Time to March!

Ok Friends and Family - here's your mission should you choose to accept it:

March for Babies!!!

Everyone has always been so generous to donate to this cause. And yes, at the end of the day, raising funds is the goal of this event.

But.....

This walk means so much more to me. There is something so amazing about being there surrounded by all these people that were either touched by prematurity or just want to support those that have. You look around and see the other family teams and the stats on the back of their shirts and you feel a connection that you know what they've been through.

Gavin and Sam are great. They are happy, and healthy, and smart and active. There are no obvious effects of prematurity. But I don't ever want to forget how this all started.

I want to remember how hard we fought.

I want to remember:
3 surgeries (2 for me, 1 for Gavin)
5 weeks of bed rest at home
21 days of hospital bed rest
99 days in the NICU

I want to remember the day I was in the bathroom of our NICU room sobbing to my mom that I thought Gavin might not make it while nurses and Dr's and respiratory therapists worked on him.

I want to remember how good it felt just to hold my tiny baby and feel his little chest rising and falling against mine. There are so many tough memories in the NICU, but there are many moments that are so amazing as well. Changing diapers and finally feeling like a "mom", seeing reductions in the number of IV's and medications over time, babies waking up hungry in time for a feed, the first full bottle that Sam sucked down. All the little things that people would never think of, that are incredible victories in the NICU.

I don't ever want to take what we have for granted. I want to celebrate their lives and that the work of the March of Dimes has played such a huge role in where they are today.

Please join us for the walk on Saturday, May 7th! This year it is taking place at the Aviva headquarters in West Des Moines. The walk is ~ 2.5 miles and starts at 9:30. After the walk there is food and fun activities for the kids.

And now for the bribes.....if you walk, I will have a custom shirt made just for you!

Click here to go to the team dashboard and join the team.
Click here if you are unable to walk, but would like to donate.

November 17th

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day! If you feel so inclined, please click on the link below and learn a little about the March of Dimes mission. They do so much more than find new ways to treat preemies - their goal is that one day there are NO preemies, and they have played an integral role in helping determine the course of prenatal treatment that pregnant women get today. Did you know that it was a MOD research doctor that discovered the importance of folic acid and made the recommendation that pregnant women take this supplement? So it's not just those of us that have preemies that owe something to the MOD. All parents have benefited from their research - and don't even know it!

http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/index_map.asp

Today also marks 5 years that Gavin has been home with us! It was this day in 2004 that we carried him out of the hospital. The weather was a little warmer than it was today, warm for a November day. Putting him in the car, he finally felt like he "belonged" to us. We no longer were on the hospital schedule, no longer would we walk through a crowded parking lot and check in with a front desk clerk just to see him. Gone were the tubes, the monitors, the wires. He was just.....ours. Finally.

Between our two boys we have spent 99 days in the NICU. Thanks to the excellent prenatal care I received, it wasn't more than that. Let's never forget the miracles these little boys represent, not only in themselves, but all the tiny babies that have made the fight out the hospital doors. Unfortunately, not everyone makes it home, and THAT is why this mission is still so critical.