Posts Tagged ‘Awareness’

January 10th, 2011

Bloggers For Babies

So last week sometime I was popping around the internet, and I noticed that Katie from Pickles & Paisley was going to be doing the March of Dimes Walk for Babies later on in the year, and made a team of bloggers from her local area to walk together and help raise money for the amazing cause.   I thought it was a wonderful idea, and I immediately enlisted Courtney from One Bored Mommy to walk along with me, and welcomed any local Connecticut supporter to our team, blogger or not!

Through this, I knew I wanted to walk for certain people in my day to day life who have had babies prematurely, heck in December I had a friend who was on bed rest for a while give birth at 35 weeks after holding out several times from 30 weeks on. Then there are the children who have been born birth defects like Cora. Someone I also personally plan on walking for.

Overall it is an amazing cause, and if you would like to support our team, please click to donate above… or you can also join us to walk… heck you can even walk in your own area!

Just on a side note… this walk is 3 days short of my c-section date I have pushed back and 1 day before my 39 week mark. LOL!  Too important to pass up because I just might not be comfortable, and if I go into labor on my own at the walk… so what… Then we know she is really ready to come!

April 1st, 2010

April is Cesarean Awareness Month!

Many do not know this unless you are heavily involved in the childbirth community, but the month of April is recognized as Cesarean Awareness Month. When I first started my ICAN Chapter in 2008 here in Connecticut, we submitted a request to our governors office to have Cesarean Awareness Month recognized in Connecticut.  To my surprise it was denied.
That is when my project began. I created a petition which in the end collected over 300 signatures and come 2009, we submitted our request for our Proclamation, with the petition. I guess they realized we weren’t going to go away huh?

In 2009 we got our first CAM (short for Cesarean Awareness Month) proclamation, and this year in 2010 we continued our tradition and again it was granted.

But why is this important?

With the growing cesarean birth rate nationwide it is so important that we take some time and realize that the 32% numbers we are seeing are not healthy, nor are they improving maternal or neonatal outcomes. In the past month we have seen several reports in large national news sources about this, and while bringing attention to this is great, it is not going to make the change that we need.

Cesarean Awareness is important to me because of the births of my two children, so different, but much alike.

My Birth Journeys from Danielle Elwood on Vimeo.

So how can you get involved?

• Are you involved with your local ICAN Chapter? Is there no ICAN Chapter in your area? START ONE!
• Does your local hospital have a VBAC Ban in place?  Contact them and encourage them to practice evidence based medicine, and consider the new statement from the NIH VBAC Consensus.
• Protest!  Make some signs, and stand out in front of those hospitals with high c-section rates, or VBAC Bans and have your voice heard!
• Write a letter to the editor!  Your voice is powerful and important!
• Check out the ICAN Blog and read the birth stories of some amazing women.

Some of the recent news stories that include great information why Cesarean Awareness is important are  :

• United States Urged to Confront Shocking Maternal Mortality Rates
• Too Many Women Dying in US While Giving Birth
• Are C-Sections Too Common?
• Women Need a Chance to Avoid Repeat Cesareans
• Newsweek : VBAC Access Makes Medical Sense
• ACOG Spokesman : The Rise in Cesareans are Not Good for Anyone
• Cesarean Rate Jumps a Record High since 1996

Get out and get involved!

Listen to the Momotics Radio Show all month Cesarean related shows!

April 7th – Isa Herrera author of Ending Female Pain
April 14th – Dr. Stuart Fischbein discussing VBAC and preventing cesarean births
April 21st – Barbara Stratton, the ICAN VBAC Ban chair will be discussing VBAC bans nationwide.

I will also be on The Feminist Breeder’s Radio show this coming Sunday night at 10pm CST (11 pm for us east coasters) to kick off Cesarean Awareness Month and talk about the Post Cesarean Feelings Survey I recently worked on with The Healthy Baby Network.

HAPPY CESAREAN AWARENESS MONTH!

February 13th, 2010

Keeping Cora in our Thoughts

Today is the last day of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week and to help celebrate, and remember that we need to spread awareness of CHD and Coras story all year long I will be wrapping the week up with a follow up interview with Kristine Brite, Cora’s Mother, and a huge advocate in the CHD awareness movement. Without her I would have gone on living my life like most people, not knowing anything about CHD.

Danielle :  How did you like being on the Momotics Radio Show to kick off CHD Awareness Week?

Kristine : “The Momotics Radio interview gave me so much confidence to start the week! I had never told Cora’s Story on air. I was admittedly nervous all week. Radio interviews are way out of comfort zone. But, you made made me feel so comfortable. Thank you!
Although Cora’s Story is sad, and we both shed quite a few tears, I think your show also showed her story is one of hope. Cora is making a huge difference. She is saving lives.

I also immensely enjoyed the discussion your show spurred both on the air and after. Members of the CHD community started talking about holding weekly chat sessions. Mothers I had only chatted with online called in and we got to talk about the indescribable impact CHD has had on our lives. For that, I’m forever thankful to you.

The show started discussion that lasted the entire week. Life saving discussion.”

Danielle : Where else have you written a guest blog this week?  (Links)

Kristine : “My fellow bloggers have been so gracious. Not only did I write several guest posts, several bloggers wrote posts about Cora and CHD as a surprise to me. I started the week on the Blogess Army where I wrote about finding out about CHD from the coroner.
Next, I moved to a blog of a mom who also has a child with CHD, Garibay Soup, where I used Cora’s perfect looking picture to illustrate that any child can have CHD.
My post on Baby Dickey, meant a lot because Emily’s son, Ryan, was born a few weeks after Cora and was the first baby Cora helped. I got a little poetic on The Angel Forever. And, on The Spohrs Are Multiplying, I welcomed Cora to the world.
Yesterday, I wrote about what every mother needs to know about CHD on Atlanta Mothers Guide .
Today, I’m also on The Bluemoon Girl talking about Cora’s other gift. And, I’m not done! I have a final CHD Awareness Week guest blog planned for tomorrow. But, I’ll keep that a secret.”

Danielle : What do you want people to know about CHD Awareness Week?

Kristine : “We saved lives this week. I personally read the story of a baby diagnosed because of all the awareness efforts. A mother recognized some of the symptoms in her child.

I’m still absolutely floored I didn’t know about CHD before Cora. When I read that CHD kills more children than all forms of childhood cancer combined, is the most common birth defect, and gets little in the way of funding for more research shortly after Cora’s death, my jaw dropped. Every mother needs to know about CHD for their children and their friend’s children. We’ve got to demand more research and attention be shifted to this serious public health issue.”

Danielle : What would you like to say to women and families touched by CHD?

Kristine : “I work for you, too. I will never stop. I’m here for you always. Feel free to write to me at my personal email, kbrite@gmail.com.”

Danielle : What do you want people to know about Cora’s Story?

Kristine : “She saves lives. She improves lives. She changed me forever. She brought such love and joy in my life. I know her story sounds like a horror movie at first read, but it’s full of such hope, joy, and compassion. I work for her always. I dedicate all to her. I try to find ways to improve other peoples lives all in her name. Cora is one amazing baby.”

Danielle : What is your new website and Contact information for anyone who would like to work with you on CHD Awareness?

Kristine : “Cora and I now blog at http://www.corasstory.org. My email again is kbrite@gmail.com.  My full name is Kristine Brite McCormick. I still forget and go by my maiden name all the time, so you might see either name. I’m here for all mothers. Anytime.”

This week has taught me so many things, and I hope through our posts about CHD awareness and the radio show, we are able to reach out and help someone, or save a life.
If you missed the radio show earlier this week, you can click play on the Blog Talk Radio icon below to listen. Please disregard the conversation Kristine and I had AFTER the show was over, we were unaware that the show would continue to record even after the time frame was over. LOL!   But it does make for some pretty funny moments.

February 5th, 2010

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

Sunday will mark the beginning of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week which will run from February 7th, to Valentines day, which I find fitting considering valentines day is always represented with hearts. It makes it easier to remember, don’t ya think?

But the reason I am taking the time to post about this because most do not know that CHD, short for Congenital Heart Defect, is the #1 birth defect in the United States.  It is estimated that 25,000 babies are born with CHD every year, and that works out to 1 out of every 115-150 births.  Another shocking number is, 10,830 babies are born daily in the US, meaning around 411 of them will be born with some form of CHD.

I didn’t really know much about CHD until I got on twitter in January and really got involved. I noticed lots of people that I already followed talking about CHD and Cora’s Story. So I set out to learn more about Cora and her story, and that is when I met her mother Kristine Brite.
Cora was born with an undetected CHD and passed away on December 6th 2009 while breastfeeding in her mothers arms.

Since the loss of Cora, Kristine, her mother has been struggling with losing a child, but becoming an activist for CHD and mandatory pulse oximetry testing on all newborns, which tests for CHD, hopefully helping prevent CHD from going unnoticed or undetected in any more babies.

Because I feel that this is such an important topic, I decided to kick of CHD Awareness Week with a special Momotics Radio show on Sunday at 3:00pm EST.  I know a lot of people will be watching the Super Bowl, including my husband and children, but I feel like this is such an important subject to talk about.  Myself, and Kristine Brite will be discussing Cora’s Story and how to help prevent others from going through this.

Join us!