DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a woman headed to a Des Moines hospital had to stop Thanksgiving Day so her baby could be delivered. Michael Beller was driving his girlfriend, Heather Reed, of Lacona, to the hospital when she felt like something was wrong. He pulled over. She got out for a moment and then had trouble trying to get back in their van. He says he laid her on some grass and called 911. A dispatcher was giving him delivery directions when paramedics showed up, took over and helped complete the arrival of a nearly 8-pound boy, Kaden James Beller.

His dad cut the umbilical cord, and their journey to the hospital resumed. Beller told The Des Moines Register that this Thanksgiving was “the “best I could have asked for.”

(Radio Iowa) — A new national report card on premature births gives Iowa a letter grade of “B” as nine-point-two percent of births in the state are early, just below the national average of nine-point-nine percent. Stacey Stewart, president of the March of Dimes, says while Iowa’s numbers are improving, they’re still unacceptably high. “When babies are born prematurely, that means their health is really threatened at the time of birth and often these are babies that grow into children and young adults who experience health challenges down the road,” Stewart says. “In fact, prematurity and the consequences of prematurity are the leading causes of death for children between the ages of zero and five and it’s the leading cause of infant mortality.”

There’s an “alarming trend” in the U-S of babies being born too soon, according to Stewart. The preterm birth rate rose for the third year in a row, a trend signaling an urgent health crisis for moms and babies. More than 700 American women die in childbirth each year and some 50-thousand suffer life-threatening complications, making the U-S the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth.  Stewart says, “If we look at all of these outcomes around moms and babies, what we’re finding in the U.S. is that we have unacceptably high outcomes, especially for the wealthiest country in the world, and especially given the sophistication of our health care system.”

This is the 11th year the March of Dimes is releasing the annual Premature Birth Report Card, which grades all 50 states on their rates of preterm birth and reveals racial, ethnic and geographic disparities within each state. In Iowa, the preterm birth rate among black women is 29-percent higher than the rate among all other women.  “We need to make sure we do even more to make sure there’s expanded health care coverage for women, that there’s accessability of that coverage for those women wherever they live,” Stewart says. “Even if they live in rural areas, that shouldn’t mean that they have to be denied the health care coverage they need, especially the prenatal care that they may need.”

To encourage supporters to raise awareness and advocate for policies that protect moms and babies, the March of Dimes launched a nationwide campaign called #BlanketChange. It aims to bring attention to the urgent health crises moms and babies face, including increased rates of maternal mortality and preterm birth. Iowa’s “B” on the report card was shared by 14 other states, and only one state, Vermont, rated an “A.” There were 16 “C” grades, 14 “Ds” and four “Fs” for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia.
https://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/prematurity-reportcard.aspx

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 1:40 a.m. CST

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A nonprofit group has won a $5 million grant to bolster its fight against homelessness in east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Heartland Family Service says the grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund grant will let it expand prevention and diversion services; dedicate rapid rehousing resources specifically to families with children; and develop a transition support team.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska. Authorities say the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water. Rescuers used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land.

BLENCOE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska woman driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 29 in western Iowa collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing both drivers. The Iowa State Patrol says 40-year-old Angela Bender, of Omaha, Nebraska, was driving the southbound minivan Wednesday night when the collision occurred near Blencoe. The other driver killed was identified as 51-year-old Carolyn Klimper, who lived in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Three passengers in Klimper’s vehicle were injured.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Every year, Larry Hutchinson of Council Bluffs delivers hundreds of dictionaries to third-graders in several Iowa schools. The reward for Hutchinson is seeing the students’ reactions and knowing that he is, in a sense, he’s carrying on his wife’s mission since her death in 2006. Hutchinson says she was a reading teacher who she took pride in helping kids with their reading.

One person was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, following a rollover accident Thursday evening, south of Anita. Rescue crews were dispatched to the scene at the intersection of Glendale Road (Cass County Road G-27) and 750th Street (Highway 148), just before 6-p.m.

Dispatch reports indicated the vehicle apparently failed to stop at the t-intersection and went off the road. Initial reports said two people were hurt, but only one was transported to the hospital. Anita Rescue and Wiota 1st Responders, Medivac Ambulance and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

No other details are currently available.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska. The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office says the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. He’d chased after a goose that had been shot. Thirty-year-old Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water.

Sheriff’s deputies, the landowner and other hunters used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land, where he and Jake were later treated for their dunking.