March for Babies

Ryan and Evan were born at 26 weeks.

During the pregnancy I did everything I could to ensure the health of my little guys. I was freakishly obsessive about my health. If one study showed something was possibly bad for fetuses, I eliminated it from my diet/lifestyle. I cut out coffee, chocolate, lunch meat, sushi (that one killed me), nitrates, everything and anything. Nothing was too much to sacrifice for these little ones.

None of it did any good. Twenty six weeks and two days in to the pregnancy, Ryan and Evan made their spectacular entrance into the world. In spite of numerous attempts by doctors to keep them safely in my womb, these two had minds of their own.

Sometimes that is just how it is. All the precautions, education and medical attention in the world can't always prevent prematurity. So much about why babies are born early is unknown. The March of Dimes is a wonderful organization dedicated to making sure that some day, every baby will be born healthy.

From their early work to find and develop a vaccine for polio, to their current work educating, funding important research in the areas of prematurity and birth defects, and advocating for babies...the March of Dimes is "dedicated to improving the health of babies."

Without the March of Dimes, the likely-hood that Ryan and Evan would be here with us today, is slim. In the 80's the March of Dimes funded research into Surfactant. A drug given to each of my babies. A drug that may have helped them breathe just a little easier. A drug that may have allowed their terribly premature lungs to heal just enough to keep them alive. A drug, that with out the support of the March of Dimes may not have been available to my precious (and many, many others) boys.

Why this March of Dimes PSA?

Well, my friend Lindsay, and fellow mom of preemie twins, recruited me to work on the Family Teams Council for the San Diego Chapter of the March of Dimes. One of our goals is to increase the number of Family Teams in our Chapter, and of course, the amount of money raised.

Putting my money and feet where my mouth is, we have signed up for the 2009 March for Babies.

Please join our team (Ostrem Family 2009)(come walk with us!), donate, or start a team of your own. Just follow the link here, or on the side bar, or on facebook, and stay tuned here for more info and progress reports.



Oh, and did I mention we have to walk 5 miles????