My name is Cheryl Anderson Heitkamp, MSN, APRN, CNM, IPPE-C, and I am a master’s-prepared nurse-midwife. I have practiced in urban multi-specialty centers, rural and suburban clinics, hospitals, and freestanding birth centers across Minnesota and Texas since 1989.
My husband and I have been married since 1984 and have raised five remarkable children who have since shared three beautiful grandchildren with us. I treasure my time with them, whether we are building forts, singing or reading together. In 2025 the stillbirth of one of my grandchildren, George, inspired my dedication to the prevention of this tragedy.
Since then I have become involved with the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA), contributing to their collaborative position paper on the increased risk of stillbirth within incarcerated and detained populations. I’m also keenly aware of the evidence regarding disparities in the U.S. and in my state specifically, which necessitates urgent change.
I believe the Count the Kicks program is vital to improving outcomes in communities most at risk of experiencing stillbirth. Throughout my career as a midwife I have held a special passion for working with healthy populations. Within the healthy clientele both in my clinical practice and personal life, I have witnessed the profound devastation of unpredicted stillbirth where no risk factors were detected. While I have always advocated for the importance of kick counting, I have gained significant insight from recent evidence regarding standardized care for stillbirth prevention.
It has also been enlightening to learn about the significance of sudden increases in movement patterns — an experience I encountered in one of my own pregnancies. My mission as an Ambassador is to help providers and pregnant families understand that standardized counting improves outcomes, dramatically reduces anxiety and improves parent/infant bonding. I look forward to expanding the reach of the Count the Kicks app and its educational materials throughout Minnesota.
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