Thread: Baby quilt - when?

Originally Posted by JanTx

My best friend's son and his wife are expecting a child. She just had an 18-week check-up where a second ultrasound showed a girl - that's what they thought it was at the first ultrasound, too. They suffered a miscarriage about a year ago so ... many of us know how that affects the mindset for subsequent pregnancies. I am working on a quilt that I am so excited to give them. It will have the baby's name appliqued on it. So ... do I have to wait until the child is here? Should I wait until the last trimester? I'd really like to give it now, but .. want to be affirming and bring joy. SO what's the consensus?

You know the couple better than we do. But you could ask your friend, too.

Another note here. I have a very good friend who makes Angel quilts for babies who do not live. A retired man makes wooden memory boxes and the quilts (top and back, no batting) go into the box. As well a infant nightgown goes into the box.

The boxes are given to families, after losing a baby, by miscarriage, still birth or shortly after birth. My mother's first born was still born almost 50 years ago. She would have loved to have had something tangible like a memory box to remember all the hopes and dreams that died with that baby.

I have never given a baby gift with a name on it. I used to make crochet blankets for all my friends' babies. Here nowadays most baby showers are held after the baby arrives.

My first response to this question was to also say wait. But I guess when I think about it, I think that you know them best, and know whether they still have a lot of fear of miscarriage or something going wrong with this pregnancy. Having struggled to get pregnant(5 IVF's and having a miscarriage) I know what it feels like to be fearful. You could ask them in a very sensitive way...or giving it at the baby shower would be another relatively safe time to present it. It is very nice that you have the empathy to think about this..

I would wait. Friends of mine had a baby girl whose. Name changed on a daily hourly basis. Good job I waited to applique her name on until she was registered.

Originally Posted by nanac

she planned to name her daughter Rebecca. When the baby was born, my sister said she didn't "look" like a Rebecca, and named her Amy, instead.

Oooh, that's true, that's true! We had names picked out for our son (yes, the same one with the missing penis) and when he arrived, they didn't fit!