Prayer Request

I just finished cleaning up my home office area and opening up a PILE of bills and trying to figure out how to pay what and actually found myself having to prioritize which bills will have to wait until later and which ones need to get paid immediately to avoid late charges. I already called one credit card to ask for an extension - they said to go ahead and make the payment and when I get assessed late charges to call back and try to dispute it then but that they couldn't guarantee anything. Ugh.

Hospital bills are beginning to pile up. Each envelope I open is at least 3+ pages long with a slew of charges. Everytime a neonatologist even breathes on Lauren, they charge $2154. Why didn't they just round it up to $2155? Why the 4? Did they think it'd look like a discount compared to $2155? I was sitting there racking my brain and trying to figure out where to cut costs. I guess we're just going to have to tighten our belts this year and just try to survive.

I applied for Medi-Cal and if that doesn't go through, there's one other State program that I will try to apply for called CCS. The reason why I'm applying for Medi-Cal is that if we do get approved, my hospitalization and delivery may also be covered. CCS is only for Lauren as it only covers children. The first time I was hospitalized was over $23,000 alone. When I saw that bill, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I would maybe understand if that was for the week's duration of my hospitalization but good lord, for 2.5 days?? (Remember, I went into the hospital on a Friday morning and got released Sunday afternoon). Can't wait to see what my 2nd hospitalization will amount to.

So, my prayer request is this: Please pray that we get approved for Medi-Cal. My social worker is trying to do everything she can to get us approved and we've submitted everything we needed to so now it's just a matter of the decision-makers to review everything and give us an answer. Realistically though, since we own property and other things, they say our chances are very slim. *sigh* There's something very wrong with our system, I think. The middle class kind of gets screwed at times like this. You either have to be dirt poor to get help paying for your ridiculous hospital bills or you have to be butt rich to be able to afford paying for these bills out of your own pocket. What happens to people like us who's savings looks like what you would find in the cushions of one's couch in comparison to what they owe in hospital bills?

Anyways, enough rambling. I don't know what's going to happen with all these hospital bills but I need to believe that God will somehow provide. I'm hoping and praying it's in the form of Medi-Cal. Please pray that we get approved.

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Update on Lauren: (DAY 80 in the NICU)

She's doing very well. There are no changes with her eyes yet. That's a good thing. As long as it doesn't get worse and stays the same, I'm okay for now. She gets eye exams every Tuesday so I'll update if anything changes. She is slowly but surely improving on her oxygen settings. She is now down to 21% oxygen which is "room air" meaning she's breathing the same amount of oxygen as you and I. Her nasal cannula pressure was at 1 liter for the longest time and then about a week ago, it was lowered to .75. The nurse today said that they were going to decrease it again so hopefully when Ben gets home to give me an update he'll tell me that they decreased it to .50. The goal is for it to go down to .25 and then to zero. Once it goes down to zero, she'll be off the nasal cannula.

Since Lauren was about a week old, she's been getting breastmilk through a tube that goes directly to her stomach. Up until a couple of weeks ago, the tube went through her mouth called OG or Oral Gavage. Then they changed it to go through her nose called NG or Nasal Gavage. They did this so they could start trying to bottle feed her. She's been doing well. She gets fed every 3 hours which equals to 8 times a day. So they started her on 1 bottle a day and 7 gavage feedings. Then, it increased to 2 bottles a day and 6 gavage feedings. Then to 3. And now, they are doing 2 consecutive bottle feeds and the 3rd one via gavage. If she does well, they'll continue to increase her bottle feeds and eventually she'll be taking all of her 8 feeds via bottle. Once I get the okay from her doctors, I'm going to try and work with a lactation consultant to begin breastfeeding. For preemies, especially micro-preemies, they have to learn how to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time when they're trying to feed. It's not like full-term babies where they just latch on and are able to control their breathing and sucking and swallowing. For babies like Lauren, I read it's like trying to climb a flight of stairs while eating a hot dog.

Ben just called and told me he tried to bottle feed her tonight. This was her 2nd in a row and unfortunately she was too exhausted to finish the whole bottle so the rest had to be fed to her via NG. But they did decrease her to .5 liters on her oxygen settings. (yay~!)

She's also out of her isolette and in a bassinett. You know, the kinds that full-term babies are pushed around in at the hospitals. But now that her body is working to regulate her own body temperature and she's also getting a work out trying to bottle feed, she's not gaining weight as fast as she was. But she's still a whopping 4lbs 13 ozs!! Almost 5 pounds, babyyyyy!!~ I'm hoping she reaches 5 pounds by Thursday.

My cutie beauty is getting bigger every day and I'm so glad. One of the nurses told us she was the best dressed baby in the NICU (thanks Jen, Jess & Cindy for the preemie clothes!~)

Even in the midst of all these hospital bills that surround me, I'm happy because she's alive and she's improving. There's hope that she'll be coming home soon and I can't wait for that to happen. I'd loooove to be able to celebrate her 100th day at home but there's a good chance that we'll be celebrating it at the hospital. I'm planning on getting 100 mini cupcakes for the NICU staff and having a little cupcake party. Never did the korean term "baek il" (100 day birthday) have so much significance and meaning as it does now for Lauren. She's come such a long way. I can't wait for everyone to meet her. She's truly a miracle to have survived being born so freaking early...


VOTED "NICU'S BEST DRESSED"
Lauren Faith Ahn, Class of '09



"Hi everyone!~ This is me after a bath. Thanks for praying for me . Please continue to pray for me so that I can get healthier and go home soon. This is one expensive hotel I'm at! See you all soon!~"