About Us

About Us

Count the Kicks is an evidence-based campaign that teaches expectant parents about the importance of tracking fetal movements.

Why We Count

IMPACT

Our goal is to make kick counting a common practice in the third trimester by reaching as many providers and expectant parents as possible.

32%
Iowa’s stillbirth rate decreased by 32% during the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks campaign.
25
We have partnerships in 25 states to provide our printed educational materials for free.
7,500
Our goal is to save 7,500 babies in the U.S. every year by expanding Count the Kicks.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Our Founders

The Healthy Birth Day, Inc. founders stand in front of a yellow backdrop

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. was founded by five Iowa moms who all endured the heartache of losing a daughter to stillbirth or infant death in the early 2000s. After being connected through friends and pastors, a strong bond quickly formed between Jan Caruthers, Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, Kate Safris, Kerry Biondi-Morlan and Tiffan Yamen.

During many conversations over coffee, the women decided to channel their grief into stillbirth prevention efforts to keep other families from facing the pain of losing a baby.

A few years later, the women learned about public health research in Norway that demonstrated a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth by teaching pregnant women how to monitor fetal movement during the third trimester of pregnancy by doing kick counts on a daily basis.

The women had found their next project and decided that even if it saved just one baby it would be worthwhile. The evidence-based public health awareness campaign, Count the Kicks, was born in 2008.

The next year, the women created Healthy Birth Day, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Des Moines, Iowa, as a way to help fund efforts to spread the Count the Kicks message.

Learn More

Meet Our Team

Count the Kicks was created by Healthy Birth Day, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing stillbirths through our public health campaign. Meet our passionate and dedicated team.

Meet our Team

Organizational Values

Be Courageous.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc., was founded on the belief that stillbirths and poor birth outcomes can be preventable. By providing stillbirth prevention education and resources, we improve care and empower expectant parents to advocate for themselves and their baby. We will bravely push for systemic change, speak truth to power, and not shy away from difficult conversations, meetings and decisions.

Share the Cause.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc., believes knowledge is power. When we make the world a safer place for reproductive and maternal health care, everyone wins. The job is urgent and bigger than any one person or organization. Sharing the work, lifting up voices, and being inclusive matters. We will actively recruit and connect with allies to teach and learn prevention strategies and break down systemic maternal and reproductive health care barriers and biases.

Celebrate Progress.

The five grieving moms who founded Healthy Birth Day, Inc., wanted to make this world a safer place to have a baby, and as we continue to grow as the country’s leading stillbirth prevention organization, we maintain a deep commitment to their original principles: placing high value on research and data, asking for help and building authentic relationships, and leading with trustworthy actions. We will take time to celebrate successes, both big and small, knowing each one may inspire or motivate another person to connect to our cause, turning their grief into fuel, shame into hope, or energy into action.

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