By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Ten years ago Elena Olivarez showed up early.
Andrea Olivarez was expecting her to be born two months later.
Instead the tiny Elena ended up in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital in Toledo. It was, her mother said, “nerve wracking.”
Elena weighed in at 3 pounds, 12 ounces.
“We weren’t expecting her to come at that time,” Olivarez said. “We hadn’t even had a baby shower or prepared in any way. So any items that were given to us were taken with great gratitude, and we’re still thankful.”
A decade later, mother and daughter returned to the hospital with a gift of their own – 38 muslin swaddling blankets for the NICU.
To show their gratitude to the ProMedica Children’s Hospital, Olivarez, of Bowling Green, used her Matilda Clothing business to solicit donations from customers. Others in the business chipped in. So the blankets delivered Thursday are just the initial delivery. More are on the way. And Olivarez is considering making it an annual drive.
Olivarez also posted the appeal on her Facebook page, and customers at her family’s other businesses El Zarape and Guajillo’s made contributions as well. “It was all word of mouth.”
“I hope it’s a blessing to the families, a little bit of encouragement,” she said. “I remember how hard of a time it was for us.”
The blankets are used to wrap the newborns, to help them regulate their body temperature.
“I remember when Elena was in here, one of the biggest things was just keeping her body temperature where it should be,” Olivarez said. “So the blankets should hopefully help the family give them security when holding their tiny little babies.”
“Any kind of personal touch that we can give our families with a personalized message is going to be the light of their day,” said Emily Therko, director of the NICU at Children’s Hospital. “The NICU journey can be extremely long, and any little thing that can brighten up their day, and something that’s more personalized for their baby is going to help them along their journey, and it gives them something to look back on, too. We always remember the little moments of joy.”
Each blanket has a card with a message written on it: “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. We hope this gift brings you some joy as you endure this difficult time.”
Elena said she felt good that the donations were being made in honor of her birthday.
A student at Crim Elementary in Bowling Green, she’s entering fifth grade.
She plays cello, having previously studied piano and violin at the Black Swamp Fine Arts School. She also takes dance classes at the school, and most recently performed as a hunter in the school’s production of “Peter and the Wolf.”
From birth, her mother said, Elena has been “a fighter.”
“Whether she’s being rebellious or being a fighter for the thing she believes in, she always has that motivation in her personality. I remember a couple nurses telling me that she’s going to do big things because she was just a fighter from the beginning and she was different from the other preemies they’ve dealt with. She knew what she needed and wanted from the beginning.”
