Fighting for Firsts

 I am Fighting for Firsts because every baby deserves a healthy start in life to celebrate not only more firsts birthdays but to celebrate all the birthdays that follow and to fight and remember those who did not get that chance. As a community we have a moral obligation to do everything we can to help, educate, and support our most vulnerable population. It is a “we” problem.

Being a mom of premature twin boys, thinking back at my experience in the NICU, remembering those two months spent staring at monitors, listening to the sounds, panic sitting in whenever I was not there, and my phone would ring. The sleepless nights, the pain, the guilt because I could not dedicate time or tend to my older kids at home as before. So many emotions and thoughts that I could recount and share with you, but it would be too long to write out. To this day, any time I go to the grocery and use the self-checkout scanner at Kroger’s it makes the same noise of the incubator my babies laid in while in the NICU, that sound, meaning something was wrong. I do not know that it will ever go away, along with so many other triggers/memories.

But thinking about it all, I can honestly say that I mostly think about how lucky/fortunate/privileged I was to be a person who had so many resources at my fingertips. I had medical insurance, access to care, support systems both at home and in my professional life, transportation, food at home, etc. and even with all those resources, I remember how on some days that did not feel like enough. I think about the mothers in our community that have less to nothing during such a difficult vulnerable time, and that is NOT okay. Please stand with me and Fight for more 1st Birthdays, for the well-being of our most vulnerable mothers, for improved access to quality essential maternity care, and support in our community.

Thank you for your support,

Jackie Martinez