I remember the sound of my water breaking when I was pregnant with G. I had been experiencing labor pains all night long and was lying in bed when I heard a distinct popping sound, much like a balloon. I managed to rush to the bathroom to take care of things and alert my husband that we needed to get to the hospital.
As my contractions started to come faster, my husband decided to take a quick shower before we left. Luckily, we lived less than 10 minutes from the hospital, and I had a doctor and several nurses awaiting my arrival.
I delivered G before they even admitted me.
Biz let me get through Thanksgiving dinner (lobster and chicken, my choice) before he decided to arrive. My contractions started after my parents left for Massachusetts, and G was sound asleep. The friends who were supposed to come over and be with G while we were at the hospital were also in Massachusetts with family. The owner of our daycare came over, still dressed in her Thanksgiving best, to stay with G overnight.
When we got to the hospital, I took advantage of the anesthesiologist, who was on his way out the door to be with his family on Thanksgiving night, and started my epidural. The hospital was a ghost town and Biz came, without much fuss, the next morning.
I cannot imagine life without these two amazing boys. I am forever grateful of the fairly easy pregnancies and births I experienced with them.
Sadly, many mothers lose their newborn children every day, some before their babies are even born. Each day, 18,000 children under 5 die, most from preventable causes. While the child mortality rates have gone down significantly since 1990 – from 12.6 million to 6.6 million – the amount of newborns we are losing is staggering.
Save the Children released their Ending Newborn Deaths report today. The report focuses on the 2.2 million newborn babies that die each year before they even have a chance at life – the 1.2 million stillbirths that occur during labor and the 1 million that die on the first day (and only) day of life.
These newborn deaths often happen because of premature birth and complications during birth, such as prolonged labor, pre-eclampsia and infection, much of which could be avoided if quality health experts are present.
Not surprisingly, the poorest countries in the world tend to have the highest mortality rates for newborns, while countries that have experienced recent conflict or are considered “fragile” are among the highest for preventable deaths. Lack of education and rural communities without access to medical services are also factors in higher death rates.
There is hope though. Countries like Cambodia, for example, have seen a 51% reduction in newborn deaths. And a draft of the Every Newborn Action Plan (which you can comment on until February 28th) is in process.
The report calls for political support of its five-point promise:
Save the Children is calling on world leaders, philanthropists and the private sector to meet and commit to the Five Point Newborn Promise in 2014:
- Issue a defining and accountable declaration to end all preventable newborn mortality, saving 2 million newborn lives a year and stopping the 1.2 million stillbirths during labor
- Ensure that by 2025 every birth is attended by trained and equipped health workers who can deliver essential newborn health interventions
- Increase expenditure on health to at least the WHO minimum of US$60 per person
- To pay for the training, equipping and support of health workers, and remove user fees for all maternal, newborn and child health services, including emergency obstetric care
- The private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, should help address unmet needs by developing innovative solutions and increasing availability for the poorest to new and existing products for maternal, newborn and child health.
Each year, 40 million women give birth without trained help. Imagine how many babies we could save if all mothers had access to trained health workers.
Download Save the Children’s Ending Newborn Deaths report
I wrote this post as part of the Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of Mom Bloggers for Social Good members who focus on maternal health, children, hunger, and women and girls. It is part of a 24-hour blog carnival. You can read more newborn health posts on the Global Team of 200 site.
The idea of so many babies and children dying of preventable causes makes my heart ache. It’s amazing to think of how many lives could be saved – including the babies AND their moms, since maternal mortality is also still quite high globally – if all mothers had the kind of trained help that we did.
I’m with you, Katie. It just doesn’t make sense that babies are dying of preventable diseases. And you make a good point about mothers. I didn’t even touch on the maternal deaths that accompany some of the newborn deaths.
I was truly happy to read this (thank you for sharing) and I will say for myself, I was blessed to have a phenomenal doctor who pretty much held my hand through both my pregnancies. But so sad that many women don’t have this and just glad that there is something being done for them.
We are truly lucky to have all the medical services we need readily available to us. I hope world leaders will support Save the Children’s promise.
well you know how I feel about this topic!xoxo
You are an amazing advocate for newborns everywhere, Alexa!
Oh this just breaks my heart. With the memory of delivering Eve still so fresh in my mind, I cannot even imagine going through 9 month of pregnancy and delivery to have my baby die, especially from something that could have been prevented. I do hope that they are able to make the 2025 goal a reality.
The statistics are heartbreaking to read. I hope the goal is met as well.
Your stories are beautiful. With Scarlet, everything was smooth and easy.
With Des, it was a bit disastrous and I had doctors and nurses at my beck and call for that whole terrible NICU week.
He was fine, and in my heart I believe it was overcaution, but what if it wasn’t? What if we didn’t have top care?
Staggeringly heartbreaking.
Better to have too much medical attention than none at all, right? Crazy to think about what could have happened in our birth stories had we lived in a different country.
I think we often take for granted the amazing medical care we receive in the U.S. I cannot imagine the fear and hopelessness mothers in less fortunate circumstances feel when delivering their babies. Thank you for sharing this report with us. And LOVE the newborn pics!
Thank, Nicole. We definitely take our medical care for granted here in the US. I feel for those mothers who lose several children just because they don’t have adequate care.