Tag Archives: Safe Birth

$5.00 Can Save 2 Lives With CleanBirth.org

$5.00 Can Save 2 Lives With CleanBirth.org
$5.00 Can Save 2 Lives With CleanBirth.org

Yes, for roughly the price of your daily Latte Macchiato two lives can be saved.

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I’ve decided to give up 10 of mine, as a grateful mother to four children when I hear the statistics I think “but for chance and place” in which I live that could have been me.  The country of Laos has an extremely high rate of maternal mortality at 470 deaths per 100,000 live births. Often this is simply due to infection from birthing alone in unsanitary conditions. Cultural factors that have rural mothers going into the forest to birth alone play a big role in the problem. CleanBirth.org was founded three years ago to provide Clean Birth Kits and train nurses and midwives in remote villages in Laos to use them. This year alone CleanBirth.org provided nearly 1,200 women with Clean Birth Kits  to safely deliver infection free.

The founder of CleanBirth.org, Kristyn Zalota, is a fellow World Moms Blog contributor. I can not tell you how impressed I have been at the impact she has on so many women’s lives with her mission to provide safe birth in Laos. CleanBirth.org, helps train nurses in Laos and provide Clean Birth Kits for moms. It is in the tail end of a crowd funding campaign to raise $10,000 to help to train and to reach more women.

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The campaign closes on February 12th, so please help us reach as many moms and babies as we can. Really if you think about it, it’s just 1 day without that Latte. Please join us. Us moms have got to stick together!

 

 

Christy Turlington Burns Is My Girl Crush

Christy Turlington Burns Is My Girl Crush

Christy Turlington Burns is my girl crush because today she ran the New York City Marathon for mothers everywhere.

Christy Turlington BurnsIt’s not just because I grew up flipping through the pages she graced in fashion magazines.  Not just because she married Ed Burns, who is the totally hot and  amazingly talented Director & Actor. Or that she perfected her yoga practice, along the way producing a line of conscientiously made yoga gear. It is because she then went on to champion for mothers around the world with Every Mother Counts. After her own frightening experience during childbirth Christy became aware that her scenario could have been fatal, as it is for many women globally without access to the quality healthcare she had been provided. Every year hundreds of thousands of women die during or due to childbirth, mostly from preventable causes.

I have a girl crush on Christy because today she and her Every Mother Counts Team #RunEMC ran in the New York City Marathon to raise money for maternal health with the tag line, “we are running so other mothers don’t have to”.   And I think that is AMAZING. Recently I ran the FEED 10k and barely made it across the finish line, I can’t imagine the strength and dedication it takes to run a marathon!

This photo posted on Facebook the other day stopped me in my tracks.

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It made me think, this is why I do what I do, and I want to do more.  It made me think about the organizations I know who posted this photo, Maternova and Flight For Every Mother, of  Clean Birth Kits, and of Every Mother Counts, and Christy running the marathon. All for the sake of preventing a mother from losing her life while giving birth to another.

Why do we run?  Every Mother Counts participates in the NYC Marathon annually and other running events throughout the year to raise awareness about the impact distance and lack of transportation have on maternal mortality.  Whether it’s a 5K, 10K, half or full marathon these familiar racing mile-markers represent common distances pregnant and laboring women must travel in many parts of the world to reach basic and emergency healthcare services. Most of the time, they travel these distances on foot.  When roads are un-passable, transportation is unavailable and distances are too far, countless women go without prenatal care or skilled assistance at birth and far too often, the results are dangerous and tragic. Distance is the leading contributor that kills almost 300,000 women per year from pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions.-EMC Website

Here is the exciting thing, even though we didn’t run the marathon today, (I actually just got out of my pajamas), this month by downloading and using my favorite App, Charity Miles we can all participate in team Every Mother Counts. Charity Miles donates 25 cents for every mile we run or walk, so if we each do just one mile a day or a collective 26.2 miles by the end of the month, you will have generated enough funding to provide transportation for a mother in labor or in trouble to the hospital in Uganda. That or you can join the team and/or donate to the Every Mother Counts CrowdRise Page.


 

Congratulations to the Every Mother Counts Team for running the NYC Marathon while inspiring and helping mothers around the world. I’ll be running my #CharityMiles with you this month.

Still Looking For A Meaningful Gift? How About The Gift Of Life?

Still Looking For A Meaningful Gift? How About The Gift Of Life?

 When I was pregnant with my first child I dragged my husband to pre-natal and child-birthing classes where we practiced our breathing, and formulated a birthing plan.  Four kids later I laugh when I think about it.  I do remember when they finally induced that first baby, that a sudden fear set in.  It was the realization that something could go horribly wrong.

As my healthy baby was set on my chest after a smooth delivery, I realized that how the baby got there was not the important thing.  The “Birthing Plan” we threw out the window didn’t matter.   The only thing that mattered was that both mom and baby were fine.  I live in a country where we expect safe childbirth, and have the luxury to imagine that we can plan how it will go.

Giving birth should be a time of joy and hope for families, yet in Sub-Saharan Africa  1 in 39 risk dying in during childbirth.  In developing nations around the world  800 mothers will die giving birth each day.  These are areas without proper healthcare facilities or healthcare professionals within reach.  No mother should die in childbirth, and many who do are only in the 15-20 year old age group.  Other mother’s often leave behind older children who are then more likely to suffer from malnutrition, and a continued cycle of poverty. Most of these lives could be saved relatively easily for a small cost. This is where Maternity Worldwide comes in.

 London-based Maternity Worldwide, works to ensure safe births and increased maternal health in developing nations. By providing communities with information on maternal health and family planning, improving access to healthcare, training local midwives and doctors and providing the resources and equipment to provide safe births they are saving lives.   Maternity Worldwide is offering an alternative to traditional gift giving this Christmas with their “Save A Life This Christmas” program.

A Safe Birth Certificate can be purchased for $24. For $81 an emergency delivery is provided for a mother in sub Saharan Africa. This is the perfect gift for that someone with a giving heart, someone who has everything they need, or a friend who has just given birth to her own child, and understands the true impact of this gift.

By ordering a Safe Birth Certificate you will enable a mother in a developing country to safely give birth to her baby. The Safe Birth Certificate can be personalized with your own message, and either sent directly to the recipient or to you to give to them. Because Maternity Worldwide is based in London, the amounts are listed in pounds. (when I went on to order my gift I ended up doing it as a donation and then sending an e-mail to the provided address asking them to provide a digital gift certificate or to mail a copy to the recipient.) I encourage you to read some of the amazing case studies of funds in action on the Maternity Worldwide website.

 

What could be a more amazing gift than giving the gift of life?

 

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.

Follow along with us here on Tumblr, on TwitterPinterest, and Facebook for the latest Global Team of 200 news.