MyBrownBaby Cause: A Mother's Love Giveaway

To celebrate Mother's Day and say thank you for being one of their mom ambassadors, The March of Dimes sent me a beautiful necklace from Red Envelope one with a pendant rendered from a single, unending loop of sterling silver. The Red Envelope description says it's meant to be a unique interpretation of mother and child caught in an eternal embrace.

I wanted to brag on the gift show it off and wear it well and tell you that it reminded me of the push gifts my husband gave me when I birthed his two daughters almost 10 and 7 years ago respectively (I reminisced about my beautiful sterling silver necklaces last week when my blog friend Future Mama wrote a post on her terrific site, Baby Makin(g) Machine, about the push gift she's angling for when she becomes a mom).

But when I clicked over to the Red Envelope page to see details about my gift, I saw a simple message telling me that 10% of the proceeds for every sale of the Mother's Love Necklace will go to the March of Dimes, an incredible organization that has worked tirelessly to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature, birth, and infant mortality through research, education, advocacy, and community service. And suddenly, my keeping the gift for myself didn't seem as important as letting my readers know about the importance of doing what we can to help The March of Dimes continue its important mission of helping mothers and babies in need.

Particularly moving was the symbolism of the pendant the mother and child caught in an eternal embrace. It made me think of my fellow March of Dimes Mom Ambassador Heather Spohr of The Spohrs Are Multiplying, who recently lost her beautiful one-year-old daughter, Maddie. She's been blogging about life without her child, and, true to what the words eternal embrace laid on my heart, I found a post Heather wrote last week about how much she misses hugging her child:

My arms tingle, and I remember that I've had this sensation before. When I was on bed rest, my legs would ache and tingle. I mentioned it to my Obstetrician, and she said, those are your legs muscles atrophying. It is an unfortunate side-effect of bed rest. My arm muscles are tingling because I am not picking up Maddie. I am not lifting her up, holding her weight, feeling her cheek against my chest.

I want my baby. Oh Maddie! I need you!

No mother should have to ponder life without the embrace of her child to have to face Mother's Day without her baby there to touch her cheek and climb into her arms and say, simply, I love you, Mommy.

But there are many more Heather Spohrs.

The March of Dimes is doing its best to help stem this tide. It is my sincere hope that MyBrownBaby's readers will help, too, by supporting The March of Dimes. You can do this by donating directly to the organization, or by purchasing a Mother's Love Necklace for yourself or for a Mother's Day present for someone you love. ProFlowers, the corporate owner of Red Envelope, is also donating $10 of every order of Mother's Day flowers to the March of Dimes, in support of programs in communities throughout the United States.

To inspire you to give, I'm giving away my Mother's Love Necklace to one lucky reader. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you love most about your child's embrace AND click over to the March of Dimes website and tell me something you learned about the organization. Your offering MUST include both comments to qualify.

Please leave your comments by 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, May 5th, 2009. I will choose a winner via Random.org and announce the winner Wednesday, May 6th, 2009.

Good luck.