With so much political division these days, it makes me very happy to be able to report on some good news that we should all be able to get behind. Yesterday, a bipartisan-supported bill, H.R. 4581, the “Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024,” was signed into law, which modifies the scope of the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to include activities related to stillbirth prevention. According to the March of Dimes, approximately 21,000 babies are lost to stillbirth in the United States every year (That’s 58 babies a day!), and 25% of those deaths were preventable. And while this new legislation won’t immediately change the scale of this tragic loss or bring back the stillborn babies that have already been lost, it does give me hope that there will be federal support for research and evidence-based interventions to help prevent stillbirths from occurring in the future.

In the meantime, if you are pregnant and worried about the possibility of stillbirth, there are some recommendations to help reduce the risk. These include:

• don’t smoke, drink alcohol, or take drugs unless prescribed by a provider who knows you are pregnant
• get prenatal care so your baby’s growth and wellbeing can be monitored
• report any itching, abdominal pain, or vaginal bleeding to your provider as soon as they occur
• avoid infections and “off limits” foods for pregnancy, such as undercooked meats
• sleep on your side, not your back
• take folic acid (included in prenatal vitamin supplements) before and up to at least 12 weeks of pregnancy
• once you are able to feel your baby move, get to know what movements are typical for your baby, and let your provider know if there is any sudden change

I have written before about Count the Kicks, a free app available to download to help you become familiar with and track your baby’s movements. I highly recommend this app for anyone in the third trimester of pregnancy. It is a fun way to tune in with your baby every day, and it has been shown to save lives by alerting parents and medical providers when urgent attention is needed.

If you have experienced the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth, or in infancy, I am so very sorry. The pain of losing a child is a unique sorrow, and I am reminded of the Bible verse, ““A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matthew 2:18, Jeremiah 31:15).

Please know that although we are working to reduce the number of preventable deaths, many of these deaths couldn’t have been prevented, and it is not your fault that your baby died. You will probably need to use your village to help you process your grief: your doula, a counselor specializing in perinatal loss, clergy, friends, and family can all play an important role. You might also benefit from these resources:

• From hurt to healing (free booklet from the March of Dimes for grieving parents)
• Share Your Story (March of Dimes online community for families to share experiences with prematurity, birth defects or loss)

Here is a candle I am lighting in memory of all the babies lost to miscarriage and stillbirth, all the families mourning for their loss, and in hope that at least some of these deaths can be prevented in the future through the investment that our government has decided to make in this important topic.