Stillbirth & SUID Prevention, Education, & Awareness Act

I've blogged about this before, and I hope the next time I blog about it I'll be able to tell you that Congress has passed this act and the hard work of saving baby's lives has begun.

The Stillbirth & SUID Prevention, Education & Awareness Act would provide research money to investigate stillbirth and SUID as well as create a national databank of infant deaths, potentially leading to prevention of infant death. (And I realize I am preaching to the choir, but I hope someone might stumble on this and become informed.)

Why? Well, about 26,000 babies are stillborn in the US every year. 50% of those deaths are unexplained. That's 13,000 babies.

Let me repeat that: 13,000 babies are stillborn each year AND NO ONE KNOWS WHY.

Another 4,600 babies succumb to SUID (Sudden Unexplained Infant Death) in the first year of life. Another 200 children between the ages of 1 and 4 die for no apparent reason.

Let's tally that up: 26,000 + 4,600 + 200 = 30,800.

30,800 - 13,000 (babies who are stillborn and the cause is known) = 17,800.

Approximately 17,800 babies die each year without discernible cause.

That is not acceptable.

If this bill is passed, it might be possible to discover why many of those 17,800 babies die, and it might be possible to prevent babies from dying in the future.

For more information, please visit the CJ Foundation for SIDS. There is a link on the home page where you can click and write a letter to your members of Congress.

Thank you.

Harbinger of Spring

International Women's Day - March 8

Monday is International Women's Day, and I've joined a community of bloggers around the world who are blogging about women and hunger as part of a World Food Programme initiative to raise awareness for the one billion people around the world who go to bed hungry every night.

From the WFP website:

"Some 60 percent of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls. This is because women often have unequal access to resources, education and income, and because they participate less in decision-making.

And when hunger and undernutrition affect women, they also affect their children. More than 19 million children are born annually with low birth weight, often the result of their mothers receiving inadequate nutrition before and during pregnancy.

Women as solution

In many countries, women form the backbone of the agricultural sector and food systems, making up the bulk of agricultural labourers.They also play a key role in guaranteeing food security for the entire household.

Experience shows that in the hands of women, food is far more likely to reach the mouths of needy children."

What can we do to help?

- Make a donation: 25 cents is all it takes to fill a cup to feed a hungry schoolchild a meal. $16 US dollars buys a 25 kilo sack of rice.
- Play the online game Free Rice, which asks you to define words (improving your vocabulary in a fun way! great for word nerds like me) and donates rice for every word you correctly define.
- Spread the word, through your blog, Facebook, Twitter or other online social group. Click here for more information.

For Grieving Dads

Kelly Farley, a bereaved father of a daughter and a son, has created a website for grieving dads. He is aiming to write a book designed just for grieving fathers, and I must say, I think this would be a welcome addition to grief literature. Here's a bit from his site, Grieving Dads.

"This project is designed to reach out to all bereaved dads and to provide a conduit to share their stories. One of my goals is to bring awareness to the impacts that child loss has on fathers and to let society know that it’s okay for a father to grieve the loss of a child. A father shouldn’t have to hide his pain or feel ashamed to show his emotions."

He is looking for fathers to answer some questions, via his website, as part of his research for the book. If you, or your spouse/partner, or someone you know, might be able to help him out, send them his link.

Snow Day

First day school has been closed all winter - we're a hardy bunch.

Global Report on Preterm & Stillbirth

I received notification of the Global Report on Preterm & Stillbirth, which was just released. It identifies causes of stillbirth and prematurity as well as interventions that could prevent or improve what study researchers term "under-addressed outcomes." In otherwords, stillbirths, which happen to 3.2 million families each year, according to their report--that little thing no one wants to talk about.

I find it interesting how the researchers quoted in the release admit that far too little attention has been paid to preterm births and stillbirths. I can only hope people pay attention.

Here's a little more about the paper, with link:

"The Global Report on Preterm & Stillbirth, published with the BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth’s latest supplement, identifies known causes and 21 proven interventions that could now be widely used to improve these extremely distressing yet under-addressed outcomes. Additionally, it outlines the urgent need for increased focus and attention on research. This is crucial for understanding the magnitude, causes, and consequences of preterm birth and stillbirth, and for speeding up the development of diagnostics, treatment and prevention strategies.

The report, led by the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Seattle Children’s, is a collaborative effort undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of maternal, newborn and child health experts from around the globe.

“We can save more lives, but we urgently need more action and resources to better understand the causes of prematurity and stillbirth, and to guide development of cost-effective interventions,” said Dr. Craig E. Rubens, executive director of GAPPS. “For the first time ever, experts from around the world have agreed to a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to solving these global tragedies.”

Does This Mean I've Made It?

I've been getting a lot of spam comments on my blog recently....anybody else? I've been blogging here for a few years now, and nothing, then, suddenly...they're everywhere. I've deleted some, given up and left some. Some are complete rubbish - nonsense - some appear to be in Japanese, Chinese, or Russian, I don't know.

How do people do this, leave spam comments on blogs? I really have no idea. What I find interesting/weird are comments like this one:

"Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)"

And this one:

"It was rather interesting for me to read that blog. Thank you for it. I like such themes and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon."

Yep, I love reading blogs about dead babies. It's so much fun! And like you, dear spammer, I can't wait to read more! I love the themes of dead babies and everything connected to them myself; why don't you call me and we can discuss it all day long? And to my dear other spammer, I'm glad you think I'm getting better and better at this blog thing. I am a professional writer, though, so I'm a little disappointed to hear that my older articles aren't as good as my new ones. Though I have been at this deadbabymama thing for 6 years now.

And how, exactly, do you agree with certain articles about dead babies and not others? What opinion of mine do you agree with? Perhaps the one where I state that having a dead baby sucks?

Please, keep reading, and keep making inane comments. Can't wait to hear more from you.