This Mother's Day, Embrace honors the love, resilience, and devotion of mothers across the globe. Mothers who
will do anything to fight for the life of their children. Mothers like Shivamadamma, who inspire our work.
Shivamadamma, a young mother who comes from a family of rural farmers in India, gave birth to a premature baby boy weighing only 3.5 pounds. The tiny infant struggled to keep himself warm, putting his life at risk.
Three generations of motherhood: Shivamadamma with her mother, grandmother, and beautiful first-born son.
Shivamadamma's family was concerned that they wouldn't be able to afford the care that the baby needed to survive. Keeping her baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was an impossibly high price, given the family's income. Sadly, babies who are in severe need of thermal support are often sent home because their parents can no longer afford to keep them in the NICU. Fortunately, doctors were able to provide thermal support to Shivamadamma's baby with the Embrace infant warmer they had just received. By providing an affordable alternative, Shivamadamma was able to stay in the maternity ward so that her baby could receive the treatment necessary for his survival.
Deeply moved by her story, the Embrace team visited Shivamadamma and her family in their village a month and a half after the baby was born. We were happy to see that her son had continued to make progress. His weight had now increased to 5 pounds and he was feeding well. The excitement in the house was palpable.
The family was planning the baby's naming ceremony, an important cultural event. This joyous occasion also served as a grim reminder that many families in India share a common custom of naming their babies nine months after they are born because sadly, there is a high occurrence of infant deaths.
Following the custom of Rashi, the first letter of the babies name is determined by the position of the Moon in a Zodiac sign during the time of birth of a baby. The family happily deliberated on two choices, "Surya" after the sun, or "Sunil" which refers to God?
Even though the family had very few resources of their own, they wanted to thank Embrace for giving their baby a chance at a happy and healthy life, and gifted the team with grain from their field. Our team was thankful for the warm welcome, and opportunity to reunite with Shivamadamma and her healthy son.
