October

It happened last year, too. Breast cancer got all the attention, with people wearing ribbons and doing 5Ks and posting their bra colors on Facebook. This year it's something about purses. I don't know. Breast cancer is without a doubt an extremely worthy cause, but it seems like we are inundated with breast cancer information at every turn.

Did you know that approximately 1,003,000 pregnancies end with the death of a baby annually and 27,500 babies born alive each year die before their 2nd birthday? With numbers that high you'd think it would get more attention, but the media shies away from dead babies. It is unsettling to think about. And we don't have a sexy catch phrase like Save The TaTas or Feel Your Boobies.

October is Infant and Child Death Awareness Month. (Okay, so technically it was passed as National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month- but that phrasing is completely unacceptable. Instead of me getting into a rant about that, you should check out Dr. Joanne Cacciatore's blog: Becoming. Along with Kara LC Jones, she has written a perfectly put explanation of why this language is inappropriate.)

Anyway, I guess my point is that tons of people don pink ribbons this month, put pink ribbon bumper stickers on their car and participate in Breast Cancer events- regardless of whether or not they themselves have suffered from this terrible disease. They do it because they know that it could happen to them or someone they love. And that is beautiful. But it shouldn't stop with cancer.

More than 15% of all pregnant moms in this country do not get to bring their babies home. One of those moms could be someone you love. All I ask is that you remember that this is their month, too.