March for Babies Monday: May 1, 2011

Thank you once again to everyone who supported our team.  We were able to raise $861 for March of Dimes!  Here is how our day went...

8:45am: Arrive and begin walking to 5/3 Field in Downtown Toledo.  Brendan aka Superbaby wants to push Lila in the stroller.

 8:50am: Brendan is preparing for the 3 mile walk by jogging on the Riverwalk to warm up.

 8:55am: Lila aka Superbaby's brother smiles and looks cute.

 9:00am: My brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew arrive and Brendan is super excited to see them and my niece is excited about her new pink Superbaby shirt.

 9:02am: Brendan and Hailey look at cute baby geese before heading to the walk.

 9:10am: Brendan and Hailey smile for a picture with Muddy the Mud Hen.  The walk this year took place at the baseball stadium.  Brendan said the Yankees play here.

 9:15-10:00am: We turn in our donation ($861) and receive our tshirts.  We met up with the rest of Team Superbaby, take pictures by the field, eat a little food for energy, collect some free goodies (loved the purple reusable bags they were handing out!  I think we came home with about six), hoped for the rain to hold off, saw it wasn't holding off, figured it could be worse weather, tried hearing the opening speech was was difficult with so many people, they played the national anthem, and then we were off!

 10:00am-11:00am: March for Babies has begun!  The weather was a little misty and wet but we didn't let it slow us down.  We were walking for all those babies who were born too soon, too little, and too sick. 1 in 8 babies are born too soon.  This cause has affected my family with too many early babies including my sister and a few of my cousins.  We will all gladly walk in a little rain for all those who are unable to walk.

 11:00am-12:00pm: After the walk we met back in the stadium to let the kids play in the bounce house, talk with friends who were walking for their son, and get Lila's face painted.  We just love the atmosphere of the walk and all the kids running around, being around others that understand where you used to be, being able to see all the healthy kids and remembering the ones who became angels too soon.

Each year I am overwhelmed with the support for our team.  We hope that someday more and more babies will be born full-term and healthy.  Hopefully they will find some answers to why so many people deliver babies early for no reason (about 50%!!!).  Brendan is our superbaby.  He was so healthy and the exception of every preemie rule.  Lila was born healthy and full-term because of the research March of Dimes completed about progesterone shots. 

Thank you to March of Dimes for all the hard work and research conducted to help give all babies a healthy 9 months!