I started thinking about this shortly after Timothy was born. I have been thinking, praying, planning, searching, practicing and mostly sewing since then.
I love the wonderful hospital that helped us deliver 4 out of 5 children (Austin was the only one not born there...but he still had the same delivering Doctor!) But after Timothy was born I became aware that they need to have some help with the very delicate practice of infant loss. Shortly after Timothy was born they brought in a standard gift box. It was a very nice gesture but I was thankful that we were prepared for Timothy and brought our own tiny clothes for him to wear as well as the other keepsakes that we wanted. It didn't take long for me to realize that most families don't expect to be dealing with a loss and don't have the ability buy their own tiny outfit or little blanket.
After seeing the gift box that we were offered, I knew that I wanted to do something more for these grieving families. The gift box had a little wrap for the baby to wear as well as a very tiny piece of cloth that was called a blanket. They had pink and blue foot prints all over them. They were okay but I know that I wouldn't have wanted my son to be dressed in them.
That is when I was overcome with a desire to bless other grieving families.
I have been making little boy and girl outfits for the last couple of months. One thing that you might not know about me is that I didn't know how to sew. I have had a machine for the last 10 years but only tried it a couple of times. I have been teaching myself how to sew but get this... these outfits are too small to edge very easily so I have also had to teach myself how to surge! I must say that surging is much harder then it looks!!!
I have 4 different sizes and my mom is knitting an extra extra small bunting for the tiniest babies.
On Timothy's birthday I plan to donate the gift boxes to our local hospital. My goal is to make 30-40 boxes. Each one will be gender and size appropriate and have an outfit, blanket, hat and a tiny heart pillow. I hope to also add a card for hand and footprints, a certificate of life (our hospital does not have them), tiny feet lapel pin, baby bracelet, information for bereavement support, and information for the nurse that is caring for the grieving family.
Since I always think big, I have one last goal for Timothy's birthday. I would love to provide the hospital with a camera and small photo printer. Shorty before we were discharged our nurse offered to give us the gift of Timothy's "hospital" picture. Even though we have a ton of pictures we were thrilled to have even one more. We went with her to the back to the camera and she couldn't figure out how to use it (neither could the other nurse with her). After fiddling with it for a long while we gave up getting the picture. I asked if she had any other way of taking pictures of baby's and she said no. I know that not everyone has a camera, or can go home to get one in the mist of crisis and I would love for the hospital to have a camera ready to snap pictures and a printer that can print them out before the family is discharged.
If you could please pray for each of these boxes, that they will bring a little comfort to the families that they are given too.
As you might have guessed, this is going to be a rather expensive project. I am not sure how much each box will cost at this time because I don't know exactly how much I will be able to add but I think that they will be between $8.00 and $12.00 each. If you feel lead to donate a box to a baby I have added a "chip in" widget.
