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so 15 days after my due date i was summoned to the hospital, 7.30 in the morning we left the house and walked waddled the short distance round the corner to the hospital. once at the hospital i was promptly induced. i had hoped for a water birth and was pleased to hear that the birthing pool was free, however i was never to use it. the gas and air, was hopeless as i experienced minor panic attacks as i found it hard exhale. oliver on the other hand was enjoying it on the sly when no one was looking! i had tried to breathe my way through most of the contractions but i was struggling and getting tired. it was clear that the pethidine was pointless and so after 15 hours of labour i requested an epidural. i was exhausted and i really couldn’t manage the pain by myself anymore. the main problem was that i seemed to be stuck. i had dilated, but i had stopped at 7cm and i wasn’t going anywhere fast. my waters refused to break and it eventually took 3 attempts to break them!

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today my saturday was dedicated to getting a greater understanding on how i can use something that i do a hobby to help babies and families in places far from my own home and in far far less fortunate situations than my own.

i attended the creating connections – blogger and vlogger conference 2012, organised by save the children to share with us their latest global project, build it for babies.

i took away many things from the day, including new friends. i have shortlisted the main points & issues that made me stop and think about how very very lucky me and my family are.

bangladesh

  • 50% of babies born in bangladesh do not survive the first 28 days of their lives
  • 50% of those that die, will die within their very first hours & days of their existence
  • 1 in 19 babies fail to see their 5th birthday
  • in one village alone 9 out of 10 women had lost children, 1 mother having lost 6

the main cause of death is because access to even just basic healthcare is hugely limited. for those living in rural areas it will often be a 6 hours gruelling journey to reach their nearest clinic. because of this, huge numbers of babies are dying, and at outrageous levels and mainly from highly preventable and treatable conditions such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.

rwanda

  • parents do not name their children in the first 8 days of their lives as they are unlikely to survive
  • food is available but there is little knowledge about nutrition and hygiene. this is the main cause of malnutrition
  • 44% of children in rwanda suffer both from physical and mental stunting because of malnutrition
  • 1/3 of child deaths in rwanda are attributed to an underlying factor of malnutrition
  • many babies are already born malnourished due to poor diet during their mothers pregnancy
  • the first 1000 days from conception are the critical moments where the right nutritional diet can prevent stunting in children

the appeal 

save the children are looking to raise £1m to build 7 life changing clinics in the remote north-east parts of bangladesh, baniachong and ajmeriganj.

  • each clinic will cost £150k to build, equip, staff and medicate
  • each clinic will be able to help 21,500 women of child-bearing age with information on family planning
  • provide 3,000 with antenatal care
  • 2,190 babies with postnatal care
  • educate the mothers of 2,218 children up to age of one on how to successfully breast feed and ween their children therefore reducing the chances of any life-threating diseases
  • advise 43,600 people on how to stay healthy and where to go to get help that they might need

so what can we do?

if you have 1 minute, why not text BRICK to 70008 and donate £5 or text XVRL71 £1 to 70070 and donate £1 and help save the children and blog it for babies launch their bangladesh clinic appeal

if you have 2 minutes, why don’t you sign the save the children break the chains of hunger  chain letter to david cameron. at the g8 summit in may, there is an opportunity to free millions of children in this world from a life of hunger.

if you have a blog use it, and blog it for babies. a genius campaign from the mother of all bloggers mammasaurus, who will be bringing the digital campaign to the real world by travelling up, down and across the country, bringing like-minded bloggers together to raise awareness and essential cash to build these much-needed clinics. you can read all about the campaign, the events and the schedule here.

if you can bake, and have a favourite cup cake recipe why not submit it to bake it for babies. we are working on pulling together bloggers favourite recipes, and making a book. the truly amazing doodle mum has offered her wonderful services to help illustrate. the book will be sold to raise funds for the build it for babies cause.

other ways to help?

  • build for babies with work events
  • build for babies with nursery events
  • build for babies at home

share it, blog about it, re-blog it, tweet about it, retweet it, post about it on face book, tumblr, stumble upon, google+ get the message out as far as we can. and if you have any super fantastic ideas on how we can get message out to further please care to share them.

 

read here other bloggers blog it for babies posts