I am looking for 3 South African families in need, who are facing serious illnesses. The campaign is for families where the mother is currently pregnant and the unborn baby has a sibling needing a stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant).
February is Pregnancy Awareness month and Cryo-Save, a private family Cord Blood storage bank would like to encourage South African moms and dads to do their homework when considering to store their baby’s cord blood stem cells. More and more expectant parents are considering umbilical cord stem cells of babies for potentially life-saving treatments.
Traditionally, health awareness drives have focused on aiding those affected or generally impacted by serious illnesses. Recently, however, the paradigm has expanded to include the notion of proactive or pre-emptive health care. Much of this expansion has been driven by the increasingly common use of stem cell treatments for various serious illnesses and disorders.
Comfort is key, our privacy is everything, familiarity is important and it has to be a fabulous occasion! It appears that all my wishes will be granted as my baby’s father has reserved a luxury private room for us at the hospital. I have imagined the room with flowers everywhere, a beautiful carrycot, the smell of home, tea, family and friends.
She walked in and said, “I could tell you were trying to hide something but I know you are pregnant because the other day I spilled milk”. Let me explain, the spilling of milk is considered to be a sign that someone in your family or someone close to you is pregnant. Nomndeni didn’t even bother to look at the results on the stick, she was sure I was pregnant. Maybe it was her way of communicating with the universe since she knew how much my boyfriend and I wanted to conceive.
I personally needed a lot of support. Juggling a career with all the changes and challenges that pregnancy throws at you, has not been an easy task.
“Your skin is going to break out … You can’t eat sushi … Don’t eat oranges or drink orange juice … Don’t eat ice … Don’t sleep too much … Don’t wear high heels …You need to take it easy and stay home until the baby is born … Don’t wear this, wear that instead … You need to gain at least 12kgs … If your belly itches, don’t scratch … Expect the ugly nose …”
