“I just don’t feel like luck is what should bring a baby home,” Amanda Braverman-Brohn tells PEOPLE

NEED TO KNOW

• A Wisconsin mom became an advocate for stillbirth prevention after an emergency cesarean section saved her son Preston’s life 18 years ago
• She says his big brother, then 2, liked to play doctor and alerted her to the fact that the baby wasn’t moving in utero
• This month, she was honored with a Daily Points of Light award for her volunteerism and community-focused advocacy work

A Wisconsin mom rushed to the hospital after realizing her baby wasn’t moving in utero, leading to an emergency cesarean section that saved his life. In the 18 years since, she’s served as an educational advocate to teach other parents about the importance of monitoring fetal movement to prevent stillbirths. 

“When I realized how lucky we were, that really inspired me to help advocate for information and education and knowledge to empower pregnant people,” says Amanda Braverman-Brohn, 45, who was recently awarded a Daily Point of Light award from Points of Light, a foundation started by President George H.W. Bush, which promotes volunteerism across the globe.

“I just don’t feel like luck is what should bring a baby home,” she continues, “when there’s information that can save their lives.”

The mom of five — who recently founded her own nonprofit, the Moving Forward Foundation — says her advocacy work began after the birth of her second child.

In 2008, Braverman-Brohn was pregnant with her son, Preston, and was put on bed rest for pre-term labor, which she says is “normal” for her.

But then, one morning, when she was 37 weeks along, she says, “It just felt empty inside.”

Later that day, her alarm grew when her 2-year-old Aiden played doctor by listening for sounds in her belly. Usually, he would place his toy stethoscope on her round stomach and proudly report back: “Baby’s doing good. The baby’s okay,” his mom recalls.

However, the day Braverman-Brohn began to feel “like something was wrong,” Aiden listened for his baby brother’s movements. This time, there were none.

“He did his normal routine check, and he said, ‘The baby’s not okay,’ ” Braverman-Brohn says.

Terrified, the expectant mother rushed to the hospital for an emergency cesarean section. It turned out, Preston had a stroke, but fortunately, after he was born, doctors “were able to save him and resuscitate him in the operating room,” says Braverman-Brohn.

The life-saving realization that something was wrong with her baby that day inspired the new mom to raise awareness about stillbirths.

“Stillbirth affects about 1 in 175 births, and each year about 21,000 babies are stillborn in the United States,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While stillbirths impact families of all backgrounds, non-Hispanic Black women experience stillbirths two times more often than other groups. 

“These disparities could possibly be attributed to many underlying causes,” the agency said, “including access to quality healthcare, pre-existing health conditions, and structural discrimination.”

To help decrease infant deaths, Braverman-Brohn has worked to spread awareness across her state and has even spoken to a senator about the importance of maternal health education, which includes fetal movement.

 “Teaching an expectant parent how to track fetal movement and why that’s important is something that is not invasive,” she says. “They can do it at home. They can advocate for themselves. They get that knowledge that empowers them to use their voice and speak up.”

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Even as she gives back to her community, Braverman-Brohn is relishing in time with her partner, Matthew, and their five children: Aiden, Preston, Benjamin, Tate and Jovie. The siblings love to play in musicals together, including Preston, who plans to study music in college. 

“He is so compassionate,” says Braverman-Brohn of the son she almost lost. “He’s the kind of person that always roots for the underdog.”

Almost two decades after that terrifying day, she says Preston’s high school graduation this past June was even more emotional.

“His graduation reminded me that I had started to take ordinary moments for granted,” she says. “Life is fragile and life is special.”

For her eldest son, Aiden, there is no forgetting that he helped save his brother’s life. 

“Aiden will actually share how lucky he is that his best friend is alive today,” says his mom. While she’s doing her advocacy work, she says that her oldest child will tell nurses about the lasting implications of preventing stillbirths.

“You guys feel like you’re saving a baby, but you have to remember it’s not just a baby,” Bravernman-Brohn remembers Aiden saying. “You’re saving somebody’s brother and somebody’s best friend.” 

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