MIAMI – Six Florida hospitals take part in a March of Dimes study about making a difference for babies who are born premature.
Babies like Iseley, Amber Carroll's third child, who was born via Cesarean section.
"This time, more than the others, I thought she seemed bigger in my ribs more," said Carroll. "I was feeling it more at the end."
Carroll said she listened to her doctor and scheduled her c-section at 39 weeks.
"You can't rush nature," she said. "My doctor said it was better for the baby to only go about a week before the due date based on the baby's development."
That education is part of the March of Dimes Big 5 State Prematurity Collaborative. In 2011, 25 hospitals in Florida, New York, Texas, Illinois, and California started educating women on the importance of full-term births.
The rate of elective early term deliveries fell 83 percent, according to the study.
READ: Results of hospital-based study
Both the Broward Health Medical Center and South Miami Hospital participated.
"The impact was so dramatic," said Dr. Dibe Martin with South Miami Hospital. "The education, the physicians and patients and community response, we're just continuing doing it. We're very proud to say our numbers look great and we're keeping those patients in their pregnancies until after 39 weeks."
To help fund research, you can participate in the upcoming March of Dimes' March for Babies. It's happening April 27 at Tropical Park in Miami-Dade County and May 4 at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.