NICU Giving Day: From Mini to Moose

​From Mini to Moose is a unique company that was recently founded by two NICU moms who are trying to make a small difference throughout the NICU community.  Inspired by the premature birth of our daughters we both had a strong desire to become more involved in helping other families within the NICU community. After throwing around the idea of forming an Etsy shop, centered around the needs of the NICU community, the idea of taking some of the special onesies that we would be creating into local NICUs was born.  From Mini to Moose the Etsy shop soon became only one piece of the puzzle and “From Mini to Moose - Special Delivery" was born. In order for us to make this idea a reality we reached out to family, friends and others in the NICU community for support.  The response was overwhelming to say the least and over the course of two months we have received the materials needed to create over 400 of these special NICU onesies .
 
In order for you to understand why we have a drive to make a difference in the NICU community you'd need to understand who we are. In college we were acquaintances who dated college roommates, and were in the same circle of friends.  Fast forward a few years, we both married those same college roommates, and were expecting little girls! Samantha was expecting her first at the same time as I was expecting my second.  In March of 2016 Samantha gave birth to her daughter Madison at 27 weeks. Maddie Moose as they called her only weighed a mere 1 pound 15 ounces, and would spend the next two plus months in the NICU. Ironically, a month later, I too found out my pregnancy was going to result in a premature birth and I gave birth to my daughter who we called Quinny Mini was born at just 28 weeks weighing a mere 1 pound 12 ounces. 
 
During this stressful time period I had reached out to Sam with many questions about what to expect in the coming months, and she became a true confidant, and friend.  We often talked about things going on in the NICU, and the emotional journey we were both on.  When friends and family would ask how my daughter was and I would always say “good” because I just didn't have the energy to explain, yet when Sam asked I would tell her every detail about my day, knowing she was the only other person really understood. 

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Our First Delivery

The inspiration behind From Mini to Moose began around Mother's Day of this year.  Mother's Day happened to be one of the holidays my daughter Quinn spent in the NICU, and I wanted to do something special for the Moms who would be spending time in Quinn’s NICU during that holiday this year. Sam and I often talked about preemie items she could include in her online Etsy shop, and as I often did I reached out to Sam for ideas of things that I could do. Sam had previously created a onesie for Quinn that said #preemiestrong, and somehow the idea of creating NICU inspired bodysuits was brought up.  Sam was obviously on board with helping with the project and loved the idea of giving back to the NICU community.
 
That week she spent hours helping me create 22 onesies for Quinn’s NICU. After dropping off these onesies we both felt awesome about giving back to the NICU community, and couldn't shake the accomplished feeling that we had.  We realized that this tiny gesture meant so much to other Moms going through a really difficult experience much like we had.
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After our “Special Delivery” A few NICU Moms who received bodysuits reached out to us telling us how much these little onesie meant to them, and from that point on we knew needed to continue our Special Deliveries. 

To date we have already completed our Mother’s Day Onesies, 4th of July onesies that encompassed three local NICUs, and have created the majority of beach themed onesies that will be needed for our August delivery. We have big plans for many more upcoming months throughout the year, and eventually we would like nothing more than to expand From Mini to Moose Special Delivery into the majority of NICU’s throughout the Tri-State Area. 

​We hope that through our monthly project Mini to Moose Special Delivery, that we will be supporting other NICU Moms in any way that we can, even if that means just bringing a smile to their face on special holidays.
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Are you also interested in giving back?  See our Facebook page for more information! where we donate custom onesies to the local NICUs (for more information visit our Facebook Community page).