In February of 2007, a mother had just given birth to a baby boy who was experiencing fetal distress. There was never any indication that this was an issue until the very moment he was delivered and both the doctor and terrified mother saw that the baby was blue. This was not expected and was, unfortunately, a misdiagnosis during labor. Through traditional heart monitoring he had received a false negative when, in fact, he was in fetal distress.  Four NICU doctors immediately rushed in to bring life back into that baby boy.  They were successful and he is now a happy, healthy, and thriving 13 year old.  The mother would never forget those frightening moments in the delivery room and from that day forward envisioned a world in which fetal distress errors like her son's would be alleviated for mothers and babies alike.   

Determining fetal distress before birth, without risk to either babies or mothers, has not changed in over 30 years.  Currently, gauging fetal distress is difficult and the fear of misdiagnosis due to subjective data is one of the leading causes of medically unnecessary c-sections.  These c-sections bring with them higher costs and often put both mothers and babies lives at risk.  The United States, a country with increasing advancements in the medical field, is "... simultaneously the most expensive and one of the riskiest industrialized nations in which to have children" (The Guardian, Jan 2018).  Non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracing is currently not adequate enough.  Future innovation must lead to better detection of fetal distress, which can help reduce the number of c-sections; saving both money and lives.      

Tammy Dorsey, founder of Prenatal Hope, was the mother whose baby boy was experiencing fetal distress in 2007.  Since then she has been continually striving to seek better ways to improve the safety of the birth experience by raising the standard of care for both mothers and babies alike.  She hopes to make a direct impact in the prenatal care industry, while helping to make the United States as a safer place to give birth.  Prenatal Hope was created though a labor of love, time, and dedication in order to develop innovative products that are paramount to the safety of childbirth and to provide reassurance in the delivery room for both mothers and doctors, thereby reducing overall c-section rates.   

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