Baby Puppets

When men play with babies

Prematurity Awareness

Today more than 1,400 babies in the United States (1 in 8) will be born prematurely. Many will be too small and too sick to go home. Instead, they face weeks or even months in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). These babies face an increased risk of serious medical complications and death; however, most, eventually, will go home.

But what does the future hold for these babies? Many survivors grow up healthy; others aren't so lucky. Even the best of care cannot always spare a premature baby from lasting disabilities such as cerebral palsy; mental retardation and learning problems; chronic lung disease; and vision and hearing problems. Half of all neurological disabilities in children are related to premature birth.

Although doctors have made tremendous advances in caring for babies born too small and too soon, we need to find out how to prevent preterm birth from happening in the first place. Despite decades of research, scientists have not yet developed effective ways to help prevent premature delivery.

In fact, the rate of premature birth increased by more than 20 percent between 1990 and 2006. This trend and the dynamics underlying it underscore the critical importance and timeliness of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. The rate fell to 12.3 percent in 2008 from 12.7 in 2007, a small but statistically significant decrease.

We were one of the lucky ones. Our baby came home and has thrived despite her early and tumultuous beginning. Every day I'm reminded of the fear of having a high risk pregnancy and a baby born too soon. Even looking at my full-term miracle reminds me of how hard Emma fought and how lucky we are to have her.

3 months!

Quinn is a quarter year old today!

Happy Halloween!

I didn't get a single picture of the girls together :(

3.5

Three has been a hard year, three and a half is REALLY hard. Our girl is full of sass and a whole lotta attitude. It snowed this week, we knew it was coming and Emma asked if she could stay up until it snowed. I told her no since I didn't know when it was going to actually start snowing. So instead of waiting up, she woke up early and sneaked out of the house with only a tank top, leggings and boots on. (random note... I keep using the word "snuck," which spell check tells me isn't really a word, but "sneaked" is, so that's why I'm using it) SHE SNEAKED OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! Thank goodness she went out the back door so none of the neighbors saw her and called the police. She then came upstairs and told me what she did.

I may not survive her teen years.

and if this picture is any indication her father won't survive her teen years either

Sisterly love

In case you can't hear it, she says "I'm so happy that you're here. Mom wouldn't have had a baby without you."

Fall

We've been enjoying the gorgeous fall weather in Colorado and trying to pack as much fun into my last few weeks of maternity leave.

I'm interested to see how different the girls will be when they're older - right now they seem worlds apart, but I also know that a lot of that difference is their ages.

This one is pure sass. You never know if you're going to get a smile

or a glare

she rolls her eyes a lot, she might have learned that from me

but she's as fun as they come

and an awesome big sister!

This one is exploding with smiles

she's sweet and calm

she loves to just take it all in.

She also has some scrumptious cheeks - I spend a lot of time nibbling on them!