Mom of a preemie crochets colorful yarn octopi for tiny tots at Detroit hospital NICU

DETROIT (AP) — Joelle Haley went into labor on Christmas Day, giving birth to a son two days later — premature at 24 weeks. In the soothing darkness of a Detroit hospital room a little something was missing for the newborn Kieran and his mom. Turns out that something was a colorful batch of soft yarn Haley would crochet into a small, tentacled octopus.

For preemies in the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital, dozens of the cuddly, donated octopi get their attention and help keep small hands from grabbing and tugging on tubes and wires that help keep them alive.

“It was very hard to leave my son here, knowing he was in good hands even, because I was afraid ‘what if he’s upset and he has nothing or no one to comfort him in that moment?’” Haley said Thursday. “Just knowing he has something near him that brings him comfort helps me feel better so that I can also take care of me.”

Called Amigurumi, from the Japanese art of crafting small plush animals from yarn, the octopi are mostly crocheted in a blaze of colors.

Haley began making the octopi after overhearing a nurse saying some would be helpful in the NICU. Having crocheted since second grade, the 30-year-old began filling that need, so far making about 20. She also reached across social media for help.

“The last time I counted there had been 175 that had been donated, and there are more on the way. They came from all over Michigan,” she said while delivering some to the hospital where they were placed in bassinets with newborns.

Some babies receiving care require breathing support, said Dr. Jorge Lua, medical director at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital.

“It’s important that we keep the tube in. Some babies will grab onto them and accidentally pull them out," Lua said. "Let’s say the breathing tubes comes out, then the baby will have breathing issues. They’re not able to breath. Their oxygenation goes down. It may make the time longer to stabilize them.”

Haley said she often saw her infant son tug at the tubes connecting him to NICU equipment.

“It helps me feel, like comforted, that I was able to help other children," Haley said. "Seeing my son with his helps me know that he'll be safe and comforted when I'm not here. So, I hope it brings that same feeling to other families.”

Haley said it takes her about 30 minutes to make one of the octopi.

“My mom taught me to help with anxiety," she said of crocheting. "The repetitive motion gives me something to focus on and it just helps me feel calmer.”

Joelle Haley crochets at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)

Joelle Haley crochets at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)

Newborn Tayshaun Nelms Jr. rests with an amigurumi octopi at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)

Joelle Haley holds amigurumi octopi at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)

BERLIN (AP) — Rescuers in Germany began an elaborate operation Thursday to save a sick humpback whale that has been repeatedly stranded off the Baltic Sea coast and has stirred up tons of attention across the country for weeks.

The whale, which has been nicknamed Timmy by local media, is lying in shallow waters near the eastern German town of Wismar and has barely moved for days. Many fear it may soon die.

Timmy was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3. It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from its natural habitat. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

The animal faces long odds in finding its way back out into the North Sea, a journey of several hundred kilometers (miles), and then to the Atlantic Ocean.

Attempts to refloat the mammal with the help of police boats, excavators and inflatable boats had temporarily freed it. But the whale, which measures 12 to 15 meters (39 to 49 feet) long, never found its way back to the North Sea and was stranded again while becoming weaker and sicker.

Local media have started dayslong livestreams to feed the outsized public attention to the fate of the whale, which is lying in shallow waters and only breathing slowly and heavily. Online newspapers have pushed alerts with the smallest developments about Timmy's health including updates on its bad skin condition, which is related to the Baltic Sea's low salt content.

Activists have staged protests on the beach in Wismar calling for the animal's liberation, while influencers have debated whether the best way to help the animal was to let it die in peace or keep trying to assist its return to the Atlantic Ocean.

Interest has been so strong that police had put up a 500-meter (1,640 foot) protection zone to keep curious bystanders from getting too close and stressing the stranded whale even more.

Despite these efforts, a 67-year-old woman jumped off a boat on the weekend trying to get close to the whale before she was stopped.

Experts have come up with a sophisticated plan to use air cushions to lift the animal onto a tarp, which will be secured to two pontoons and attached to a tugboat.

State officials have approved a private initiative to transport the whale back to the North Sea and possibly further to the Atlantic. If everything goes according to plan, the tugboat carrying Timmy will have left the Baltic Sea by Friday.

“He’s not active, and he’s certainly not agile, but he shows that there’s still life in him,” Till Backhaus, the environment minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where Wismar is located, said Wednesday as he announced the new rescue plan. “He’s definitely suffered serious damage, that’s for sure.”

Greenpeace, which has been involved in previous rescue operations, said it wasn't supporting the latest one.

“We do not support the rescue operation because, according to all the information we have, this whale is sick and severely weakened,” a spokesperson for the environmental organization told German news agency dpa,

Helpers approach a humpback whale that is stuck off near the island of Poel, Weitendorf-Hof, Germany, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

A stranded whale is sprayed with water as it got stuck on a sand bank in Kirchdorf on the island Poel, Germany, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A humpback whale is stuck off near the island of Poel, Weitendorf-Hof, Germany, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

A stranded whale blows water as it got stuck on a sand bank in Kirchdorf on the island Poel, Germany, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)