Pregnancy-associated deaths that could have been prevented

On this Mother’s Day weekend, an effort to raise awareness of tracking fetal movement in the third trimester of pregnancy, a way, South Carolina DHEC says, to improve the birth outcomes for mothers and babies.  DHEC partners with Count the Kicks in the effort to improve maternal health and birth outcomes.  According to a recent CDC report, the maternal mortality rate in the U-S continues to increase.  South Carolina’s most recent data show five Oconee County deaths during 2021; there were 17 in Oconee between 2019 and 2021. Count the Kicks is a stillbirth prevention program that teaches expectant parents the method for, and importance of, tracking their baby’s movements daily in the third trimester of pregnancy.