Today, November 17th is World Prematurity Day. This is a subject that is near and dear to us, and one that I didn’t realize impacted so many families around the world until I was a part of one of those families. Our kiddos were born at 31 weeks (read the birth story here), and the hopelessness and lack of understanding that I still feel about not being able to carry my babies to full term is something that creeps in every single day. It’s not a dark, all consuming cloud like it was in the beginning, it’s just something that lingers and is something I wonder if I can help prevent for other families.
We were honored to be asked by the March of Dimes New Mexico Chapter to be their ambassador family for 2015/2016 to help spread awareness about prematurity and to help raise much needed funds for research about prematurity and birth defects. The March of Dimes team came to our house in early October and filmed us telling our story. The video was first shown at their Signature Chef’s event to a completely captivated crowd. There was certainly not a dry eye at our table after the video presentation. I also spoke to the crowd, and did the same, with the kids, this past Sunday at the High Heels for High Hopes brunch. My speech (which was almost 100% unplanned…the video wouldn’t work so I told our whole story with the help of our little ones) ended with Neala and Rylan giving each other a giant hug and kiss in the middle of the stage after taking the microphone and saying, “What’s up people? Thank you for coming!” (Which was actually… “et’s up people? Tank you comy!”) They were crowd stoppers, for sure! And, just yesterday, the City Council of Albuquerque proclaimed November 16th Albuquerque Prematurity Awareness Day and I attended the council meeting where the proclamation was read. I hope that our involvement in the March of Dimes really does help raise awareness about prematurity.
The March of Dimes recently released their prematurity report card, where the United States received a “C” grade, meaning that 1 in 10 babies is born before 37 weeks gestation and that the US preterm birthrate is higher than that of most other developed countries. There is still a long, long way to go to end prematurity.
So, I ask you to take a moment today to think about all the children, those who survived, and those who did not, who were born prematurely, as the March of Dimes says, pledge purple today. I have learned first hand that preemies are fighters. They are strong beyond belief, yet so fragile at the same time, and the challenges have not yet come to an end for us. If you feel so inclined, please make a donation to the New Mexico Chapter of the March of Dimes by visiting: https://www.crowdrise.com/pledgepurplefornewme/fundraiser/marchofdimesnewmexic
Below is our video (which you can also see at the donation link above). Please share it and the link with your friends and family to help us raise awareness and research funds.