March for Babies

As you all know, our three boys were born 7 weeks premature.  They each spent between five and six weeks in the NICU before getting to come home.  It seems like a lifetime ago that we were traveling back and forth to the hospital everyday.  It was our normal back then to spend more waking hours there than at home.  It was our normal to not eat dinner until 9:00 each night because we wanted to stick around for one more feed.  The NICU was a very big part of our lives but at the end of it all, when we finally were lucky enough to have our whole family under one roof, they were all healthy.  None of our boys came home on oxygen or a feeding tube.  They were...normal.  Tiny.  But as healthy as any other baby who comes home from the hospital.

We are beyond grateful for the care our boys received in the NICU.  March for Babies had a big part of this.  Their mission is "to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality."  March for Babies donations support research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives.  And they bring comfort and information to families with a baby in the newborn intensive care.

I recently discovered that March for Babies funded the research that developed surfactant therapy.  Surfactant is a liquid that helps coat the insides of your lungs.  It helps keep them open so that infants can breathe in air once they're born.  Both Nolan and Lucas had to have two rounds of surfactant shortly after they were born to help them breathe.  Knowing that March for Babies was responsible for this medical advance makes me that much more supportive and thankful for this organization.

Over the course of the last several weeks, I've been raising money for March for Babies.  I raised $440 which was added to our group (Multiples of KC) for a total of $1595.  I can't say enough Thank Yous to everyone who donated.

The March for Babies walk was this past Sunday.  It was a beautiful day.  We got up bright and early and (after feeding and dressing babies) headed downtown for the walk.  Our Multiples of KC group had a tent so we met the rest of our group there.  We got a few group photos and just kind of hung out until the walk began.

During the walk, there was a bridge that everyone had to pass over.  On that bridge were posters honoring babies.  They had white ones that said "Look at me now!" and pictured a baby picture and then a current picture.  Then they also had yellow posters that were "In Memory of..." posters. There were a lot of these and it was very emotional walking past all of them.  It just made me feel that much more blessed that my story had a happy ending.  Sadly not everyone gets that.

All in all, it was a good day.  I'm glad we went and we'll definitely be making it an annual family tradition.