[caption id="attachment_111" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="My Little Angel Dixie Belle Marie Adkins"]
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As many of you know, I run a production company called "Twisted Wish Productions" that basically takes donated time and talent to raise funds for misc charities...
[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Dixie Belle & I"]
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What many of you don't know, is that this particular one is very near and dear to me. My first daughter, Dixie Belle, was born premature with a bacterial infection in her blood at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in Dekalb. She was flown by helicopter to the NICU at Rockford Memorial Hospital where she would spend the next 11 days in an incubator and at high risk of passing away. It was a very scary and emotionally exhausting time. I remember sitting in a chair holding Dixie Belle for the first time there just hoping that I could one day hold my daughter without her having to be plugged into several different machines... to one day feed her without using a syringe to push it into a feeding tube... My ghost hunting team calls me the "fearless leader", but when all of this was happening, I was very much scared.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="201" caption="My Dixie Belle Tattoo In Memory Of Those Hard Times"]
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When I entered the NICU for the first time about 40 newborns were there... Some as small as a pound or less! You get to hear several stories and talk to other families. Its a very eye opening and heart breaking experience. I'm very thankful everyday that I was able to bring Dixie Belle home healthy and now 5 years later she is in great health and living a fun filled life.And I'm very thankful that March for Dimes / March for Babies exists.
March for Babies empowers scientist to keep working on finding a reason why premature labor happens, find ways to prevent it, and ways to bring the most premature babies to a life of good health. Not all families are as fortunate as mine to bring their new baby home. That is why I started March for Babies team "Dixie Belle" after my daughter. Dixie Belle and I will be walking on April 24th in Dekalb and we would very much appreciate your sponsorship!
Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. Our team is walking in March for Babies because we want to do something about this.
If you can't walk with us, please help by donating to our team. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!
