March of Dimes 2008 Prematurity Conference

This past Friday, I was invited to Helena to participate in the March of Dimes 2008 Prematurity Conference & Volunteer Leadership Conference. It was an honor to get invited to participate in anything that raises awareness on the issue of prematurity. The conference started out with Dr. Jordan Perlow an OB-GYN from Phoenix who is an expert in pre-term birth talking about if Premature Birth in the United States is preventable. That was a hard talk filled with lots of tears for me to listen to from a personal perspective as I sit here struggling with trying to decide if we should tempt fate and try for another baby when we have been guaranteed another preemie. How can I help fight to end prematurity when I would be knowingly and willingly giving birth to a preemie? So, long story short, after hearing his talk, I had came to realization that I probably wouldn't be having another baby. BUT THEN........I got to speak to him one on one about my case and what I was told by my docs here and he gave me hope that I have a chance of not having a preemie. Will I go to 40 weeks.....NO....but possibly 35 or 36 weeks which is 4 more weeks than I made it with Karlee.

**Me, Tana, Amity & LaShay**

After the conference, we had the Volunteer Leadership Dinner and Awards. This past year when Karlee & I participated in the March for Babies, we walked as part of the team Montana Mamas and with a very dear friend of mine, LaShay who was blessed with a beautiful daughter, Chezni born at 26 weeks. Unfortunately God needed Chezni and after 2 months, took her home. Well LaShay, LaShay's mom, and Amity (founder of Montana Mamas) attended the conference and dinner with me and we were all given an award for being one of the top fundraisers for the walk. It was a great to know that the money we worked so hard to raise will be going to great research to help give all babies a healthy start at life. We are very inspired to work even harder this next year and raise even more money for the babies that need our help. Someone worked hard years ago and that work helped to save Karlee's life and I owe it to give back. Needless to say, when the invite to the conference went out, they should have said in big letters to bring tissues as I shed a lot of tears of joy, sadness, thankfullness, pain....it was just an emotional day!!

Give all your babies, no matter how old, a big hug and kiss and be THANKFUL and CHERISH every moment with them!!

Preemie Prayer

Preemie Prayer

Heavenly father full of grace

A ray of sunshine upon her face

On this night there's one thing I pray

You gave her life so please don't take it away

You sent her an angel to stand by her side

Thur heal pricks for gases, not a tear did she cry

All ten fingers and all ten toes

Barely as big as a giant rose

From three pounds to five pounds

Your on your way home

My precious little girl, oh how you've grown

On this night there's one last thing to say

Thank You God for letting her stay

**This is a prayer that I read daily while Karlee was in the NICU and I am still thanking GOD everyday for letting her stay!!**

Hey Diddle, Diddle

If this doesn't make you laugh.....nothing will!! :-)

Voted

Prematurity Awareness Month

**Karlee the day she was born-9 weeks early-3lbs 6oz**

In the United States today, 1 in 8 babies is born prematurely, and millions of children face serious health challenges or have trouble learning in school because they were born too soon. It's time for our country to do more to help moms have healthy, full-term babies.
Will you help me this November, Prematurity Awareness Month? Sign the Petition for Preemies at marchofdimes.com/petition and let your voice be heard. Then send to your friends and ask them to take a stand, too. More newborns die from premature birth than any other cause — but solutions are within our grasp. Join me this November in spreading the word and show our support for the March of Dimes and give hope for all babies for a healthy start in life.

We need to focus the nation’s attention on the impact premature birth has on babies and families, and on the opportunities for prevention. Today more than 1,400 babies in the U.S. will be born prematurely. Many will be too small and too sick to go home. Instead, they face weeks or even months in the intensive care unit. (NICU). These babies face an increased risk of serious medical complication, and death; however, most eventually will go home. What can you do to help....sign the Petition for Preemies! The Petition for Preemies addresses the following: 1. We urge the federal government to increase support for prematurity-related research and data collection as recommended by the Institute of Medicine and the Surgeon General’s Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth, to: (a) identify the causes of premature birth; (b) test strategies for prevention; (c) improve the care, treatment and outcomes of preterm infants; (d) and better define and track the problem of premature birth.

2. We urge federal and state policymakers to expand access to health coverage for women of childbearing age and to support smoking cessation programs as part of maternity care.

3. We call on hospitals and health care professionals to voluntarily assess c-sections and inductions that occur prior to 39 weeks gestation to ensure consistency with professional guidelines.

4. We call on businesses to create workplaces that support maternal and infant health. View our 14 recommendations.

Please help give all babies a chance at 9 months!!


**Karlee @ 5 days old**

P.S. Please feel free to copy and post to your own blog!! Help spread the word!!

Halloween 2008

Our Halloween started off bright and early with a 7:00 a.m. flight home from Arizona so needless to say we were exhausted by the time we got home. It was an early nap for Karlee so hopefully she would be ready to go Trick-r-Treating. Her cousins Cora and Fayth (Fayth & Karlee are 2 months apart in age) were in town so we met up with them and headed to the Mall to get some goodies before heading out to hit the streets. Everything was going great till the dang Easter Bunny (Karlee is deathly afraid of him) had to poke his butt into Halloween. Then it was all over for Karlee! She kept crying and saying, "GO BYE-BYE" so we left. We then decided to go to a neighborhood and go door to door. The girls were all excited and ready to go again till we got to the first house and there were Trick-r-Treaters with masks (who would have thought it)! Scared the crap out of them both and there wasn't enough candy in the world to make them walk up to a door to get candy!! So we decided to call it a night. Karlee did really good though considering we had been gone the whole week and completely out of our routine. Here are a few pictures from the night! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!! :-)