that you see them, they are in this incubator and they are hooked up to all these wires and monitors; it can be a very fightening experience,” said Jennifer.

“It’s not an easy sight for a new mother to see; it’s very overhelming, you don’t know what all these monitors are for and you see all of these machines and wires that are hooked up to this teeny tiny baby that you’ve carried with you for so long.”

“The staff at these special units are so helpful; Fionn was born at the Emly Ward up at Kerry University Hospital and the staff there were brilliant.

“They just explained everything to me. The nurses in the units are experts at what they do, I can’t emphasise how supportive they were.”

Jennifer says that she couldn’t believe the turnout that she received on the day and hopes that the money raised will go some small way in helping out what sees as a vital charity.

“All the money raised from the coffee morning will be going straight to the Irish Premature Babies, which is a wonderful charity which helps to support familes of premature babies,”

“At the moment, they are looking to raise money for ten more breast pumps for parents, that’s where a lot of the funding is going and obviously the more that can be raised, the better help that the charity can provide to those families in need.”

“They do such good work; babies that are transferred to different hospitals, the charity can help parents deal with the cost of that.”

“There are a lot of parents out there in a far worse position than I was and my own experience encouraged me to raise funds, I’m glad to help.”

Maura O’ Donoghue, Stella Quirke, Jessica Quirke and Beth Quirke pictured at the charity coffee morning for Irish Premature Babies that was held in the Abbey Inn on Thursday.

RIGHT: Jennifer Kissane, Marie Enright and Melissa Dennehy at their charity coffee morning