First ever stillbirth study: www.momstudy.com

You have an opportunity to help us find the cause or causes of stillbirth by becoming a participant in this major worldwide study

(PRWEB) May 30, 2004 -- Richard Olsen, founder and Executive Director of The National Stillbirth Society and leading spokesperson for mothers of stillborns in the US, has joined with ISA to implement a study which is being sponsored by The MISS Foundation. The study is international in scope and crosses ethnic and cultural lines to identify common experiences of all stillbirth mothers.

You have an opportunity to help us find the cause or causes of stillbirth by becoming a participant in this major worldwide study. The study will continue until a goal of 10,000 responses is achieved. This number is necessary to insure that the results are truly representative of the experiences of women who have experienced stillbirth as a group. Any woman who ever suffered a stillbirth - no matter how long ago - is earnestly requested to go to the study website to complete the questionnaire. It will take about 30 minutes and your response is anonymous. You will be asked to choose a "User Name" and password so your anonymity is assured and you can be totally candid in answering. Participation of women who have given live birth is also needed. The greater number of mothers who participate, the more usable the results will be.

The website for the study is www.momstudy.com. Once there just follow the prompts.

Stillbirth is said to be "An Equal Opportunity Destroyer of Dreams". It cuts across socio-economic classes, races, religions, body types and maternal age groups. No woman is immune from this "last great mystery of obstetrics". Even women who have had several successful prior births can experience a subsequent stillbirth. That so many stillbirths occur at or near late term - when the developing baby is well beyond the point of viability and could survive outside the womb - is especially devastating, leading mothers and their doctors to speculate what might have been had their baby been delivered earlier. Autopsies, when performed, rarely uncover any cause of stillbirth not already apparent from a physical examination of the baby and placenta. Over half of these women will never discover why their babies died because doctors don't know, and autopsies don't show. One in every 115 babies delivered is a S.A.D.S. baby. This is an average of 70 babies dying a day in the U.S.A.

Without answers, there can be no prevention. Without prevention, there can be no peace. The face of stillbirth in America can be changed. As parents we believe all our children matter. To learn more about S.A.D.S. and The National Stillbirth Society please view the website at www.stillnomore.org. Take a step to help save our children by participating in the study at www.momstudy.com.