Sleeping peacefully on her mother?s chest, little Samantha Waller is already considered well-read, even though she?s still technically weeks away from her due date. Michelle Waller delivered Samantha on Aug. 14, but she wasn?t due until October.
The four-week-old girl has spent the majority of her existence at Toronto?s St. Michael?s Hospital as she undergoes care for arriving more than two months before her due date. Waller has used a lot of that time to not only get in some skin-to-skin contact but also read to her little early arrival.
?I should still be pregnant now,? Waller said. ?So I thought it was a good way just to bond with her just to hear my voice and also pass the time while I?m rocking her.? Samantha?s mother is one of first to try St. Michael?s Hospital new Books for Babies program, an initiative that gifts parents with children?s books so they can read to their babies during their stay in the neo-natal intensive care unit.
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The Books for Babies program was founded by Cathy O?Neill, daughter of Maryrose O?Neill. Her mother was a volunteer preemie cuddler at the hospital before her death. Literacy was her baby. Her family hopes this program w...