Facts of Preterm babies from the Fandom for Preemies blog:
- Worldwide over 20 million babies are born prematurely every year.
- Preterm birth is the biggest cause of infant mortality in the United States and much of the world. Each year, over 1 million of these children do not survive.
- Women in Africa, the United States and Canada are at the highest risk for preterm birth. In the United States alone, 12.8% of babies born last year were born prematurely. That's over 542,000 babies born before 37 weeks.
- In the United States, the rate of preterm birth has increased 36 percent in the last 25 years. In recent years, the number of preterm births has continued to steadily increase.Worldwide, preterm birth has increased 30 percent in the last 25 years.
- The survival rate of babies born at 25 weeks gestation is 50%. For babies born at 23 weeks gestation, the survival rate is only 17%.
- 1 in 10 babies born prematurely are at risk for a life-long disability such as lung disease or cerebral palsy.
- Health challenges faced by premature infants include: low birth rate, underdeveloped organs, breathing issues.
- Premature infants are at greater risk for life threatening infections, respiratory distress syndrome, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays and disabilities.
- In the United States, care of an average preterm infant is $49,000 for the first year. In relation, the cost of care for a full term infant is only $4,551. For full term infants with health complications, the average cost of care for the first year is $10,273. In 2003, the United States alone spent over $10 billion for prematurity associated health costs.
- For a premature infant with health complications such as Spina Bifida, the average lifetime cost of health care is over $1 million.
- In 2009, the March of Dimes invested over $20 million to eliminate premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality around the world.
With that being said, the Fandom for Preemies has put together an effort to raise money for this cause by putting together a compilation of, so far, over 95 different authors from the Fandom. If you sign up to donate money to the cause, then you will receive the compilation. If you are interested in signing up to be a contributing author, the sign up can be found HERE. If you would like to contribute in another way, such as making banners for contributed stories, please email! To follow them on Twitter, click HERE!
Donating to Fandom for Preemies is simple. From November 1st through November 30th, you may visit their Virtual Band on the March of Dimes website. Once there, click on Donate in the Name of this Child and post your donation (minimum of $5). Once you have received your confirmation receipt, forward the receipt to them at fandomforpreemies@gmail.com and they will send you the Preemie Compilation.
I have signed up to write a O/s that is actually based off of something that happened to my sister when she was born. It's going to be a cute-sy piece, much like my other O/s Her First Love. To give you a bit of a visual, here's a little PicTease for you.
I hope you all consider helping out this noble cause. Now the only question I have for you is do you want me to write a lemon, or not?? Leave me a comment here and let me know.
Much love,
