Kirsten Albert

I joined the movement to honor my best friend Traci and her beautiful 17 year-old daughter Raegan (see below for their story!) and create positive change for moms and babies everywhere, especially those most at risk. With preterm birth and maternal death rates continuing to rise, I’m committed to raising funds so that every family gets the best possible start.

My best friends' story.....

It's hard to believe that our March for babies story started 16 years ago! Raegan is 16 year's old - and a DRIVER! What a huge milestone and one that we weren't sure would ever happen for our baby when we found out we were pregnant. Raegan is a resilient and strong kid that continues to amaze us everyday.  Her journey to 16 has not been without its bumps this year she lost her best horse friend and while she misses him daily she has persevered every step of the way.  Life goes by so quickly and we feel fortunate EVERY DAY that things turned out so well for Raegan's story.  It feels like yesterday she was our 3.5lb NICU baby and now she is a wonderful, strong and beautiful young lady!  However, we always remember where the journey began. Matt and I were new parents, our whole world had changed with the immense love we felt for our child, our child that we weren't sure we were ever going to bring home or if we did bring her home there was that dark cloud of wondering of what her quality of life would be like.

On December 19th, 2007 at 19 weeks my water broke and diagnosed 10 days later on December 28th. And so are quest began. The doctor's advice was inducement but they did not know who they were dealing with -- this baby was just as stubborn as her mom. After being told all the risks (some worse than others) our baby girl persevered. We did not leave the hospital after December 28th until Raegan was born on March 19th. We stayed in the hospital the entire winter on bed rest under 24 hour care. I drank over 300 ounces of water a day to maintain amniotic fluid so Raegan's lungs could continue to develop. We received two rounds of surfactant shots (steroid shots) to help her lung's jump start development, especially since I lacked any amniotic fluid.
The name Raegan means strength and boy did our little girl have it -- she beat the odds of a less than 1% chance of survival. She overcame the impossible. She was born at 32 weeks and 2 days and her lung immaturity was well less than her gestational age. She was only 3 1/2 pounds and 16 1/2 inches the day she was born. She spent 5 weeks in the NICU impressing her Georgetown NICU doctor's every day with the strides she made. The nitric oxide therapies, surfactant shots and high jet ventilator are only a couple of the treatments that were developed from the March of Dimes research. Without them the doctor's told us that Raegan would not have survived.

We were blessed with 2 more beautiful girls - (Sydney and Finley and yes a house full of strong-willed girls) --Thankfully, both the pregnancies were a lot less exciting because of the research supported by the March of Dimes. During my second and third pregnancy I received weekly progesterone shots from weeks 15-36 during my pregnancy which help high risk moms like myself avoid pre-term labor as well as weekly ultrasounds to ensure the baby continued to grow appropriately.

Without the March of Dimes, I am not sure where Raegan would be in her development, but I know with the March of Dimes our weekends are full of swimming and horseback riding, traveling to see family, studying in the hopes she gets into the college of her dreams and playing with her sisters and friends. I know many of you have been with us on this journey from the beginning, and some of you may just be starting. But I hope that you will donate for not only Raegan's sake but all babies and moms to have an equal chance at a healthy start.