Please Help Me Save Babies!

[SweetCuteness]

***I couldn't find the forum rules, so I hope I'm not breaking them by posting this.

I need your help! As a young woman thinking of having babies in the next few years, I fear having a premature baby or one with birth defects as my cousin was born premie with developmental defects. That said, I?ve made it my personal mission to help the March of Dimes. I am the Team Captain for CIGNA HealthCare?s local team. CIGNA is a local and national sponsor ? we believe that together we can save babies.

So ? here?s how I need your help. I?ve been trying desperately to collect donations locally with not much luck. So with the help of March of Dimes I set up a team and personal webpage for donations? with that, the money goes directly to the March of Dimes (MOD). The website accepts credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and even international donations. Your donation is tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for your tax records. To make a donation, please either go to my personal MOD webpage: http://www.walkamerica.org/BrittanyBriggs, or my team?s webpage: http://www.walkamerica.org/296271.

EVERYONE has been affected by the March of Dimes ? see the bullet points at the bottom of this post for the different ways that every single person has been affected. Please help me on my mission to save babies. I?m sorry for such a long post, but I?m really passionate about this and would love your help.
FACTS (from MOD website):
Premature birth is the #1 cause of newborn death. It has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., endangering the lives of more than half a million babies. And it's growing at an alarming rate. That's why we need your participation.

Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman, and no one knows why. The March of Dimes is in the midst of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar campaign to address this growing problem. With your support, the March of Dimes can continue to fund research and programs to prevent premature birth and other threats to babies' health.

The money raised goes directly to research to find the causes of premature birth and how it can be prevented, to support families whose babies must spend time in neonatal intensive care units and to provide women with the latest information on having a healthy pregnancy.

HOW YOU?VE BEEN AFFECTED:
- Is your spouse or are you currently expecting a baby?
You probably know it?s important to receive prenatal care, one of the best ways to ensure a healthy birth. Also, you probably know to take at least 400 micrograms of folic acid a day through a multivitamin or fortified cereal to greatly reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. The March of Dimes works to make sure these important steps are a part of everyone?s plan to have a healthy baby.

- Do you have a child or grandchild who was born prematurely especially in the past 25 years?
Chances are that child benefited from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; a concept pioneered by the March of Dimes, and artificial surfactant a life saving substance. March of Dimes researchers helped develop surfactant and the proper way to administer it to enable premature lungs to expand and contract. It saves thousands of babies each year.

- Do you have a child or grandchild 3 years or younger?
You?ve benefited from the March of Dimes support of the ?Back to Sleep? initiative to make sure babies should sleep on their side or back to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

- Do you have a child or grandchild 6 years old or younger?
You?ve benefited from the March of Dimes efforts to ensure children receive the rubella vaccine before starting school.

- Do you have a child or grandchild 20 years old or younger?
In that time, the March of Dimes has funded research into the newborn test that identifies sickle cell anemia, allowing for immediate and effective treatment.

- Are you or do you have a child or grandchild 30 years old or younger?
You and your family have benefited from the PKU test given to every baby at birth. Before this test, families would take home their child unaware of special needs, and the condition would cause the child to develop mental retardation.

- Have you ever received a polio vaccination?
Of course, almost everyone in America has! Thanks to the research behind the Salk and Sabine vaccines funded by the March of Dimes, polio has been nearly eradicated.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS!!!

[stephluvsangel6]

wow that is great what you are doing, i am glad because we all say once or another time in our life that i would like to help but we never take the initiative, and it great that someone has, i would love to have one local here also but i have no time right now, but i have been affected by the rsv and im not sure if the march of dimes really talks about it but i think they do in their commercials with the preemies and rsv cause preemies get it a majority of the time but mine was a full term healthy baby and you know whats funny is no one had it in my family which was crazy and i would warn anyone to help and learn about it, its horrible, and all you can do is sit and basically watch your child pass away, its painful, its sad, and it really affects them and the ones who do survive it have a painful and long recovery still, its sad to sit and watch your child die with 12 medications hooked up to him and ivs in every arm and leg and groin and the doctor telling you that they have to shave his head to put an iv in his head, its very very hard and i really would like to know what i can do to help, in more ways than money, can you sen dme some info on what you have to do, imean what will teach these people,

i see newborns out with theri parents shopping, i mean that baby will not remeber that, if you need to go shopping for them than please get a babysitter, i mean its so sad,
when my last son the one who passed was born i went to enroll him in the wic program and they said i had to bring him and hes 2 days old, they had to see him to enroll him and i said forget it, and i argued with them and they enrolled him without him being there, i could go forever you guys, but for those of you who want to have kids, have kids or grandkids please if you could help just by telling people about it, what is it going to take?

what scares yougn girls from having sex with multipple people?
show them pictures of sexually transmitted dieseases

what will scare these parents into keeping their kids at home?
show them pictures of children who have had it and their struggles and their children, maybe pictures of their funerals?

thanks for posting and im sorry i ranted like a mad woman, and i hope i stepped on no toes, its just a personal opinion and the reason is i see it so often around here, and it makes me sick.

[SweetCuteness]

Sorry for the way the message above pasted - I typed it in Word originally because it was so long and it pasted odd.

[stephluvsangel6]

IM SORRY FOR RANTING LIKE A LUNATIC AGAIN!!!!!
it drives me crazy when i see people with their newborns out and people are looking in on them and touching them and its like uhhhhhhh noooo

i know march of dimes mainly talked about preemies but
rsv is a silent killer.

the drs told us that is takes about 7 days to generate and attack their young bodies and about 12-24 hours to kill them.

my son became sick on a monday and by wednesday he had passed but he was being kept alive most of that time by the machines and finally we couldnt take it and said do not resuscitate.

i hope some people help cause this is a subject that hits close to home, and i would like info on starting somehting up here in my town, even if its one time it will help.

[xtine]

My daughter was a preemie, she had a lot of problems during my pregnancy and after she came out. she also just recovered from RSV.

I hated it when we would be out either going to a doctor's appointment or at the drug store picking up a prescription and strangers would walk up to us and touch my daughter in the face!!!!! pinch her cheeks and all that. I mean it's sweet and all, but my daughter will put anything in her mouth especially other people's fingers when they're shoving it in her face!!

i find it SO offensive that they do this without asking and i don't even know them. When i try to be polite and kindly tell them not to do that, they get very offended and give me the dirty look.

I signed up for March of Dimes awhile back because it's funny that i had SO many issues during my pregnancy, when i never smoked, did drugs at all, drank alcohol or any of that..

I want to have more children, but i also fear they will be preemies, i do not want to see my children suffer, and not be able to take them home..

I support March of Dimes!

[SweetCuteness]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about both of your babies. The good news is that with the help of March of Dimes we will eventually understand why prematurity, birth defects, and things like RSV affect babies. There is hope!!

But I am really sorry for your loss, stephluvsangel. And xtine, I'm glad that your baby was able to recover.

[MissLola]

Originally Posted by stephluvsangel6

IM SORRY FOR RANTING LIKE A LUNATIC AGAIN!!!!!
it drives me crazy when i see people with their newborns out and people are looking in on them and touching them and its like uhhhhhhh noooo

i know march of dimes mainly talked about preemies but
rsv is a silent killer.

the drs told us that is takes about 7 days to generate and attack their young bodies and about 12-24 hours to kill them.

my son became sick on a monday and by wednesday he had passed but he was being kept alive most of that time by the machines and finally we couldnt take it and said do not resuscitate.

i hope some people help cause this is a subject that hits close to home, and i would like info on starting somehting up here in my town, even if its one time it will help.

That is so sad, and I'm very sorry you had to lose your son that way. I'm so frustrated with my cousin because she had her baby a week ago, a very small girl (5 lbs 10 oz) and she takes her out to the mall every day to hang out with friends.

I think the March of Dimes is a wonderful organization. I went into preterm labor with my daughter when I was 6 months pregnant, so I did tons of research on preemies while I was on bed rest. I spent almost 3 months flat on my back, which delayed birth until it was safe to have her, so luckily I didn't have to go through everything that families with preemies have to. It's scary how fragile those little lives are.

[SweetCuteness]

Bump....

[SweetCuteness]

No one wants to sponsor me for WalkAmerica?

[xtine]

it's not much, but i did.. i hope it helps even a little

[SweetCuteness]

Originally Posted by xtine

it's not much, but i did.. i hope it helps even a little

Thank you so much!! You are such a sweetheart - I appreciate it, and so do the MOD and future babies.