March for Babies in pictures

Sunday, we walked for March for Babies. I have to say that when we got there, there were so many people wearing t-shirts with words of encouragement, sadness, loss, pictures of babies they were walking for (or in memory of), I just broke down and teared up. It made me so sad that so many families have to go through the horrible loss of a child or taking care of premature babies, it's absolutely heartbreaking. But at the same time, it made me so thankful that we have such a beautiful healthy baby girl, who at the time was so peacefully sleeping in her stroller amid all the noise; I felt almost selfish. But I was so glad that we could do this for other families, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant our contribution was. I am going to teach my baby girl that no matter what, you always can and should help other people who need it. And I feel that these babies and their families certainly do. I'm not saying that this is the most deserving cause, not at all, but I think since having Sasha it just really hits so close to home when I read or hear about babies born prematurely or with any sort of birth defects.
The blog community online is so incredibly strong, people rally around others who they often don't even know at all, who may live across the country and never met, but who have gone through something so horrible as losing a child. It amazes me how connected we feel to others, I can feel another mother's pain when I'm reading these blogs. One of these blogs (www.remembermaddie.com) is one of the latest I've read: Maddie was born at 28 weeks, her lungs were so underdeveloped that she required multiple breathing treatments a day, after spending 68 days in the NICU; she passed away on April 7th. Since then, people all over the country (if not world) have donated more than $34,000 to the March of Dimes in her honor. When we were walking, I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt with Maddie's picture on it, it somehow made me feel so much more proud of what we were doing. It made me feel that our small contribution and half a day spent walking MAKES A DIFFERENCE. So thank you again to all who have donated and Anna and Andrey for walking with us!

Andrey and Y with baby Sasha


Anna and I


Sasha woke up and was all smiles with her auntie Anna








The kiddo at the end of the walk