In honor of all the preemies born each year and in hopes to help decrease the number of babies born prematurely, March of Dimes has organized the Fight for Preemies. As a parent of two beautiful, strong, outgoing and healthy premature babies, this of course hits home. For those who don't know, our babies were born 7 weeks and 2 days early because my water broke and the medications wouldn't stop contractions.

After 6 weeks and 1 day in the NICU the boys finally came home. We are blessed. We have two wonderful, little boys. Some aren't as fortunate, some babies die in the NICU because of complications; some have diseases that won't allow them more than a few hours of life. Some babies, have their life snuffed out before they are even allowed to take their first breath.

Yes, I realize that this is 'dangerous, not PC' ground to walk on. But it's something I'm passionate about. We fight so hard for these babies that are born prematurely (which I do agree with and am thankful to modern medicine for!), but there are thousands dying, forced into a premature birth, because we as people don't desire to keep them. We see the babies as a ball of cells, we marginalize them into something they aren't, so that we as people, can rest at night, knowing that it is OK because we are killing cells, not people.

Some basic facts about fetal development:

When you hear someone talking about how far along they are, typically it is counted in weeks. Week 1 of pregnancy starts at the beginning of the woman's last period. Therefore, most women don't even know they are pregnant until week 4 or 5 of the pregnancy.

By week 6 of the pregnancy, a the baby's heart beats. Week 5 is usually when the woman notices her period is late, so week 6 is usually the second week she knows she is pregnant.

By week 8 of the pregnancy, the face begins to take form. The ears, eye, and tip of the nose appear. Also the teeth appear under the gums.

By week 10 of the pregnancy, the baby is swimming around. Most mom's can't feel it yet because it is still so tiny. Also, most of the joints are formed now - elbow, wrist, knee, shoulder, and ankle as well as the hands, fingers, feet and toes.

By week 12 (the last week in the 1st trimester), the fingers and toes have separated and nails and hair begin to grow.

I bring all these things up, because for me, the most important thing is education. I confess, I didn't fully understand how a baby develops until I did the research. So, that's my challenge to you...do the research, then make up your mind about what's right and wrong.