The March of Dimes walk is now a month away which means it’s time for me to start hitting you up for donations!
http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1532860
Many people look at Ben and think he is the norm for what to expect from a former preemie. He is not.
Being born at 29 weeks and under 2lbs does make Ben an exception. Only 1.4% of babies born in the US are born under 3.4lbs. In 2000, these infants comprised just 1.4 percent of U.S. births but 51 percent of infant deaths.” (Dept. of Health & Human Services) . Think about that: 1.4% of births make up 51% of infant deaths. Currently, of these 1.4% of babies, Ben ranks only in the 5th percentile for both height and weight. Pretty much this means every other 2 and a half year old you will meet will be both taller and heavier than Ben. This is one of the only reminders of Ben’s prematurity that have lingered.
Ben is one of the lucky ones. From a cognitive and developmental standpoint, he is functioning in the top 95% of babies born at his size. Nobody could have predicted that Ben would be as high functioning as he is. But this mean that of 100 babies born like Ben, 95 of them are not functioning where he is and this is where the March of Dimes comes in. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
We know how lucky we are, and we continue to support the March of Dimes so that others may be as lucky as we were. You never know when this cause will affect you, we certaintly never thought it would become our cause of choice!
Please consider donating, no amount is too small:
http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1532860
As an aside, I would also like to thank my travel buddy Joan for not only being the first person to donate to the walk in honor of Ben, but to find the donation page all on her own without me. That takes serious skills.
Please help us in our fight against prematurity. Thank you!
