Most of you know our story. We have had 3 instance of premature births. Arran was born at 36 weeks and was healthy. Emilee was born at 21 weeks gestation, but was born too early for survival. She lived for 3 hours. Joshua was born at 24 weeks, which is 16 weeks or 4 months early. He was 1 lb 8 oz (690 grams for my nurses) at birth, had many issues while in the NICU where we spent 123 days before he could come home. I truly believe that without the funding of research by the March of Dimes, my wonderful OB's and doctors at John Dempsey and Yale, Josh would not be with us today, and perhaps with more research, Emilee would be. I appreciate each and every person who touched our lives.

Every year, half a million babies in the U.S. are born prematurely. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death and many life long disabilities. The funds we raise in March for Babies support research that saves babies' lives.

The two goals of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign is to Raise Awareness (and of course this is where I come in... talking about Joshua and Emilee) and to Reduce the rate of Prematurity by doing research and educating women prior to getting pregnant. If the causes of premature birth can be better understood, then new ways to prevent it can be developed. A significant portion of their research addresses prematurity. With help from people like you, we can fund more research.

Last year the family teams around the country raised over 115 million dollars. Connecticut family teams raised 305,000 helping the Connecticut chapter raise 1.3 million.

Join our team or make a donation please? We would love to outdo last year!

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.