Group sews to give comfort to mothers grieving over a loss Blankets for holding close

Nola Hills has been making blankets to help with grief.

Picture: ALIX SWEENEY

“WHOEVER sleeps under this blanket, sleeps under a blanket of love.”

That is sewn into almost every bed covering hand crafted by the women of Blankets of Love, a group dedicated to giving families something to hold on to when their loved ones, young or old, die.

More than 20 years ago, Nola Hills’ grandson died just hours after birth. His mother Dy Hills was forced to say goodbye to one of her baby twins, Callum, far too early.

Nola started Blankets of Love in 2000 to help parents hold on to the memories of their babies.

Callum’s death was a huge loss for her family and one she wanted to help other families get through in whatever way.

“A lot of the first group that came (to be Blankets of Love) had lost babies in my era,”

Nola said. “In my era, you lost babies and you go and have another one — ‘you’ll be right’ — and they didn’t get to see them and they weren’t allowed to see them.

“Whereas we had Callum, we nursed Callum for a few hours before they turned the machine off.”

His sister Maddi was born first, but Callum had rotated and wasn’t in a position to deliver. Mum Dy said both she and Callum would have died if they went through with another natural birth, but in the 50 minutes it took to have the caesarean, “everything was zapped out of him”.

“We pretty well kept him for 24 hours and then had to make that decision of ‘it’s time to go to heaven darling’,” Dy said.

October marks 20 years since Blankets of Love began, and it has become much more than a keepsake to help families remember their children.

It has expanded with members making blankets for palliative care, dementia patients, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, in emergency to help district young children, and in the neonatal and paediatric units.

On average 120 are made each year.

“You don’t realise there are so many bubbies lost,” Nola said.

“We’ve had so many letters from mums saying how lovely it is to have something that the bubby has been in.

“A lot of mums let them go with the baby after they’ve been cremated and a lot put them in frames, but a lot just keep them as mementos.”

Nola stepped back from Blankets of Love a few years ago, but still arrives at the Annandale hall each Wednesday morning to sew with the other members. blankets

Tristan Sailor leaves court in Wollongong.

Picture: SIMON BULLARD