March for Babies: A Mother of a Movement™

MEET THE RAZZAK FAMILY

Pregnancy can be challenging at any time. Now imagine giving birth months too soon during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 24, Alicia was diagnosed with coronavirus while pregnant. Then things went from bad to worse. She ended up being put on a ventilator and spent 41 days in the ICU.

After carrying her baby for nearly 32 weeks, Alicia delivered her son Laith while in a medically induced coma—nearly two months too early. And so their difficult journey to recovery began.

"We're all healthy now and doing better," says Alicia. "Without the incredible NICU staff and the contributions of March of Dimes, I don't know if we could have the same story today."

With your help, you can help moms and babies like Alicia and Laith and so many more.

meet the Kilgore Family

Dani Kilgore's journey to motherhood wasn’t picture perfect. In 2010 she experienced her first devastating miscarriage, but she was able to try again. In 2013, in excellent health, she became pregnant with a son, William Jr. However, at 28 weeks, she was rushed to surgery for an emergency C-section. William Jr. was born weighing just 15.3 ounces. Though he was a fighter, he just couldn’t survive.

After her son’s death, she experienced another miscarriage, but then in 2015 she and her husband learned they were pregnant. She was nervous, but took every precaution recommended by her doctors. On July 15, 2015, little Harper Avery Kilgore was born at 35 weeks. She has hearing loss as a result of her preterm birth. Her journey to grow her family didn’t stop there. After her daughter’s birth, she had two more miscarriages.

In 2020, after participating in the virtual March for Babies, Dani shared her journey on Facebook. She hopes her story will help others feel brave to share theirs because everyone’s story is valuable and spreads hope. As an African-American mom, Dani understand the statistics around the inequities in health care and the death rate of moms and babies of color. Her hope is that with March of Dimes she can raise awareness of these disparities and create change for all families.

With your help, you can help moms and babies like Dani and Harper Avery and so many more.

MEET THE MOSELEY FAMILY

Early in the pregnancy of her son, Adrian, Keelee Moseley sensed something might be wrong. She went for a checkup, but the doctor said everything was fine and normal. She insisted that he check her cervix.

And she was right. Keelee's cervix had dilated. She was sent home to wait for labor to progress. At only 21 weeks, she was told her son would most likely not survive. After making it through the night, Keelee was admitted to the hospital where she made it to 23 weeks. Adrian was born via emergency C-section, more than four months too soon. He weighed just 1 pound. Keelee went home, but in excessive pain and running a high fever, she returned to the ER.

She felt dismissed in triage and began to decline even more. Doctors finally realized Keelee had advanced Necrotizing Fasciitis, an aggressive flesh-eating disease, and she was rushed to emergency surgery. "Knowing that it was preventable was the hardest thing to grasp," Keelee recalled.

Keelee was in the hospital for 34 days; Adrian spent 144 days in the NICU. "March of Dimes has given us a space to grieve or to heal," said Keelee. "It gives me the encouragement there's an organization out there working towards creating a better experience for moms and babies.

Thank you for supporting March of Dimes and families like the Moseleys.

MEET THE CASEY FAMILY

Jennifer and her husband were thrilled and over the moon to learn they were having a baby. Then at 23 weeks, Jenifer began experiences complications with her pregnancy. It was determined that she was experiencing preterm labor contractions. Treatment helped hold off birth for a few days, but it was soon clear that she was in preterm labor. There was no stopping it anymore.

Isabelle was born at 23 weeks, more than four months too early. She weighed just 1 pound, 6 ounces. Jennifer remembers thinking, "I just didn’t know babies that small could survive outside of the womb." Her parents could only watch her struggle to survive. Isabelle developed aggressive retinopathy. After two weeks in the NICU, Jenifer and Todd were able to hold her daughter for the first time.

After nearly five months in intensive care, Isabelle finally was able to come home. Today she's a happy, thriving, tenacious toddler. March of Dimes NICU Family Support team was there to guide Jennifer and Todd through there in families NICU journey. The program "provided us care and help when we needed it most," said Jennifer. "And we're incredibly grateful."

MEET THE MCLEAN FAMILY

The McLeans were thrilled to make their dream of parenthood a reality. A year after buying their home, they tried and immediately got pregnant. Everything was going smoothly in their pregnancy—or so they thought. At their 19-week appointment, their doctor told them the baby had a cyst on the base of his brain.

At 24 weeks, Tiffany McLean woke up in the middle of the night with a throbbing headache. Marty took her blood pressure and it was really high. She had to have an emergency C-section and Tristian was born. The next morning, his neonatologist called to tell them Tristan was in a lot of pain and wasn't doing well.

Tristian developed Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), a serious intestinal disease affecting preterm babies. After just 31 days in the NICU, Tristian passed away.

"After Tristian passed, I really was looking to learn more about NEC, and I just started searching online and found out that there’s research centers working to determine the causes for NEC and decreased risks for NEC and research is being funded by March of Dimes. So we want to thank March of Dimes for work that they do and the support they provide to families like ours."

MEET THE ROLAND FAMILY

Jetaun and her husband's initial excitement of learning they were pregnant came to an abrupt halt at their very first prenatal appointment. Jetaun found out that she had a fibroid, which was blocking her birth canal. As the pregnancy progressed, she started to experience a lot of pain because the fibroid was getting larger. When the pain was too much to bear, she and her husband went to the hospital and their son, Owen Christopher Roland Jr., was born at 22 weeks of gestation. They watched him take two breaths and then pass away.

Jetaun learned about March of Dimes and the community of fellow families who share, comfort and support each other while participating in a March for Babies walk. "To be around women with the same experience was so powerful, and all of us felt so much support from one another," she says.

"What I would say to dads that are experiencing loss is, if you need to talk to somebody, it’s ok," says Owen, Sr. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Two years later, they were able to conceive again. They now have a two-year-old daughter named Olivia.

MEET LUKE LUBBERING

Too many families must endure the difficult and frightening experience of prematurity. In fact, every year, more than 380,000 babies are born preterm. Luke Lubbering and his identical twin brother, Logan, are two of those. Luke and Logan's mom was diagnosed with polyhydramnios, which led to Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). TTTS is a rare disease of the placenta that only affects identical twins. Since twins share a placenta, what happens to one baby also affects the other.

Luke was born first weighing 2 pounds. His brother, Logan, was born one minute later weighing 10.9 ounces. During this time there was no medical equipment small enough to assist Logan. His parents were told that his lungs could explode if he was intubated. Logan lived for 1 hour and 23 minutes while Luke spent 66 days in the NICU fighting for his life.

Luke's now ten years old and since the day of his birth, he exhibits his strong will to live. He and his family have become very passionate for volunteering and fundraising for March of Dimes and March for Babies to show their gratitude for all of the years of scientific research, medical advancements and support for families everywhere.

MEET THE YANG FAMILY

Twins run in Christina’s family, so her husband Ted wasn’t surprised when two heartbeats showed up on an ultrasound during their first pregnancy. And then a third heartbeat appeared.

There were concerns right away from their doctor, as there are significant health risks in carrying three babies. She introduced the concept of reduction to them—a procedure to reduce the number of fetuses in a pregnancy—and that’s when they started researching preterm birth and getting nervous. They had several consults with another doctor who specialized in reductions, but they ultimately decided against it. They even visited the NICU to get a feel for what might happen to them, touring the same room they’d later be living in for months.

After experiencing adverse symptoms, Christina was placed on extreme bedrest at the hospital. The doctors tried everything to put off preterm labor, but around 24 weeks she started getting contractions. She started to exhibit signs of placenta previa, threatening the life of one of their babies, so they needed to deliver immediately.

Sophia, Raymond and Daniel were born at 24 weeks via C-section—13 weeks early. Things started to go downhill for Raymond, who was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and a grade 4 brain bleed. Ted and Christina made the very difficult decision to discontinue support.

Daniel and Sophia were fighters. Daniel was able to go home 3 months later, while Sophia had to stay on a vent and get a trach, unable to come home for 8 months. Now at age 12, they still deal with some developmental disabilities.

“This happens to way too many other dads,” said Ted. “But just hearing other stories is helpful.”