Every year around the world, more than 4.2 million babies die between 20 weeks of gestation and the first four weeks after birth. One million babies die from premature birth, while another 3.2 million are stillborn – the majority at the end of pregnancy during labor and birth. The remaining four million children who manage to survive pregnancy and labor end up dying during the first four weeks after birth. In 2006 my otherwise healthy son, Nicolas, was one of these statistics. Stillborn at 41 weeks during labor from undiagnosed velamentous cord insertion and possible vasa previa, preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction – all easily managed pregnancy conditions. The fact my healthy child lived and thrived for 41 weeks only to die during early labor still enrages me to this day.

Despite the magnitude of stillbirth and neonatal death, little attention is given to these most vulnerable of patients – not to the medical causes of their deaths or to the facts of their deaths and the devastation their loss brings to the families. The Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), based out of Seattle, Washington, is one of the few organizations working to raise awareness, find causes, and prevent these deaths. The sobering statistics above were taken from their website. Please visit their website for more information and spread the word about this wonderful organization: http://www.gappsseattle.org/.