Today is Monday and at The Pajama Company it's our first Maternal Health Monday. I started my pajama business six years ago because I love pajamas and love to celebrate the happiness pajamas bring to families. Yes, we lounge in pajamas. We celebrate in pajamas. We work in pajamas. Today, we are doing something important in pajamas. We are taking a stand for Maternal Health. We are saying it's unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Eighteen years ago, in my 8th month of pregnancy I was told my baby was breech...upside down in the womb. I was calmly reassured that all was well and I would have a scheduled Cesarean section. I was in London at the time and despite my anxiety at the news, my doctor put me at ease with his description of the procedure. He was right, all went well. I'm well aware that were this scenario playing out in an earlier time, my outcome would not have been bright.
Sadly, in 2011, for many women around the world, the basic right of bringing a child safely into the world remains a luxury. I know that in many parts of the world a woman facing a breech birth today would most certainly die. In fact, today a woman will die every 90 seconds from complications of pregnancy. This is why we have chosen to partner with Every Mother Counts, a non-profit advocacy organization focused on increasing education and support for maternal and child health around the world. Today we are donating 10 percent of our sales to Every Mother Counts.
Today my daughter is 18 years old. She is thriving. Today pregnancy is the biggest killer of women ages 15-19 in the developing world. Nearly 70,000 young women die every year because their bodies are not ready for parenthood. Incredibly, every year an estimated 10 million girls worldwide are married before the age of 18. If current rates of child marriage continue, 100 million girls will be wed in the coming decade. Excluded from education and other opportunities to develop their full potential, they and their children will be poorer as a result.
Join our Maternal Health Monday campaign and help change the lives of women and their families across the globe...and yes, we're doing it in pajamas.
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