Kicking off for 2013...

My name is Kara, and I have formed family team Our Two Blessings with a vision of working together for stronger, healthier babies everywhere... Please donate to my March For Babies campaign! http://www.marchforbabies.org/rkcs

My family is very involved with the Denver chapter of the March of Dimes because in July of 2011, my twin daughters Cadence and Sierra were born 6 weeks premature. I needed special support during my pregnancy due to complications associated with my lupus, and other issues involved with twin pregnancy. In the end they had to be taken via urgent c-section due to a status of severe IUGR with projected 50% growth discordance (difference) between them. They are identical twins and shared a single placenta, which was quickly running out of nutrition and Cadence was getting most of it. When they were born they spent an amount of time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Luckily, our last ultrasounds were as accurate as they possibly could be, but it turns out there was only 25% discordance and Cadence was born at 4 lbs and Sierra 3 lbs. While still a serious difference in identical twins, this was much to our relief as opposed to the original suspected 50%.

Thanks to the incredible technology available to us during this challenging time, a lot of which is due in part to funding from the March of Dimes, my husband Ricky and I are happy to say that our daughters arrived into the world as safely as possible, and today they are robust and healthy toddlers. The March of Dimes has a mission to help give every baby a healthy start.

Last year in our campaign to raise money for the March For Babies, Our Two Blessings, in it's first year as a family team, received enough donations to rank in the Top 10 Family Teams for the Denver Chapter. This is amazing in that historically, Denver's March for Babies is one of the top fundraising sites for the March of Dimes in the nation. Only through the generosity of friends and family were we lifted up so incredibly to stand and work together for the health of babies. I am so proud of how far we have come - and that every day, we strive to give back to the community that helped our daughters survive.

This year's March For Babies is taking place on April 27, 2013. We really do rely on your support so I hope you will enjoy reading these updates.

If you are local, please join our team to walk in the March For Babies! You'll get a t-shirt and we would just love to spend this fun time with you.