Prematurity Awareness Day

Hi everyone! I am so glad to have the first guest blogger on this day, Prematurity Awareness Day. This is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart, as our own Trouble was born at 28 weeks gestation - 12 weeks before his due date.

If you're a regular reader, you may know I took a position with the national office of the March of Dimes to help families cope with their experiences in the NICU. While working for the MOD, I got to work toward a cause I really believed in, and I got to meet some people who have worked tirelessly to promote prematurity on the national agenda.

Bev Roberts is one of those women. She is smart, sassy, and fun to be with. I met her in New York, and again at BlogHer08 in San Francisco. She blogs, twitters, travels, answers emails, takes calls in both English and Spanish to try to help women reach the goal of all 9 months. When it comes to PAM, Bev is the go-to girl. I am so glad she agreed to write for LWM3B.

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“How many of you had a baby born too soon?” I craned my neck looking around the room as dozens of hands went up.

“Wow. Leave your hands up. How many of you have had a niece, nephew, cousin, or grandchild that came too soon?” Even more hands went up, including some at my table. I paused. I did not raise my hand, for even through my cousin’s daughter had been in the NICU and had had a feeding disorder of some kind; I did not think she was born too soon.

“Now, how about a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, or someone at your church?” By this time, almost all of the hands were raised, including mine. My neighbor’s sister had had her twins at 22 weeks. I looked around the room. Almost very hand was raised. And this in a room with 800 people.

Prematurity truly touches us all. We are all at risk of having a baby too soon; but some of us are more at risk than others. Those of us who are at highest risk are carrying twins or triplets, have already had a preemie or have some sort of uterine or cervical abnormality. There are also lifestyle and medical risks, like smoking, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The good news is that there are things we can do. The number 1 thing is to know is the signs and symptoms and what to do about it.

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day. Today almost 1400 babies will come too soon and we do not know the reasons why. The March of Dimes is working to help moms have full-term pregnancies and healthy babies. And if something goes wrong, we offer information and comfort to families. One of the ways we are reaching out is through bite-sized blogging with daily baby tips and pregnancy tips in English and Spanish through Twitter.com. Interested in a chatty tidbit or know someone who might be, follow us on Twitter.com.

We also need your help with our Petition for Preemies. Please take a minute to sign and post it to your blogs.

-Bev Roberts, March of Dimes