November Is National Prematurity Awareness Month Greetings all~ Kicking off National Prematurity Awareness Month as media spokesperson for the March of Dimes in Northern CA,  Candy the Nurse was pleased to co – host  the Morning in Sonoma (2 hour!) talk- radio show with Ken Brown on Nov 1st. Co Hosting The Morning Show 91.3 FM My first guest was parent of preemie twins (and March of Dimes local representative), Jody Olney, whose micropreemie twins were born  < 2 lbs. at 25ish weeks. The interview will be available here as a podcast in a few days—keep checking back. Thanks for joining...

Last week two stories in the news broke my heart. The first, from the June issue of Pediatrics, mentions a study which found C-Sections may increase the risk of celiac disease, as opposed to  those infants born vaginally. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder which leads to inflammation of the gut when the person consumes any foods containing gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye). In terms of the western diet, that’s a toughie. The researchers have no certain understanding of the process at this point, but hypothesize that  perhaps the phenomenon is linked to the fact that...

Another busy week of interviews !  Listen to this one with Nancy Darland, a Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist for 23 years when her  daughter gave birth to a 28 week  preemie. Her family is a  March of Dimes Ambassador Family for Lincoln Parish in Louisiana. Nancy discusses the challenges  Bankston has overcome in his young life; truly another miracle story. Here is his photo, the bright and vivacious 6 year old. Nancy-Darland-podcast-7-1-09 (photo courtesy...

May 2009- the March of Dimes sponsored March For Babies walk in California was a great success!  My team, from the John Muir Health systems NICU, numbered a baker’s dozen, and we brought in quite a respectable amount of donations. This arm of the event was held in San Ramon on a gorgeous San Francisco East Bay morning. Several team members and their families attended, and we all had an invigorating walk and fellowship. In these days of strife and pain around the world, it is exciting to be a part of such a large, diverse group of people working for a common cause to bring some relief and...

What do Parent Advocate groups, the March of Dimes, Legislative Advocates, Ob-Gyn physicians, Neonatologists, NICU nurses, Public Health administrators, MedImmune Pharmaceuticals, Pacific Life Foundation, Abbot Nutrition, Health Net Inc, and several hospitals have in common? We all love babies and are concerned about the growing problem of prematurity in our state and throughout the US. Representative  stakeolders  convened in Sacramento June 1-2 to discuss future initiatives aimed at decreasing the rate of premature births in California.  Yours truly is shown here with Lori Bowlby, RN, BSN, ...