"because family and friends are the gemstones of life"

We are Stephanie and Dave Ralich and we lost our son Everett Eric Ralich on August 10, 2010. He was delivered still on August 11, 2010 at 6:12am weighing in at 8 lbs, 1 oz and 22 inches long. Upon delivery it was discovered that Everett had a double nuchal cord (umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice) and two true knots tied into his cord. We were told that he must have been very active early on in utero, and somehow got all tangled up in his umbilical cord. Maybe he was trying to be a runner like his daddy... I made it to 35 weeks and 6 days in my pregnancy at the point he died.  We are having a race dedicated to our sons memory and we hope it becomes an annual event to raise awareness about stillbirths.  You can learn more about our story at www.run4everett.com or www.run4everett.blogspot.com. 

Some statistics state stillbirths happen as often as 1 in every 120 pregnancies. This is higher than the incidence of SIDS, many chromosomal abnormalities and birth defects. A stillbirth is categorized as any fetal death occurring after 20 weeks of pregnancy.  Causes of stillbirth vary, including birth defects, placental problems, poor fetal growth, infections, chronic health conditions in the pregnant woman, and umbilical cord accidents (which only occur in 2-4% of stillbirths).  As high as 40% of baby's born still have no obvious reasons why they died.