Last night, my craft club hosted a wonderful lady from the
"Ray of Hope" charity to give us a talk on the beautiful clothes that
are created by volunteers for babies on the NICU.
The majority of items donated are knitted, and
unsurprisingly people favour making little girls clothes. Apparently, this is
because when knitting small items, they are very similar to dolls clothes, and
dolls are invariably female. She started off by showing us a doll fully kitted
out with typical items, the doll was representative of the smaller babies found
on the NICU and it was incredible how tiny it was - not much heavier that a
pound and about what a 24 week baby might look like. The fact that that is
smaller than the bean currently cooking in my oven really made me realise just
how early and underdeveloped these babies must be.
Before the talk, I had knitted up a couple of (what I
thought were tiny) hats, one for a boy and one for a girl (and some very dodgy
booties, I will never manage to make 2 that match!). However, mine looked huge
in comparison and I hadn't considered the fact that these babies are in
ventilators. Ray of Hope have designed teeny tiny hats with "flaps"
on the top to allow babies to be closely monitored and fitted with all the
necessary tubes.
Perhaps it wasn't the best talk to go to in my heightened
emotional state - I was never emotional before getting pregnant but even hearing
Jeremy Paxman's closing statement when leaving Newsnight made me cry (even
though I dislike the man and have never watched Newsnight!). The clothes are so tiny, and a lot of premature babies are very poorly. The Ray of Hope also
help with bereavement, offering photography of babies that don't make it and
providing tiny "angel gowns" and presents to help the family deal
with their loss.
I feel so lucky to have had such a straightforward pregnancy
and healthy baby the first time round, and fingers crossed it all goes well
again this time. But I will take time to think of those who are less fortunate
and have another go at knitting some clothes for these special babies.
If you feel inspired, ask your local hospital or midwife if
they are in need of anything in particular. Here is a link to the knitting
patterns created by Ray of Hope:
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