Hey Moms, Spit for Research. Please.

Just as soon as I saw myself diving head first back into this blog with nothing short of a renewed fervor, Princess Crabigail fell ill. Ill enough to warrant a few days on the pediatrics floor at our local hospital. Which, of course, made me stop thinking about all else except leaving the hospital.

It's always a sobering, eye-opening experience, spending time with the children and families you meet in the hospital. This was our second stay in her short two-and-a-half years of life, and we were in for pretty run-of-the-mill kid illnesses; this time it was croup. The first time was for a stomach virus.

It's watching the kids dealing with cancer, severe allergies, birth defects, and all other debilitating illnesses that really make me really stop and realize how lucky we are. How incredibly vulnerable we are. How there really is no rhyme or reason why, either. It can happen to anyone, at any time.

But there are things we can do to product ourselves, each other, and our children. Those are the things I'm starting to dig into with this very blog. And as timing would have it, just before Crabigail got sick, I happened by chance upon a survey for a genetics study on Spina Bifida.

Taking on-line surveys is one of the ways I pass time when my husband is traveling for work, or when Crabigail's going through a sleeping spell, or when I just need something to do. One day a few weeks ago, I chanced upon a this survey about birth defects, and I signed up to receive a test kit to collect some saliva to be tested for the study. The basic criteria I met was: 1. I'm not currently pregnant, 2. I've had at least one "issue free" birth, and 3. I was willing to spit in a tube.

To see if you qualify for this very important research, please visit SBG Genetics to learn more about the survey, or click Enroll at the top of the page. It's a very small thing you can do that could make a big difference.