March for Babies 2013

In 17 days we'll be participating in the March for Babies.

March of Dimes is celebrating 75 years this year!

Think about the number of babies that have been impacted by the work March of Dimes has done in that time.

Eva Grace is one of those babies.

The steroid shots I got when things really started looking rough certainly helped Eva G's lung development and production of surfactant. Surfactant makes the lining of the lungs flexible, so when a ventilator pumps oxygen into them they expand. Without the surfactant, stiff, undeveloped preemie lungs can be damaged as the air is pumped into them. March of Dimes grantees helped develop surfactant therapy, which was introduced in 1990. Since then, deaths from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) have been reduced by two-thirds.

Here are a few things you can do to support the March of Dimes cause:
donate
volunteer at your local office or for the walk
find a walk that's close to you and join in

Please also remember those families that are just starting on this preemie journey. It really hasn't been that long that we were here:

and this is where we are today: