Mission

The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality through community service, advocacy, research and education. In Michigan, 88 cents of every dollar goes towards the mission. Each year the March of Dimes has an Ambassador to tell their story of how they were affected by the March of Dimes mission. Our 2011 Ambassador Family is the Bordeaux-Deters Family including Joshua, Sarah, Miles, Levi and Boone.

2011 Ambassador Story

In the summer of 2003 we discovered we were pregnant!! Having had a miscarriage before we had our appointment bumped up to assure us everything looked normal. We had an ultrasound to confirm that the pregnancy was indeed that. At one point during the scan, our doctor said, 'dad, are you sitting down? There is not one there are two babies, and all looks great!'. We were over flowing with gratitude, joy and love!!!

September we learned we would be bringing home....TWO BOYS, their due date was February 22, 2004. We began decorating their room, family hosted us showers and we became anxious to meet our lil blessings!!! We named them Miles and Levi. Miles meaning 'merciful' and Levi meaning 'joined in harmony'. The pregnancy appeared to progressing normally, when on December 15th I began to have some preterm labor symptoms. We went to the doctors and then hospital. The doctors ordered some stress tests and decided to keep me overnight for observation. In the early morning of December 16th I learned that I had, what appeared to be, a placental abruption. Which is common in multiple pregnancies. We had to deliver my boys 10 weeks early!! And so it was, I delivered my sons at 8:34 am and 8:35 am! And was I one proud mama!! They were beautiful, tiny and oh so beautiful!! Miles weighed 4# and measured 17 inches, Levi weighed 3.25# and measured 15 inches. They appeared to be healthy preterm babies, but in the early morning of December 17th we received the divesting news that our son Miles 'had taken a terrible turn for the worse, and we would either lose him or his quality of life would be poor.'. On December 19th we held our son for the FIRST and LAST time....

Levi was on cpap for the first 24 hours of his life. His main focus was to learn to eat, and gain weight. From being fed through the artery in his belly, to being gavage fed through his nose and then bottle to breast. He also had episodes of apnea and bradycardia. On January 22, 2004, one month to the day of our sons due date, we brought our son home!
Today Levi is a happy, healthy, thriving 7 year old, (he says, 'SEVEN AND A HALF MA'!) amazing boy!!! He enjoys playing with his brother Boone, who joined us on May 2, 2005 after a healthy and uneventful pregnancy. Levi loves to read, write, sports (especially football and the New Orleans Saints, go Brees!), and loves to be with his family and friends!!! There is not a day that goes by that Miles does not consume our hearts and minds, but we have made a conscious choice to take what we have learned from this experience to share our story with others. With the March of Dimes we intend to do JUST THAT!