In 2010, she noticed Hayden’s movement was starting to change when she was 30 weeks pregnant with him. This prompted her to talk with her doctor, who was able to address the problem in the last 10 weeks until Hayden’s healthy birth near his due date.

Price now leads the nonprofit Healthy Birth Day Inc. as its executive director and is responsible for the national expansion of Count the Kicks, an initiative that helps expectant parents track movements of their baby so they see what level is normal and can speak up if they notice a change.

The initiative was founded by five Iowa moms who each lost a baby to stillbirth or infant death and began working together to find solutions in the early 2000s. Count the Kicks was officially launched in 2008 to support research that showed kick counting and other movement tracking could reduce stillbirths. It started as written materials, and was launched as a web-based app in 2013 and became a mobile app in 2015.

The app is particularly important as 40 birthing units have closed in Iowa over the last 20 years and the state ranks last in the U.S. in OB-GYNs per capita. It serves as a tool to help patients track the health of the baby on their own.

Since its launch, it’s now spread to 16 states. That’s thanks to connections formed at conferences, policy efforts and organizations like the Iowa Department of Public Health that sing its praises in interactions with those from outside of Iowa.

"[The health department] didn’t have to work with five grieving women to implement something like this, but they did and they believed that this was important," Price said. "Our connections and advocates within the state health department, all the way up to leadership, have been instrumental in making it a success in Iowa by telling their colleagues in other states [they] should do this too. You need to save Missouri babies and you need to save Florida babies, and so on and so forth."

The materials continue to be adapted over time. The app is available for smartphones and computers, and other materials are also available for those without a good internet connection.

Addressing health equity is an important part of the organization’s mission. Black mothers were more than twice as likely to experience stillbirth compared with Hispanic and white mothers, according to a 2020 study published by the CDC. Social determinants of health – the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status – and racial bias in the health care system contribute to the issue.

The Healthy Birth Day staff has also forged community partnerships to promote on its platforms, including providing expectant parents information about child care or mental health resources so they know they aren’t alone, since doing so can help reduce effects of postpartum depression or adverse childhood experiences, said Megan Aucutt, director of programs.  

We sat down with Price and Aucutt to learn more.