Quick Update: 14 Weeks 4 Days

I don’t have that much new to report on, but just wanted to let you all know I’m still here and doing okay. I’m 14 Weeks 4 Days pregnant today. It’s so hard to believe I’ve made it this far! So far all is going well. I’m feeling a lot more like myself these days. I’m still feeling a bit dizzy and light headed, but it’s not as often as a couple weeks ago. The nausea is mostly gone now too. Other than the occasional headache, I’m feeling pretty good these days. Which of course terrifies me! I know this is normal for the second trimester, but it’s hard not to worry. My last scan was at 11W4D. I think I’ll feel better after my next OB appt and scan on Tuesday. I hate that I’m still living from appointment to appointment right now and wonder when and if I’ll ever let go and really relax, but it’s just so hard. Tuesday can’t come soon enough! In other news, tarakay21.wordpress.com and myperfectbreakdown.com, the bloggers I invited to participate in the blog hop, posted their blog hop posts this week. If you haven’t had a chance to read them yet, check…Continue reading Quick Update: 14 Weeks 4 Days

Quick Updates

I don’t have much time because we’re getting ready to go out for the day, but I wanted to write a quick post. I’m really bad at letting weeks go by in-between posts when I’m busy so though I’d just write a quick one this morning and then I’ll write more in a few days when I have more time. Work has been busy and we’ve had the pleasure of visitors for the past few weeks and more to come upcoming weeks! With so many of our family and friends scattered about the US and Canada, it’s always so wonderful to have them come down here for a visit. It helps that we have nice weather all year round 🙂 My sister in-law was here for a week and a half at the beginning of the month, and now my parents are here from Canada. It was amazing to get up early and watch Team Canada win the Gold medal this morning with my parents. Way to go Team Canada! Liebster Award Nomination I’m humbled to announce that I received a nomination from My Lady Bits for the Liebster Award the other day. I plan on writing a separate post…Continue reading Quick Updates

Preeclampsia Foundation News

World Prematurity Day is November 17 Last Updated on Friday, November 15, 2013 Friday, November 15, 2013 The March of Dimes brings attention to prematurity with other organizations worldwide on World Prematurity Day. We partner with them to deliver information that impacts roughly 15 million babies worldwide—more than one in ten born each year. Preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of prematurity worldwide, accounting for approximately 15 percent of all premature births in the US alone. Please share this information, and help us make others more aware and supportive of our mission. Here are links to some articles that will update you on the statistics, concerns, advances, action items, and reasons for hope. Delivering action on preterm birth (The Lancet) Born too soon: Global action report (Save the Children, March of Dimes and World Health Organization) Join the conversation on November 17 (Healthy Newborn Network) World Prematurity Day Events (Maternal Health Task Force) US cannot brag about infant mortality rates (Preeclampsia Foundation) Prematurity means separation, medical complications, sometimes depression (Preeclamspia Foundation) From hope to joy (BabyCenter.com) Why do we need a world prematurity day (Impatient Optimists Blog – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) European Prematurity Group: Socks for Life campaign(European Foundation for the…Continue reading Preeclampsia Foundation News

My Special Holdon Necklace

A few weeks ago I was perusing Pinterest and came across a necklace similar to this on my home screen. The necklace was highlighted for me because I follow the Preeclampsia Foundation and I had pinned a logo that was on one of their boards that was designed by Melissa Muir, preeclampsia survivor and Jewelry Designer. The logo was created for the Preeclampsia Survivor T-shirts, that are sold to raise public awareness about preeclampsia. Melissa is a 3-time preeclampsia survivor and had created a special necklace in honor of her daughter Kelsi. Kelsi was born at 24 weeks gestation and only lived for a couple of days. The wonderful and magical world of Pinterest, highlighted this necklace for me because of my previous pin of the logo. Seeing the image of her necklace had an immediate affect on me and I simply had to have one in honor of my son, Holdon. This began my connection to this amazing artist and the discovery of my preeclampsia sister, as she called us. Given our bond through this terrible condition of pregnancy, and the way she immediately opened her heart to me and shared her story, I realized we really are preeclampsia…Continue reading My Special Holdon Necklace

Preeclampsia Foundation News

Educational Conference Brought Controversies to the Forefront Preeclampsia is a complex disorder that often confounds even the most skilled clinicians, and there are very few postgraduate courses offered on this subject. One of the missions of the Preeclampsia Foundation is to fill this gap by facilitating healthcare provider education on the subject with the aim of improving health care practices. Almost every year since the inception of Saving Grace, the Foundation has sponsored a major continuing medical education event for healthcare providers in that region. Click to read more… (www.preeclampsia.org) Also check out: The Preeclampsia Registry (www.preeclampsiaregistry.org) The Preeclampsia Registry is a “Living Database” bringing together those affected, their family members, and researchers to advance knowledge and discover preventions and treatments for preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Preeclampsia Foundation Facebook Page © Preeclampsia Foundation 2013 | www.preeclampsia.org

Preeclampsia Foundation News

2013 Vision Grant Recipients to Study the Underlying Mechanisms of Preeclampsia $25,000 research grants will be presented to two preeclampsia research studies Melbourne, FL – September 12, 2013 – The Preeclampsia Foundation announced today that Ana Sofia Teixeira de Cerdeira, MD of the Harvard Medical School and Mandy Bell, PhD, RN of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing are recipients of its 2013 Vision Grants. Vision Grants are awarded to the strongest scientific proposals recommended by the Foundation’s scientific review committee with a further review by a consumer advisory board. The Foundation’s Board of Directors renders the final decision based on those recommendations. Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and fetal pregnancy related disease and death worldwide. Both recipients have the goal of better understanding the underlying mechanisms of the disease and translating their research findings to clinical application. Study #1 is working on the immune mechanisms (NK cells and Tregs) of regulation of placentation in health and preeclampsia. Study #2 is designed to clarify the role that soluble endoglin (sENG) plays in preeclampsia by investigating if differences in the genetic code of the endoglin gene and related genes account for increased sENG in women with preeclampsia. Click…Continue reading Preeclampsia Foundation News

Preeclampsia Foundation News

Screening Tests for Preeclampsia Preeclampsia Foundation News – August 16, 2013 If there were a way to learn your risk of developing preeclampsia in the first trimester of your pregnancy, would you want to know?  What if that test result wasn’t 100% accurate? We asked almost 1,000 women – some who had had preeclampsia and some who had not – these and other questions to better understand patient preferences around the need for screening (or prediction) tests. Eighty-eight percent of women with a history of preeclampsia agreed that an early test was important, even if it was imperfect. Even those without a history of preeclampsia – 74% – still agreed it would be important. Click here to view more: Screening Tests for Preeclampsia (www.preeclampsia.org) © Preeclampsia Foundation 2013 | www.preeclampsia.org

Preeclampsia Foundation Introduces Illustrated Education Tool

On May 7th, 2013, the Preeclampsia Foundation introduced a new education tool to inform expectant mothers about the life-threatening disorder of pregnancy. This is a must read for anyone who is trying to become pregnant or currently pregnant. Preeclampsia Foundation Introduces Education Tool to Inform Expectant Mothers about Life-Threatening Disorder of Pregnancy Illustrated preeclampsia symptoms tear pad now available, already adopted by California healthcare initiative Melbourne, Fla. — May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The Preeclampsia Foundation today released the Illustrated Preeclampsia Symptoms Tear Pad, a patient education tool that was developed in collaboration with health services researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill. The tool effectively informs pregnant women, even those with potentially poor literacy, about preeclampsia. Because preeclampsia is a disorder that can have grave consequences for a mother and her unborn baby, the goal is for the tool to offer information in a way that allows women to assimilate and retain knowledge related to preeclampsia, leading them to promptly seek medical attention should they have symptoms related to preeclampsia… To read more… Click Here or Click Here to see Multimedia Version © Preeclampsia Foundation 2013 | www.preeclampsia.org