Our New Moms Group is a customer favorite. Time and again we hear moms tell us how grateful they are for the friends they made and the support gained. Moms also tell us their experience didn’t end when their group stopped meeting. Many graduates of our New Moms Group continue meeting on their own on a regular basis or they schedule regular playdates so their babies can keep in touch with their first friends. It’s something we’re very proud to make available to parents. It also makes us proud because it’s an opportunity for new moms and their babies to make a charitable contribution to a good cause.
Starting in 2011, Bellani will donate a portion of the class registration fee to a local family whose baby girl needs our support. Today we want to share with you the story of a sweet baby girl who has touched our hearts and who we hope to help. Her parents have been regular Bellani customers since they became pregnant so we’ve known this precious little girl for quite sometime.
Meet Emelienne. Eme, as friends and family call her, made her grand entrance into the world on July 22, 2010. Little Eme was born with lambdoid craniosynostosis (posterior plagiocephaly) which is a condition where some sutures at the back of the skull have fused together. There are only 12 reported cases in the world. She will need a cranial renovation where the fused bone is removed and the skull is rebuilt into a normal shape.
Eme also has a hemifacial microsomia which is a congenital disorder affecting the development of the lower half of the face, most commonly the ears, the mouth and the jaw. Young Eme, only 5 months old, also has a cleft lip, congenital muscular torticollis (a fancy term for a condition in which the head is tilted to one side), a club foot, a malformed ear which is also hearing impaired, a malformed vertebrae resulting in a curve to the spine, a pelvic kidney and two holes in her tiny heart.
It’s overwhelming to know such a small baby can be plagued by so much. Luckily, most of Eme’s conditions can be corrected with surgeries, physical and occupational therapy, and the use of casts, hearing aids and other assistive devices, not to mention time. In fact, Eme will have her first major surgery on January 27, 2011 but it won’t be her last. Doctors estimate she could need up to a dozen major surgeries before graduating high school.
Eme has a whole lot of love and support in her corner, including us here at Bellani, unfortunately love and well wishes alone won’t pay for Eme’s medical bills. This is why we’re donating $25 from every New Moms Group participant’s registration fee to Eme and her family to assist with the very high cost of bringing baby Eme to being 100% healthy. If you know someone who is expecting, please let them know they can find amazing support at Bellani through our New Moms Group and tell them how they can make a difference in one little girl’s life.
Kelly LaChance Guertin: I'm a lady with a cackle that can be heard in any room. If it comes to Pregnancy or Childbirth I have a real answer, from a mom who knows a little something about it. I have three children, The Boy, age 9; The Girl, age 7, and The Baby, just three years old!
