You know, being pregnant again and chatting with other women who are preparing for their babies, I keep hearing all this stuff about SIDS prevention. The word is really out on that one, right? Everyone knows about it. Everyone does what they can to prevent it.
Doing kick counts can reduce stillbirth by 50% according to my perinatologist. But when I get on pregnancy forums or talk to other mothers, I find many don't even know about it. The word is not out like it is for SIDS prevention. And many that do can't take the time. Some say it stresses them out for no reason and even go so far as to encourage other mommies-to-be not to do them so that they don't worry themselves for nothing. Quite obviously they don't see it as a real threat to them. It's one of those "that won't happen to me" deals. HAHA. I remember thinking that too.
SIDS claims 7 lives per day in the US alone.
Stillbirth claims 70 lives per day in the US alone. Seventy. That is a ten-fold difference.
If we do "back-to-sleep," use sleep sacks, use sleep positioners, and take bumpers out of cribs to prevent SIDS...why would we not do something so simple that has been shown to prevent something much more prevalent? Takes too much time? Really? Seriously? And for most, it's because they don't even know. They know all about SIDS prevention but nothing about stillbirth prevention. We need to get the word out.
It's a little after 5:00am here. I have already been up for well over an hour. It's a beautiful day, the weather will be divine. I have the windows open and the birds are singing in the trees. And in the US today, 70 mommies will lose their babies to stillbirth. I will be thinking about this all day. My heart breaks for those women, most of whom will have had low-risk, non-complicated pregnancies and have no clue their life is about to be altered forever. FOREVER. I want to warn them, but I can't because I don't know who they are. Heck, it could be my turn again today.
This means seventy other mothers lost their child on the day that I lost mine, in the same way that I lost mine. 07/07/07. SEVENTY.
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I had no idea so many stillbirths happened every day. It is heartbreaking - and I can't believe someone would not do kick counts if they knew it could prevent it.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest - with my last I didn't do them - can't even remember the OB encouraging it - maybe I brushed it aside in a "I've been here, done this before" manner. I had no idea until I read this that it can prevent stillbirths, Em. No idea. Thank you for sharing - because now I can share with people I know, too, about how important they are.
I have never heard about the "Kick Counts". I think that all woman should do that. I left your post and did some research because I didn't know what it meant. I know that I will make sure that my family members who are having babies know about this. Who wouldn't have the time! The sight I went to said that 28,000 babies were stillborn last year in the US. OMG I remember when I was a little girl our neighbor across the street lost a baby to SIDS. They didn't know anything about it then.
ReplyDeleteThen when I had my kids the babies had to be face down. Now look at what a difference the
back-to-sleep has made. You need to get this information out there.
I am so, so, so with you on this. It makes me want to pull my hair out. Yes, the word is out. We get it now with SIDS. We will always still be learning, but we are so well educated on this now, and as a result, fewer babies die this way. And that's a great thing. But what about stillbirth, the silent killer of our babies. And so many, full term healthy babies born to healthy mummies after healthy and easy pregnancies. What about those babies? What about us? No one ever mentioned kick counts to me. Not once. Not in nine whole months. NOW I know how important they are, just too late. Much too late. I know they could have saved her life, but no one tells you. But what I did know for nine months was not to smoke (never have anyway), not to sleep baby on tummy (hah, I never even got to bring baby home), not to have cot bumpers, not to have the room too warm. All this very useful knowledge that I never got to put to use, as no one told me how I could ensure I could even get her out of me alive.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could change this. I am always thinking of ways how.
We need to keep telling our stories.
Sorry for the rambling comment, but this hit close to home.
What a very powerful post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I know the statistics. Very well. My children are both statistics. I am familiar with the numbers. But way too many people are not. They do not know.
The really scary thing is that many families do not know about SIDS. Or about what can be done to prevent SIDS. So how can we possibly educate them about stillbirth and stillbirth prevention??
Internationally (in first world countries) the statistic for stillbirth is about 1 in 140. One in 140 babies, after a gestation of 20 weeks but prior to 4 weeks after birth, will DIE. So that number, 1 in 140, excludes miscarriages.
Stillbirth: 1 in 140 babies will die between 20 weeks gestation and 4 weeks post birth.
BLOODY SCARY.