Hospital Johnny (exciting, right?)

I've hesitated to post this, even though it's been done since February, because I never wanted Meredith to think I was exploiting her for the sake of a blog post. I asked her last night if she would mind and she didn't at all so...

In February, I think it was a little after Valentine's Day, International Heart Health Awareness Day was a big thing all over, but especially at Mass General Hospital.  Meredith really wanted something red to wear; I'm sure you can picture how hideous the hospital's johnnys are... nothing cute, or red, about them. We wanted Meredith to have something really fun for heart day... so off I went to Old Navy and found some clearance pants with hearts on them. AC Moore (our craft store) had some great junior sized red shirts on sale (for about $2.50) that sort of matched the pants. Not bad to spend under $10 for an outfit. :)

I had this vision after reading about designer hospital clothes that celebs wear about creating Meredith her own hospital outfit. I took the red shirt and cut it directly down the middle of the back:

After I cut it open you could spread the back apart like this:

I then turned under the sides and sewed in a (mostly) straight line. I was in a rush to do it because I had to get into the hospital to give it to her and completely forgot to buy matching red thread (big oops) but maybe just think that I chose black so you could see where I stitched. :)

  

I added a grosgrain ribbon at the top to tie so Meredith wouldn't be flashing the world. I went over it a few times with the sewing machine to secure it. As you can see from the left side I did a beautiful job sewing it (remember two things, friends: I am a terrible sewer and I was in a huge rush). :)

The completely johnny and heart PJ pants! 

I made her a little tag to celebrate Heart Day: 

She says that all the doctors and nurses ask where she got her outfit (because it doesn't look like standard hospital wears). April, AJ's mom, made her as few in pink, purple and blue after this worked out okay... so now she is getting close to accumulating the colors of the rainbow in hospital johnnys, just what she always wanted, right :) So, there you have it, a little tutorial on how to make a hospital johnny. Make sure YOU buy matching thread and are more careful sewing the ribbons than I was. :)

Meredith update:

She is doing really well, even better than the doctors expected. She will have physical therapy to teach her to move again. She can't stand and can't even hold a cell phone for any length of time because the muscles have completely atrophied from lying in a hospital bed for weeks. 

BUT the good news is that she is able to eat more and more things. Everything is still pureed and her favorite thing right now is Starbucks Green Tea Frapacino extra thick (she has good, and high caloric taste, which is a good thing right now). On Tuesday night I chose her menu for breakfast and dinner with her... picture a menu that says "Mac and Cheese Pureed" and "French Toast Pureed". Ick, but at least it's helping get her healthy.