As the health care reformers continue to wrestle through the tricky and trickier issues of improving what we have now, this startling headline crossed my computer screen:

"It's Riskier to Have a Baby in the U.S. Than in Cuba or the Czech Republic."

Was this a joke? I couldn't let it go. I felt it my duty to check it out, or as we now say, click through — especially since September is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Getting through childbirth with a live baby is definitely part of a healthy, happy lifestyle.

It's no joke. Dead Baby Syndrome turns out to be a big, and little-discussed, problem in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly seven out of every 1,000 babies born in the U.S. will die before their first birthday. Oh, baby! And the death rates among Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans are even higher.

Here's what the health care reformers are not mentioning in their daily bulletins about rising costs and participating insurance companies: Our U.S. health care system is so dysfunctional that when it comes to infant mortality, not only do we rank below Cuba and the Czech Republic and Ireland, we also rank below and — hold on to your kim chee now — South Korea.

I don't mean to dis South Korea, or any other country. I am just saying that we as a nation, as that beacon of light on the hill, tend to view ourselves as the best, the greatest, the No. 1 in the world. We hear it from U.S. politicians all the time; makes me want to shout out "You lie!" According to the World Factbook, that's just not true when it comes to healthy pregnancies and thriving newborns.

So let's cheer on these health care reformers, and join forces to make it better. Let's face the facts and work it out. We need a higher quality, more affordable, wellness-based health care system. Fast.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn how to make your pregnancy better and safer, check out www.smartmothersguide.com. It turned out all my investigatory clicking led me to a Website selling a new book called "A Smart Mother's Guide to a Better Pregnancy" by Dr. Linda Bates-Galloway, M.D.

Promotion, promotion, promotion, but Dr. Bates-Galloway is worthy of your attention. She's a walking, talking success story, a board-certified ob-gyn descended from two 19th century midwives who is "on a mission to keep pregnant women and their babies out of harm's way."

(Keeping "out of harm's way" is at the heart of healthy lifestyle/preventive medicine. If that's not one of the underlying themes of the health care reform, we will surely go broke trying to keep up with demand. I digress.)

As for raising awareness and our national infant mortality rating one healthy baby at a time, Burke's new book is just what the midwife ordered. She wants to help you "think like a doctor instead of a patient." In other words, get smart. Be responsible. Don't be the victim of a broken system.

And that part is true for everyone on the path to a healthier, happier lifestyle. Pregnant or not, woman or man, old or young — self-care is the best care. The more you know, the greater responsibility you take, the healthier you can be no matter what sort of health care reform laws get written.

So before National Infant Mortality Awareness Month ends and National Learn to Drink Pickle Juice Month arrives, perhaps we should take a minute to consider this one last way to increase awareness: Dead Baby panels.

All that Death Panel talk is so yesterday, big whoppers made up to scare old people and those of us who want to become an old person.

Dead Baby panels are so much more interesting.

That's where you go to ask why there are so many premature births (before 37 weeks) in the U.S.

Why are so many babies born with low birth weights, under 5 pounds? What affect is all this technology having on moms and infants?

Normally, I sleep like a baby. But when I think about what's getting in the way of providing quality affordable health care for mothers, babies and all our citizens, I toss and turn all night.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! READY, SET, GROW

"The time for consumers to arm themselves with information is here. In the end, all that matters is a healthy mother and baby." — Gwendolyn Winkfield, R.N.

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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