[Needlework Monday] Challenge: 5 NICU Hats

in #needleworkmonday7 years ago

When I caught onto @crosheille 's Community Challenge for January, it was already almost two weeks old. I couldn't give a good upvote to the original post, at any rate.

But sometimes I do challenges anyway. The worst that happened was I couldn't get done in time, right?

This challenge was to make at least five preemie baby hats and donate them to a local hospital who uses such things to be a handmade help to these most fragile little people as they fight to grow big enough to go home to their rightful place with their families. Babies lose a lot of heat through their heads, so these tiny soft hats can be a huge help to a preemie being able to maintain their body temperature.

Thankfully, @crosheille included a link to a handy pattern and a site that would help me find a hospital nearby. I actually found four in my area that not only have addresses and requests for NICU hats, but gave sizes needed.

One of the sobering things about this search was the discovery of how many hospitals are looking for burial garments of this size. We don't think about things like infant mortality in this day and age, but if the number of hospitals requesting burial garments for preemies is any indication...even today, the survival of such very tiny people is a miracle of miracles.

Whenever I'm expecting, I sort of hold my breath through this stage, marking the time from when my babies are survivable as micro-preemies, then as preemies, then as early term, then (in my most recent baby's case!) late term. My little lost baby was only eight weeks old, too small for even the smallest hat to fit. He could fit in the palm of my hand, his tiny perfect head no bigger than a marble. But all the rest have made it through this tricky time with no problems at all.

I made the five hats in gradually increasing sizes, from the smallest size requested on up through my hook sizes. Each one of those hook increases is a victory, a sign of diligent effort on the part of dedicated NICU staff, of gut-wrenching fear and love on the part of preemie parents (every day is a new roller coaster!), of resilience on the part of the babies, and of great blessing from God that we live in a time where a surprising number of these pint-sized fighters can survive. Never before in history has a child this small been able to live outside their mother.

I took the pictures of these tiny hats with my two-and-a-half-month-old son for comparison. He's about 13 pounds and 25" long. His head is only about 13 or 14 inches in circumfirence. And compared to the babies who could wear these hats, he's gigantic. This littlest hat I made is meant for a 25 week preemie. Daniel is about 52 weeks old. That's a lot of growth to happen in a short time!

These were originally going to be a bit more decorative - I have some little flowers I made to attach - but I realized that if I did that, the hats would all become girl hats while as it stands they could work for either gender. They are made of super soft sport-weight yarn that I had to order since I knew I'd never get out to the store in time to find some before the challenge was ended. Each hat took about 30 minutes to make and I worked on them in the evenings after all my babies were tucked away for the night and my husband was reading "The Creature from Jekyll Island" aloud (yeah, we go for light reading in the evenings!). It was a special project and I appreciate the nudge in the backside from this challenge to get it done. I have enough yarn to make a few more and will probably do that before I send these out, but in the meantime...all five are completed!

Lauren Turner, Wife, Mother, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, Blogger and Caretaker of Civilization
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You did such an Awesome job on these Lauren!! I love the color you chose with the little speckles of more colors! It is very sad thinking about how they also need these hats for the burial garments. I teared up when you talked about it. I’m really glad you were able to find a hospital to donate to and thank you so very much for participating in this challenge! Yay for reaching your goal! 😃

Your little one is just too adorable! I love how you showed the comparison and put the little hat on his head! That was just so adorable~ 😊🤗

Thank you! I think he's adorable but I'm also undeniably biased. Ben cracked up every time he saw that picture with the little hat on Daniel's head. He thought it was pretty funny.

Aw, I imagine that did come close to home for you...all I could think when I saw the list of hospital after hospital asking for burial clothes was, "WHY is there such a need for this? Why do so many of our babies die?" And then I pictured living back a while ago when it was rare for any baby to survive even eight weeks early.

It's just so easy for us to think we live in an age when anything can be fixed by going to the hospital simply because so many things that used to be practically un-survivable (pneumonia!) are easily taken care of now. To have the ability for so many of these preemies to survive is an absolute miracle that can't be taken for granted. To have so many healthy babies around makes it even tougher when one doesn't make it, though.

It was really strange to make the 25 week hat and think that there are babies born THAT TINY who make it. Absolutely incredibly amazing.

That is so true! Back then it was a rare thing for them to survive that long. It truly is a miracle when a tiny life like that survives. God is truly amazing and gracious~

What a great idea; I had no idea hospitals were in need of baby hats. They are teeny tiny! Its a miracle that such small babies can survive.
P.S. Our babies are only a month apart. My daughter was born during our first Sukkot.

Congratulations!!! I was so sure Daniel was going to be a Sukkot baby - all our others were born between a week and two weeks early. But the little stinker was almost two weeks LATE, making him just about a month later than I was expecting him. He was just a surprise all the way around - I was surprised I was expecting him (for some reason I was just thinking, "oh, probably not this month"), surprised he was late and especially surprised he's a boy.

Fantastic! Resteemed! @ironshield

I love you too, father of my children. :)

Yea!!! That's awesome. I LOVE the picture of your son with a tiny one on his head. That is sooooo amazing, huh? I can't believe how much they grow in such a short time. The hats are adorable and look super soft and comfy. I'm sure they will encourage a parent to know that someone out there cares...and also help keep baby's head warm. The church I used to attend in Texas had a knitting/crocheting Bible study class where the women would make hats for Cancer patients, baby hats, etc. I am not talented in that way even though I tried multiple times! I always just took my cross stitch to the study. ;)

Thank you! When I set that little hat on his head it was a little awe-inspiring to realize that he could've worn it about 27 weeks ago. That's lightening fast to have grown so much!

It's funny how certain things just click - I know people who are excellent knitters and who can't stand trying to cross-stitch. I do great with the cross stitching and crochet but have no patience for the seamstress work my sister does. I'm trying to teach my daughter to find some craft she enjoys right now and yarn-type things that made perfect sense to me at her age don't make sense to her at all...but yet she is able to take adult-style coloring books with all those little tiny spaces and color them beautifully with her colored pencils and I never had the temperament for that when I was five!

These are so precious, and what a cute boy!
So very sad they are asking for burial clothes for little ones. Sending up a prayer with each hat....

Amen. I am praying hard that these hats are able to go to living babies. But if they are given to ones who have died, I hope it give their parents some comfort to see their little ones cuddled into normal clothes. There's something that makes it so much harder, as if the babies are little aliens, when you've lost them and they're not even wrapped or dressed or anything...

Touching post, the hat is so small compared to your son! Inspiring work!

Thank you!

Wow, @lturner! Thank you so much for the insight into this situation, and for your dedication to @crosheille's challenge. A job well done! Happy #NeedleworkMonday!

Thank you!

I've been in the NICU for other reasons (two siblings) and watched the battle the preemies go through - it's not an easy place to be. It's such a wrench on a person physically, spiritually and emotionally to have the baby not be well and have to go back and forth to the hospital...and if there are other kids it's really hard on them...it's just quite a journey all the way around.

I cannot even imagine that kind of stress.

so touching seeing the size of the hats against your son really impacted me to how tiny they are

such a wonderful thing you are doing

Thank you! @crosheille had a really good idea. Her newest one for February is good too, though I've got another project I really need to get done. Maybe March!

Yes it’s great to see projects like this

@lturner your story is so moving. Well done on getting all 5 done in such a short space of time - they look really beautiful. Love the comparison in size with your little one and these teeny hats - so adorable!

Thank you! Since all the hats were the same color, I was looking for something that could at least make the pictures sort of interesting...

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing