Made from scrap

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Monday 9 July 2012

My July 10th Baby

This is my little July 10th Baby!  Not bad as my due date was September the 4th.  Yes this little fella was in a rush to come in to the world and he has not stopped since, 8yrs old!  Where does the time go?  His early arrival was quite a shock but somehow we were ready for him.  I can remember my partner telling me something particularly funny (I can't remember what) I laughed so hard my waters broke!   Then it suddenly was not funny anymore!  I was 'blue lighted' in the back of an ambulance to a hospital 20 miles away.  It takes me about half an hour to drive there, it took the ambulance crew about 10 minutes.  Euan's birth was about as pleasant and trouble free as birth can be.  He spent three days in 'Special Care'.  He was 5lb 2oz.  Quite a good size for a prem baby.  I will always be incredibly grateful for the 'charity knits' that were available at the hospital, tiny hats and woolly cardigans that looked like they were made for garden gnomes.  That is another debt I really should repay.  I must knit some tiny baby things to donate to the hospital.  Trouble is I will get broodier than my hens and we don't want that do we?  Babies seriously interfere with crafting time!
            It is very tricky dressing a tiny baby, nothing fits them.  Early babies have trouble maintaining their temperature so woollies are essential.   He was tube fed for a couple of days until he was strong enough to suck his bottle.  Then boy oh boy did he love his bottle.  At six days old he was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital to have a Plaster cast for his 'Club Foot' this was from his toes to his thigh.  This again was a challenge.  His Dad and my brother had to take him to hospital as I got rushed back in to hospital with a 'Pulmonary Embolism'.  His Dad had to take care of the new tiny baby and my parents had Henry while I was hospitalised for a week.  I then had three months of blood tests and blood thinning treatment!  Euan needed his plaster cast changed each week.  We had to soak it and remove it at home and then drive to Birmingham to get a new one put on.  I don't know how we did it.  It was very stressful at the time.  It all seems like a very long time ago thankfully.   It is amazing what you can cope with if you have to.  He had casts and boots on a bar until he was four.   At the Children's Hospital I would often think if all the parents could put there troubles in a heap, I would happily take my own troubles back, they were slight compared to most.   He had his first Op at 10 weeks old.  I will have to sort out some photographs and tell the story of his foot, I like to think telling the story might help somebody somewhere.  He has had three or four operations to date and spent his 6th Birthday in Hospital as his last operation (to literally move muscles and tendons) was the day before his birthday.  Credit to the Nursing staff, Euan remembers the whole things as a great experience.  He had fun.  He is now one of the youngest in his class at school but one of the biggest.  He has caught up well.  The foot is also all good for now.
              His older brother has his Birthday on the 15th of July and when I was expecting he kept asking 'Will his birthday be after mine?  His birthday will be after mine won't it?'  He has not quite forgiven him for getting in there first.  We gave Henry the chance to pick a 'Middle' name for his brother, he wanted to choose 'God', 'Cool Boy' or 'Ganesh' needless to say Euan has no middle name!  Sadly Euan is off school with a horrible cough.  (He was determined to get out of 'Sports Day' somehow, even if it meant getting ill)!  His Daddy has the day of work tomorrow so it will be a 'lads' day.  I am hoping to see Euan open presents before I go to work. . . I will be sad if I miss him!    I know there are plans for a manly, cooked breakfast.  My parents will come for tea when I get home from work.  There will be Birthday cake and balloons.  
               Now on with 'The Tour De Fleece', Euan and I have been drum carding tonight to make batts of Merino.  He loves drum carding with a passion and behaves like he is my boss telling me what to do and what not to do.  I used some scrap fibre and some Merino that was a dye experiment that went wrong.  You can read about my Adventures in Dyeing Here.


Thanks for reading and most of all thanks for coming back again!  
Lucy xxx

17 comments:

  1. Lovely Lucy !

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  2. Thank you Lucy I enjoyed reading this emotive post today and loved hearing about how your Evan came into the world....lovely story!!! and.....happy birthday Ewan from sunny Spain (or as the Spanish would say Ewan Feliz Cumpliaños!!)

    the colour of that yarn is so exciting I can imagine lots of wonderful makes with that!!!

    Enjoy!

    Amanda :-)

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  3. What a sweet story. My best friend is in hospital right this moment in labour. He could very well be a July 10 baby. It sounds like you and Euan have a very close relationship. I think that is sweet too. Talk to you soon. XOXO

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  4. It was great to read your (or perhaps Euan's) story. Thank you so much for sharing! Despite potential "broodiness" I think a few little baby knits to donate is an absolutely perfect idea. I'll have to see if my local hospital (less than one mile/kilometer) has something of the sort. What a great way to help people!
    ~Lacey

    PS- I am loving your planet themed spinnings :)

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  5. Aww happy birthday Evan! It's my birthday too, afew years older though! He was a great weight! My Henry was 4lb1 & mj was 5lb12 love diddy babies but glad they get to grow and show us life from a child's eyes <3

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  6. Evan's story will no doubt help someone, Lucy. When my oldest daughter was born 31 years ago, one hip was dislocated and she had to wear a pillow brace for several months. Although I was anxious at the time, hearing Evan's story helps me appreciate once more what you discovered with Evan...others have even greater struggles than we did. I am so glad that Evan is doing well now! I hope you and yours have a happy celebration:). Gracie <3

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  8. Wow, Lucy.. thanks for telling us this story. I'm so glad that Euen made it through being a premie birth! I had my foot in the bathroom sink to wash it when I went into labor with my youngest. I think I've told you that both my first baby, Amy, and my 2nd, Shawn - had turned feet. Amy had to wear the shoes connected at the back and Shawn had a cast as a baby. I have an idea. Why don't you lead the charge for all your crochet and knitting blog readers to make some preemie things to donate to their local hospital and share their photos with you? Just imagine, your story could get a LOT of donations to help a LOT of preemie babies!

    *H*A*P*P*Y* * *B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y*!*!*!* to Euen from his friend in Oregon! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  9. Happy birthday Euan, you make us so proud.
    Love to you all.
    Man and Grandad

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  10. Hey Lucy, what a touching story. My babies were 5 weeks early,4 pounds ish each. not even the prem baby clothes from marks fitted. I had dollies cardigans made to fit Thomas. Hes at least 5 foot 9 now. Happy birthday Euan.

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  11. What a lovely story, thanks for sharing it Lucy, and Happy Birthday Evan! You went through an awful lot, but so glad it all turned out well. I had monster babies compared to Evan (my second weighed ten pounds and was 2 feet long at birth) but wonder how much Evan would have weighed had he gone full term? Enjoy your special day, Claire xxx

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  12. Happy Birthday Evan!
    Hope you have a great day!
    Thank you for popping over to Chalky's World and leaving such a lovely comment about William. I would love to be a bit closer to you so that we could meet for a coffee.
    And in answer to your question no William does not have a knitted football. Even though his daddy loves Sheffield Wednesday. Funny choice for a Devonshire Lad x

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  13. Happy Birthday to lovely Euan! It's amazing Lucy how traumatic events fade from the memory and how we just get on with things however difficult they are, it's only afterwards that we stop and think blimey how did we get through that! On the tiny baby front, my daughter was two weeks overdue but weighed in at a mighty 4lb 4ozs, oh the fun we had finding clothes and nappies to fit her tiny little fundement!

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  14. what a lovely post Lucy - it was incredibly heart warming. I am 32 and was 6 weeks early when I was born in 1980, I had to stay in special care but managed to be able to breathe on my own, I thinked I weighed about 4lb and then went down to a bag of sugar. If you were to look at me know you would never know, kids are very resiliant beings and I hope Evan hospital visits are now over xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hope Henry has a lovely birthday too - isn't it strange that your babies seem to have been born around the same date. My boy is the 24th November and my girl is 5th November! x

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  15. Happy belated birthday greetings to Evan. What an arrival! I was late, my sister was early, so really we stole each other's birthday.
    Carol xx

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  16. awww..euan has always been a handsome chap, i hope he had a lovely birthday and is feeling better now. my neice emily has her birthday on the 10th july and she is brilliant!
    i have had five premature babies and one late one. my earliest had his head in a little oxygen box for 9 days, it was scary. i was told afterwards that they had not expected him to survive, not only was he very ill because i had contracted glandular fever while pregnant but he had also been asphyxiated by the umbilical cord. he arrived 7 weeks before his due date and was tiny, he's a stapping lad now though and a father of two :)
    my twins were 5 weeks early but like euan they were very good weights. i've been intending to knit or crochet some squares for sybol for some time now and have not been able to get round to it so i'm a bit scared to commit to anything, however once i do find time for such things i would be love to also make hats for premies.

    your tiny tears looks very well cared for, i think you must have loved her very much. my younger sister's one had all it's hair chopped off, it's fingers chewed and had several different coloured biro squiggles all over it's poor face. thankfully she'd improved by the time she had children.

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