Divine Coincidence: How Church Ladies Found Their Perfect NICU Lovie Mission

In the world of community service, sometimes the most meaningful connections happen through unexpected moments of synchronicity. This is a story of how a group of dedicated Church Ladies discovered their unique calling to support premature infants and their families.

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Our Church Ladies have long been known for compassionate sewing projects, creating blankets and baby bundles for shelters, hospitals, and fire departments. Recently, our sister church in southern Arizona was searching for a new outreach opportunity. They decided to visit their local hospital’s nursery to see if they had any needs.

As they approached the nursing station, they noticed the staff huddled in an intense conversation, their expressions filled with concern. With slight trepidation, the Church Ladies proceeded, introduced themselves and shared their mission.

What happened next was nothing short of miraculous.

After the Church Ladies shared the reason for visiting the NICU, the nurses let out a collective gasp. “How did you know?” a nurse exclaimed. Confused, the Church Ladies asked, “Know what?”

The nurse explained that they had just been discussing a pressing need: creating “lovies” for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Their OB doctor had recently returned from a seminar, enthused about these special comfort items. He suggested the nurses supply them, but none of the nurses knew how to sew.

It was a moment that felt divinely orchestrated—a perfect alignment of need and capability.

Understanding NICU Parent-Child Bonding Lovies

For those unfamiliar with the term, NICU lovies are more than just simple fabric items. They’re crucial tools that promote the delicate bonding process between premature babies and their parents.

Imagine a premature baby in an isolette, surrounded by medical equipment. While receiving exceptional medical care, the baby misses out on the natural, continuous physical closeness that typically develops between parent and child. The initial bonding, which begins in the womb through sensory connections like smell, can be interrupted.

The lovie provides a beautiful solution. It’s typically a small piece of fabric—sometimes as simple as a nursing pad—that carries the mother’s scent. The pad is placed near the baby in the isolette, then exchanged daily. When the mother takes the pad home, she continues to exchange it, maintaining a sensory connection with her child.

This simple yet heart-touching practice helps preserve the critical emotional bond during a challenging time, offering comfort to both baby and parents. (You see, mom gets to smell baby on the lovie she takes home to wear!)

What began as a chance encounter became a powerful mission of love and support—a testament to the impact of community, compassion, and unexpected divine timing.

How to make NICU Parent-Child Bonding Lovies

While washable nursing pads are perfectly fine to use for lovies, how sweet is it to make something special for these new families to show you’re in the struggle with them?

Let’s do it.

Supplies:

• soft, pre-shrunk cotton woodland animal printed flannel and/or solid flannel
• cotton batting
• scissors, measuring tape, fabric clamps or straight pins, thread, sewing machine
• Helpful for speed: self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter, 6″ x 24″ quilting ruler

Directions:

1. Typically, a set of lovies is two flannel heart mini-quilts pinned together to give to a family. So the directions are for one set of two lovies.
2. Cut 4 fabric pieces measuring 6″ x 6″ of flannel: 2 printed and 2 plain.
3. Cut 2 squares of batting the same size.
4. Make a sewing sandwich: place two flannel pieces, right sides together. Pin a square of batting on the flannel.
5. Make a 5″ x 5″ heart pattern out of thick card, place on flannel sandwich and trace around the heart. Sew on the lines, leaving a gap on one straight side of the heart. Cut the excess fabric away and turn. Pull at all the seam edges so you have a nice shape, then topstitch all around. Fold the gap fabric into the heart and catch with the topstitching to seal the gap.
6. Sew the other 2 squares of flannel and cotton, and you have a set of lovies!

Tips:

• As stationery people, we promote paper love with sweet words on cards, so print out this little poem and pin to the lovies to give them away:

Welcome to the world, dear child,
and your temporary NICU home.
Snuggle near this lovie heart
while your body heals and grows;
’cause your forever family waits
with eager arms to hold you close.

Dorothy Ensz, kimenink.com

• Take a short cut and purchase one of our oh so cute Lovie Poem card designs and you don’t have to create your own design.

If you want to make lovies,

be sure to share this to your Pinterest board titled loving others.

And if you have made these, please share your tips and/or stories in the comments. Someone asked about the directions. Please comment if you have any questions.