Be a Winner Like Baby Diva!

Here at Mamanista!, we like to share hip finds, promote chic products, and have fun giving away fabulous freebies.

But can we get serious for a minute?

I Heart My Baby

On August 9, 2006, Baby Diva came into the world. Two days later the doctors diagnosed her with tetralogy of fallot--a congenital heart defect that would be fatal without surgery. A few days before she would turn three months' old, she had open heart surgery to repair her heart.

Heart defects are among the most common birth defects--approximately 40,000 babies (1-2%) in the United States are born each year with a heart defect--and they are the leading cause of defect-related infant death. And yet, there is comparatively little funding going into researching the causes of these defects and treatment options.

Without surgery, depending on the exact pathology, tetralogy of fallot has a mortality of 30% of patients by age 2 years to 50% by age 6 years, 80% by age 10 years, and 95% by age 20...and those statistics are for the more straightforward cases.

However, just one surgery with a very high success rate (95% success in the absence of complicating factors) and Baby Diva now has a good chance to live a normal life (well, as normal of a life as any child of mine could have).

Help us to fill the hearts of other infants, the way Baby Diva has filled ours.

A Tribute to Baby Diva

Visit Baby Diva's Birthday Tribute Page at the American Heart Association, read more about her story, and consider making a donation (every little bit helps) to celebrate with us and to assist the American Heart Association in their research and outreach.


A Contest: Please Spread the Word

Each of these will gain you an entry in the contest, for a possible total of FOUR. We will choose the winner at the end of the day on Baby Diva's Birthday, August 9, 2007.

1. ***NEW*** Donate at least $2 to the American Heart Association: Visit Baby Diva's tribute page at the AHA and donate in her honor. If you do not want to leave your contact information through the donor form, just forward your confirmation to mamanista at gmail dot com and we'll add an entry for you.

2. If you are a blogger or a webmaster: please tell your readers about the risks of congenital heart defects, Baby Diva's story, and how they can help babies like her and include a link to this post. See the end of this post for example of code for linking here.

Make sure to either send a trackback ping to this post or e-mail us (Mamanista at gmail dot com) and you will be entered in the contest and earn our gratitude, too!

If you have a blog or website, please link first to help us spread the word!!!

3. If you have already linked or really don't have a website, leave a comment here wishing Baby Diva a Birthday and/or telling us how you helped spread the word about heart health, today.

4. Leave a comment on Baby Diva's Birthday Tribute Page at the American Heart Association.

Make sure you leave a valid URL or e-mail where we can reach you if you win!

How Else Can I Help?

1. Please consider making a donation to the American Heart Association.

2. Tell everyone about heart health and how they can protect themselves and their families.

3. E-mail your friends or vote for this post using the "Sk*rt" or "Add This" buttons at the end of this post.

4. At Mamanista, in addition to our personal donations, we are donating 20% of all our profits in July and August to the AHA in honor of Baby Diva, so if you visit our sponsors and shop our affiliates through our links, you'll be adding to Mamanista's contribution.

5. Visit my Squidoo lens on Congenital Heart Defects for more medical information, links to other stories, like Baby Diva's, and a list of books and movies about Congenital Heart Defects.

Prizes!!!

Okay, back to the fun stuff.

Baby Diva is already a winner and here is your chance to be one, too. Link to us and let us know and you will be entered.

We will add prizes as they are donated. That means that if you are reading this blog by a feed, this post may pop back up several times. Sorry. It is for a good cause.

We have enough prizes (more are on the way) to have two baskets. The first winner will have his or her choice and the second winner will receive the other basket.

Currently, we have the following items in our Baby Diva Birthday Contest Prize Basket:

Prize Basket #1

• Freelance blogger & mom of 10 children, Loni of Finding JOY in the Morning, is donating a personalized single strand mother's bracelet in honor of her daughter with a heart defect.
  
• A Hip Onesie or T-Shirt of your choice from Sandbox Threads (read our review of Sandbox Threads)
• Philly Joe Giraffe's Jungle Jazz from the Baby Loves Jazz series (read our review of Baby Loves Jazz)

Prize Basket #2

• A Heart Hero T-Shirt and Cape from Little Capers (review coming soon)
• A Miracle Blanket (read our review of the Miracle Blanket)
• Wee Gallery Art Cards (read our review of Wee Gallery Art Cards)

If you have a prize to donate, let us know (mamanista at gmail dot com)

Linky Love Codes: Do You Heart Baby Diva?

Here are a variety of options for showing Baby Diva some Linky Love and spreading the word about congenital heart defects and heart health.

Please link to this post, so people can learn more about this important health issue. Feel free to add other links to help raise awareness, too!

We'd love if you would write a post (if you are a blogger) and add our link to your sidebar, too! Let us know and we'll enter you in our contest as a thank you.

Sample Text Link:

Raise awareness about congenital heart defects and be a winner like Baby Diva!

<A HREF="http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html">Raise awareness about congenital heart defects and be a winner like Baby Diva</A>

Graphic:

<br /><CENTER><A HREF="http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t297/mamanista/heart_wish_jpg.jpg" border=0 title="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" alt="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" /></A></center>

Buttons:

<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t297/mamanista/Baby_Diva_Tattoo_Small.jpg" border=0 title="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" alt="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" /></A></center>

<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t297/mamanista/Baby_Diva_Heart_bandaid.jpg" border=0 title="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" alt="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" /></A></center>

<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t297/mamanista/Baby_Diva_Heart.jpg" border=0 title="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" alt="Happy Heart Healthy Birthday" /></A></center>

Other Fabulous Posts:

• Happy First Birthday, Baby Diva!
• Design a T-Shirt & Win $500 from Hatley
• Give Something Back This Holiday Season