Snow Sucks

I know you all hate this time of year … the cold, the snow, the countless e-mails and facebook updates from me begging you all to donate to my March for Babies team. That’s right people, get your spam filters ready cause I am ready to go!

Seriously, I know that every year I beg all of you over and over again to support the March of Dimes. I know it can be annoying and tiresome, but I can’t put into words how much it means to me each time I receive a donation. Whether you give $1 or $100, it touches my heart each time.

I don’t do it for me. I won’t be having any more babies, premature or otherwise. Here are the reasons I walk.

1. I walk to remember. I know it sounds weird (and I may be crazy and need some more therapy) but I do it so I never forget. I do it so that each year I get to share my story – and also relive it. The time we spent in the hospital both before and after Sarah was born was the loneliest, most heart-wrenching, frightening time of my life. It helps me remember the pain, the disappointment, the fear and also the joy. I never want to forget how lucky I am to have two healthy girls who just happened to be born prematurely. Some parents aren’t as lucky as I am.

2. I walk for Sarah and Emily. As parents of preemies know, women who were born prematurely are more likely to give birth to preemies. I want to do everything I can to help me daughters have happy, full-term pregnancies.

3. I walk for women I don’t know – most of whom I never will. Having a healthy baby is hard enough; having a premature baby is harder. I guess in a way, this is kinds of a selfish reason to walk. It helps me deal with what I went through by helping other women prevent it.

So there you have it. My top three reasons for walking. Everyone has their own reasons, but each reason is important.

You should also remember that the March of Dimes is the champion for ALL babies … not just the premature ones. It sounds funny now, but believe it or not there was a time when people didn’t know that alcohol, drugs and cigarettes were harmful to a fetus. We know that now because of research done by the MoD. They are also responsible for finding a link between folic acid and preventing neural defects. Oh yeah – they also cured polio.

Whether you realize it or not, YOU have benefitted from the research done by the March of Dimes. If you have a polio shot, took folic acid, didn’t get drunk in the womb or countless other benefits, you can thank the March of Dimes for that. Thank them by walking with me – whether as a member of my team or your own – by donating to my team, or simply by spreading the word that this is important.

I’m reminded of just how important it is every time I am called “mommy.” Without the March of Dimes, I may not have been lucky enough to hear that. And you know what? Whether you realize it or not, you might not have been called that either.

www.marchforbabies.org/alidawn924