Count the Kicks Program Expands to Maryland

State Expansion

• Kimberly Isburg
• 04.10.23

We’re excited to announce our partnership with the Maryland Patient Safety Center (MPSC) to educate expectant parents in Maryland about the importance of monitoring their baby’s movements daily in the third trimester of pregnancy. For Maryland families, 1 in every 144 pregnancies end in stillbirth, and families in the state are 6.5 times more likely to lose a baby to stillbirth than to SIDS. 

Stillbirth is commonly defined as the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater during pregnancy. Research shows nearly 30% of stillbirths can be prevented when expectant parents are educated on the importance of tracking their baby’s movements daily starting at 28 weeks. By using Count the Kicks, expectant parents can increase the chances of their baby arriving safely.

Maryland Baby Save: Mabel

New Market mom Meghan Albanese knows first-hand the importance of paying attention to her baby’s movements. She was using the Count the Kicks app, and in the ninth month of her pregnancy, Meghan noticed that her daughter Mabel wasn’t moving like she normally did. With data from the app to back up her intuition, Meghan requested to move her appointment for a non-stress test to an earlier time. When testing revealed that Meghan had lost more than half of her amniotic fluid, she was immediately induced and baby Mabel arrived safely later that day.  

“The only red flag that there was a problem with the pregnancy was my daughter’s change in movement. I am so grateful I had the concrete data from the app, which gave me the knowledge that something was off and the confidence to advocate for my baby,” Meghan said. “All moms deserve to have this knowledge so their babies can have a healthy birth day too.” 

Free Materials

Thanks to the partnership with MPSC, maternal health providers, birthing hospitals, social service agencies, childbirth educators and other providers in Maryland can order FREE Count the Kicks educational materials to help them have a conversation with expectant parents about the importance of getting to know their baby’s normal movement patterns.

Impact of Stillbirth

According to the CDC, approximately 496 Maryland babies are stillborn each year. New research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology shows a more than 30% reduction in Iowa’s stillbirth rate in the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program at a time when America’s stillbirth rate remained stagnant. The results have led researchers to call for urgent action to address the stillbirth crisis in the U.S. and to study Count the Kicks on a national level. Through this collaboration, MPSC is hoping to bring the same success to Maryland, which would save approximately 159 babies in the state each year.