Marching

Mother’s Day is tough for me. It was tough in 2005 and 2006, when the world didn’t consider me a mother, despite the birth (and death) certificates of two people who proved otherwise. It was tough in 2007 and 2008, when I had two beautiful, healthy children to celebrate, but still had two others I could not enjoy the day with.

It will be tough again this year. I am so grateful to have Henry and Eleanor, but a holiday that highlights the bond between a mother and her children is difficult to celebrate when not all of your children are with you.

But this year I hope to have a productive Mother’s Day weekend. I’m participating in the March of Dimes’ March for Babies, something I’ve wanted to do since Sam and Emilie were born. My family is the proud product of lots of science. Sam and Emilie were conceived with the help of Clomid, Henry and Eleanor were the result of in vitro fertilization. I’ve had two different types of cerclages as well as many different drugs to try to keep my pregnancies safe. I was even a participant in a scientific study during my pregnancy with Henry and Eleanor. None of this would have been possible without the research of wonderful doctors and scientists.

No mother should ever have to lie in a hospital bed, tilted back with her feet higher than her head, wondering if her body will fail her and cause her children to die. No parents should ever have to give birth, then leave the hospital with empty arms to head home to plan a funeral. No parents should have to spend the first few weeks or months of their child’s life in the NICU, wondering what health problems or developmental delays lay ahead, a scenario I’m still amazed we avoided when Henry and Eleanor were born at 35 weeks.

So on Saturday our family will be walking in honor and memory of our two sets of preemie twins. I’ve been a slacker and am down to the last minute for raising funds, but see that button over to the side there? If you feel like donating, you can click on it and go to my March for Babies page. I’ll leave the button up for a while after the walk this weekend, but until Saturday Farmers Insurance is matching donations.

I love all four of my children, and hope that by walking I’ll help other mothers be able to have a happy Mother’s Day with their healthy children.