It's WalkAmerica time again. And for many of you it's a time to see friends and family and celebrate the chance to do something wonderful.....save babies. We'd like to take a moment and thank our national sponsors for their generous support for this year's walk. They are: CIGNA, Discovery Health Channel, Famous Footwear, Farmers Insurance Group, FedEx Corp., Kmart, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Prevention and Church & Dwight.

Join WalkAmerica and the hundreds of thousands of compassionate people in 1,100 communities across the nation, including approximately 20,000 company teams and our national sponsors, who walk each year. WalkAmerica participants have raised more than $1.5 billion since 1970 to help the March of Dimes save all babies from premature birth defects and other serious infant health problems.

Research is a vital part of our efforts. You read about our Prematurity Research Initiative(PRI) in the last issue of Miracles. In this, and subsequent issues we will begin to discuss the each of the PRI grants individually.

This month's Personal Spotlight features the story of Issac and Joshua. Because you are part of the March of Dimes family, we're sharing this story with you. Also in the newsletter, you'll find information about:

Some short-term achiness in the belly is normal during pregnancy. Severe cramping or pain never is. Don't hesitate to call your health care provider when you feel strong pain, especially if your pain doesn’t go away or if you also have cramps, bleeding from your vagina, fever, chills, lightheadedness, faintness, or discharge from your vagina.

There are different causes for mild achiness or pain in the abdomen during the different stages of pregnancy. For example...

Find out more about what you need to know from our
Pregnancy & Newborn Health Education Center.^®

Keeping the uterus relaxed
When labor begins, a muscular organ -the uterus- goes into action. Uterine contractions propel the baby into the outside world to take its first breath. But for the best chance for a healthy birth, that activity should not begin before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Anything less is preterm or premature birth. March of Dimes PRI grantee Dr Sarah England at the University of Iowa is exploring the activity of a protein structure that helps to control the potassium content of uterine muscle cells and appears to keep the muscle relaxed during pregnancy. Just before the onset of labor, this control system is naturally suppressed. Dr. England is studying pregnant mice genetically altered to produce excessive amounts of the protein structure and that do not go into labor even at term. If these protein structures do play a key role in keeping the uterus relaxed, understanding what regulates their levels and how they work may lead to treatment that can stop or prevent preterm labor.