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EFFORT TO SAVE BABIES SENDS 9,000 PIECES OF LIFE-SAVING MATERIALS ACROSS IOWA

9/14/2017

(DES MOINES, Iowa) Maternal health providers across Iowa are part of a growing movement to save babies in our state. Within three hours, 50 maternal health providers from all corners of Iowa ordered more than 9,000 posters, brochures and app reminder cards from Count the Kicks.

Count the Kicks materials teach the importance of and method for, tracking fetal movement in the third trimester of pregnancy. The awareness program encourages pregnant moms to take time every day to record how long it takes their baby to get to 10 kicks. Moms will notice a pattern, and a typical amount of time it takes their baby to get to 10. When the amount of time it takes to get to 10 changes, this could be a sign of potential problems and an indication to call their healthcare provider.

Iowa loses 171 babies to stillbirth every year, according to vital statistics from the Iowa Department of Public Health. One in every 167 pregnancies ends in stillbirth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The recent call campaign will help Count the Kicks reach roughly one third of all pregnant Iowa women this year.

“To see more than 9,000 Count the Kicks material orders go out the door so quickly is unbelievable and we are truly grateful for the men and women at the Perinatal Center of Iowa. They are powerful advocates in our mission to save babies,” said Emily Price, Executive Director of Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Count the Kicks has helped lower Iowa’s stillbirth rate by 26 percent, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. No other state has seen such a dramatic change. Since Count the Kicks began in Iowa in 2008, Iowa’s stillbirth rate went from 33rd worst in the country to 3rd lowest. Staff at the Perinatal Center of Iowa created the recent call campaign to reach as many maternal health providers as they could across the state. When moms are educated and empowered to count their baby’s movements in the third trimester, they have powerful information that could save their baby’s life.

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Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that created the Count the Kicks awareness program. The Count the Kicks app is one innovative way we’re putting kick counting in the hands of moms-to-be, and it helped save two Iowa babies this summer. The Count the Kicks app is available in Spanish and English in Android and Apple online stores, allows moms to count for single babies and twins, records kick counting history, sends daily text and calendar reminders, and can be used in consultation with providers. Thanks to generous donors, the Count the Kicks app is, and always will be, free for everyone. Learn more about the campaign at www.countthekicks.org.

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