Every Partner Counts: It's A Miracle Maternity

I met Samira Atash and her daughter at my local park in New York City last summer. Coincidentally, I had met her mother-in-law in the neighborhood several years earlier. When we met, Samira shared some of her history with me. She had been born in Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous places to give birth in the world, where one in 11 women will die due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Today she is a clothing designer, entrepreneur, and supporter of maternal health. We discussed our similar experiences in our travels to Afghanistan since 9/11. I traveled there with The Today Show in January of 2002 as a guest correspondent covering a UNICEF program to reintegrate girls into schools in Kabul after the Taliban had gone.

Christy visiting Afghanistan in 2002

Samira also shared her birth story with me, and similar to my own, she had a childbirth related complication delivering her daughter. She explained how the experience gave her a new appreciation for what mothers go through and for the hospital and doctors who took care of her. We discussed the likelihood that had either of us experienced our childbirth complications in either of the countries of our family origin (my mother was born in El Salvador), neither of us would be here today. Samira and I had made a special connection through a shared experience.  She was aware of Every Mother Counts and wanted to find a way to work together.

This past April, Samira launched her latest venture, It's A Miracle Maternity, a website that offers designer maternity, nursing & baby clothes that are new and gently owned at up to 75% off. I am proud to announce that beginning this month, Every Mother Counts and It's A Miracle Maternity have teamed up to reduce maternal mortality around the world. For every purchase made at It's A Miracle Maternity, five percent of the total will go directly to Every Mother Counts. If you donate your designer maternity/nursing/baby clothes to It's A Miracle Maternity, 30 percent of the proceeds of sales from your clothing will also go directly to Every Mother Counts.

Together, we can make every mother count.