These Kids of Mine

I had another panicky day with little Jackson today. Either he has just not settled into a movement pattern, or the anterior placenta is just really screwing with my ability to feel it whenever he does move. I’ve read a lot online about women’s experiences with an anterior placenta, and it seems like what I’m encountering is pretty common, so I’m just trying to take comfort in that. But after a day like Tuesday, when I felt him move practically all day, today I barely felt him move at all, only in brief spurts that were few and far between. So by the end of the day, I was pretty worried again, imagining all kinds of terrible things that I really don’t even want to write about.

Even though I wanted to stay home, lie on the couch, and concentrate on feeling him move, tonight was my last sewing class, so I made myself go. It was a patterns class, but I had already finished Jackson’s shorts, so I asked the instructor if she could show me how to do appliqués tonight instead. She enthusiastically agreed. I had brought the leftover crab fabric from the shorts, but she wanted me to practice on something else first. She has tons of plastic storage boxes full of remnants, in all kinds of fabrics—knits, cotton, linen, rayon—you name it, and she has something. She went to grab one from the top of the cottons box, and I’m not kidding, y’all, this is the fabric she pulled out and brought over to me:

Immediately, I was bathed in that sense that Hudson was right there with me, again, telling me that it was gonna be okay. It was all I could do to keep myself from bursting into tears of gratitude. I choked them down and just said, “Wow. I can’t believe that. Turtles are really special to us, so…”

The teacher had me do a few practice appliqué pieces on some spare muslin she had, showing me two different ways to use the interfacing, first with raw edges, and second with finished:

And then I made a onesie to match Jackson’s shorts:

I still have to work on sewing around curves so that I can appliqué more than just boxes like this, but I am so glad to have learned this skill. I don’t think I will be ready to tackle sewing actual shirts together for a long time, so knowing how to make cute, personalized onesies to match all the pants I’m going to be making will come in very handy.

She let me keep the rest of the turtle fabric. I’m busy deciding how to use it for Hudson’s sweet little brother.  How grateful I am to them both.  How very much I love them both.