She has come a long ways

Maggie one day old.

Maggie 5 months old.

You just never know.

I would have never ever known such a thing was possible.

February 2011, a month after Maggie was born, all the explanation of benefit pages were coming in for my delivery and Maggie's hospital stay. I couldn't keep up with it all fast enough but from the advice of others they said to wait till everything had billed and then see what we owed. We did get one rejection letter from our insurance company that they were not going to cover my stay at OHSU after I was transferred up there post delivery. Everything was covered. We have a plan that has a deductible and then you pay 20% copay to the maximum out of pocket. And then on a few things, they were covered differently, like both Maggie's and mine ambulance rides. So the bills started coming in.

We had a bill from Silverton Hospital, OHSU hospital, OHSU doctors, Woodburn Ambulance and Metro West Ambulance. We figured roughly before insurance it was about $100,000. With insurance, our cost was around $5500. That's a lot of money we weren't really expecting to pay.

But let me know tell you how God works in ways, we can't see.

I called each of the places and asked if we could start paying after I returned to work from maternity leave as our income was reduced while I was at home. They each made appropriate arrangements and I headed back to work in March. I then called each place and asked to set up a payment plan as there was just no way we could pay all of this off. Who has that kind of savings??

We received an anonymous gift that allowed us to pay off both the ambulance companies and make a payment on another bill. I got each account set up and starting paying. Two months went by and it was tight. Each month was to the penny. We were just barely squeaking by and I didn't know how we would be able to do it in the winter months when our heat and electricity bill seems to spike! But we trusted God he would provide and continued on.

At one point when I had called OHSU hospital to set my account up on a payment plan, I mentioned something about how it works to apply for financial assistance that I had seen noted on the back of my bill. The customer service operator asked a few questions and then said she would mail me the application. I received it and then filled it out, got copies of pay stubs and taxes and faxed it back.

Two weeks later, we received a statement in the mail that the balance due had been reduced by roughly $400!! And OHSU doctors bill separately but if you qualify with one, you qualify for the other and reduced our other bill by $700. I was blown away. I had willingly filled out the application but then mumbled and moaned after I submitted it that we would not qualify. We make way too much money, I complained. But I did pray. I asked God that no matter what the outcome, He would continue to provide for us. 

You just never know.

God is faithful. AJ and I decided to close out an old retirement account we had and pay the penalty and taxes on it so that we can pay the remainder of all our bills off except for one. God is good! He has provided for us in so many ways. Maggie, medical insurance, a job for both AJ and I, and now a way to pay our medical bills. My human mind wants to manipulate and try to figure out ways to make things work, when the truth of the matter is, God knows and is taking care of us in so many ways, more than we know.

You just never know.

Maggie is 4 months

Our sweet little baby turned 4 months old on May 16th and that meant a lot of things. Mostly, she was soon to have her 4 month NICU follow-up with a Neuro Pediatrician at OHSU/Dornbeckers. So, since I was going to have to take her up to Portland for that appointment, I decided to make 2 other doctor appointments for Maggie the same day. I know, aren't I such the best mom ever? AJ wanted to come as well since the appointment with the Dornbecker doctor was such a big appointment. Big in the sense of finding out how our baby was doing developmentally and big also in the sense of a 3 hour appointment!

So, in the morning Maggie had her 4 month well baby check up with our normal pediatrician. She did great. No big concerns from us and because she is our second, we aren't as surprised when things change and come up, she is a pretty good sleeper and she is a great eater/poop-er/pee-er. What more could you ask for from a 4 month old? So not a lot of questions. Her stats are: weight, 15 pounds and height is 25 inches. To compare, Porter was 15 pounds 12 ounces and 26 1/2 inches in height. She is very normal but man oh man, she is a chunky monkey. And when she got her one shot, the nurse commented that this is when her thunder thighs would come in handy! She still cried a tiny little bit but was her happy smiling self shortly thereafter.

The next appointment was for an ultrasound follow up from her bladder infection. We drove down the rode to St. Vincent Hospital and had a renal ultrasound down. Meaning, they look at your bladder and your kidneys and send pictures and results to our doctor to make sure they are properly functioning. How do you do an ultrasound on a baby? Very carefully. The bladder was pretty easy but the the kidneys they need you lying on your belly, so I tried to hold Maggie chest to chest but she would not have any of it as she is in the stage when she is awake she wants to look out, not at my chest. So, I rocked her a little and she thankfully fell asleep and the rest was a breeze. So glad it worked out that way and we will find out the results early this week. Let's pray all is okay with her kidneys.

AJ, Maggie and I then had a break. We headed downtown for some lunch at Rice Junkies and jumped back in the car to head over to OHSU. And then we headed up to our 3 hour appointment. She met with a clinician who does some evaluations with her (speech, gross and fine motor skills, physical movement, sound awareness and such), then with the Neuro Ped and then with an audiologist. Each person is about a hour session and was super helpful, informative and really nice!

As they tested Maggie for all her motor skills and language, it was said multiple times how much of a talker she was. She was yacking up a storm and was very expressive and funny with the clinician. She did great on all her evaluations except for when you pull her up, she does not help you at all. So she is still slightly low muscle tone. But the doctor explained this is very normal for babies of her NICU situation and she is right on for that and eventually will catch up. No concern really. She reaches for things and swats at things and notices things, all perfect for her age. It is crazy how they can test each of these areas and determine if she is behind in something. I was impressed at all the Maggie put up with!

When they left, we then had about 10 minutes before the Neuro Ped doctor came in and Maggie was out. She feel asleep hard core and slept through the initial question and answer time with us and the doctor and then I had to wake her up for him to do his own observation. She was not super happy about this but eventually started smiling and he was able to do interact with her some. He was happy with her as well. We did talk about concern about hearing loss considering my situation and the history in my family. He also mentioned something else we had never heard before that because of her pulmonary hypertension and the treatment of antibiotics they give for that, Maggie could also be at a little higher risk for hearing loss. He mentioned this and my family history to the audiologist before we met with her.

The audiologist was very informative and nice. We talked about my history and such and discovered that most likely my hearing loss is genetic and related to something I was born with. AJ loved talking to the audiologist about it. I was so happy to know that since Maggie did not have what I had, most likely she won't have severe hearing loss like I do. That is not to say she won't struggle at all, but we will be monitoring her for sure. SO then the audiologist performed a couple of tests on her and her hearing was PERFECT! No issues thus far. Praise the Lord! Again and again Maggie continues to amaze us!

So after 2 hours and 45 minutes we were done. We did another diaper change on Maggie and hit the road back home to Salem. She had done awesome. She slept the whole ride home as she was exhausted and worn out. I don't blame her one bit. It was a lot for us as parents and we didn't have to endure multiple dress and undress, a shot, an ultrasound, two hearing tests, a full motor skills test and 2 check ups by doctors. She was a champ.

Our next follow up with the doctor at Dornbecker is not till she turns one. So no more marathon doctor appointment days like that for a long while.

Miss Maggie, you are a rock-star. Thank you for putting up with everyone so beautifully and still smiling despite all we put you through on Friday. We love you lots, Mommy and Daddy!

P.S. Thank you, Lori, for watching Porter as he would have been bored to tears, literally!

Maggie's dedication

Mother's Day 2010: I take a pregnancy test on the off chance that my sneaky suspicion is correct. Too my surprise, it was. I was pregnant and my best guess was we will have a baby in January of 2011.

Mother's Day 2011: We take the step as parents that we will raise Magnolia Raine in a home that loves and serves our amazing God. Who knew how much God would teach us in the first week of Maggie's life about total reliance on him, but we are so thankful for our sweet daughter.Now, we have been given the joy of raising her to honor God all the days of her life.



Am I adorable or what?

My good friend, Shannon, gave Maggie this fun pink zebra print hoodie with the mane down the hoodie. Maggie now fits it and just just looking super cute the other day so I took a few pictures of her and her smiles.



Exciting times...

Maggie's life is going to be an exciting one. To what extent, none of us really know but here's the latest.

Maggie recently hit the 3 month mark and has been doing really well. She impresses me each and every day and truly has been a remarkable baby albeit all she had to deal with the first week of her life. She is a happy smiley baby and lights up when we smile at her or her brother talks to her. She is not super fussy nor is she a handful. She is pretty even keeled and goes with the flow.

Well, the last week she got a cold and it was making her congested and a little cranky. The last few days when Lori, her Grammie, was watching her she noticed she would cry when she would lay her down and she didn't want to be anywhere except being held. Unfortunately as a second child, I can't hold her all the time and when Lori has her she is the 3rd child. But there just wasn't something totally OK with how she was acting. I don't want to be a paranoid mother so I just decided when I took her in on Monday for a shot, I would have them look at her to make sure she was all good.

Well, we never made it to Monday. Saturday when Maggie woke up she was a lethargic limp rag doll. No muscle tone, no desire to eat and SUPER congested. She coughed and then threw up mucus and lots of it. Well, this scared me. I got AJ and together we decided we needed to take her in. We ended up at the ER and they checked us in. Because of Maggie's traumatic birth we may always be a bit more cautious with her, but I had no idea what to do if she was struggling breathing.

Long story short, we sat in the ER room from 10:30-3:30 and they watched Maggie's O2 levels, took a chest X-ray, did a flu and RSV swab, ran some blood tests and then did an urine sample. We weren't really sure what they were looking. We then were told she did have RSV which is a respiratory virus and a slight fever. So they gave her some Tylenol for the fever and there wasn't a lot they could do about the virus as, like a cold, it would just need to work through her system. And because her O2 levels did drop some while she was sleeping, they decided to admit her to the hospital for the night for observation.

Off we went to her room which had a bed for me as well, so I could spend the night with her. They checked us in and we spent the night together, nursing, sleeping and the nurses would come in about every hour to monitor her vitals and O2 levels. Maggie did great. She never needed oxygen and never needed any breathing treatments but did have another little fever in the night. So the next morning the doctor came in to let me know how she was doing. And come to find out, she had a bladder infection. The ER doctor saw an abnormality in her blood test and then ordered the urine sample to see if she had an infection and sure enough she did. This would explain all her crankiness and her fever.

Not only was she battling RSV but she also was in pain whenever she peed! Oh man, such a bummer for such a little baby. Well, she is now on an antibiotic to kill the bacteria in her bladder and then we have follow up with her doctor in a week to make sure the infection is gone and get her kidneys checked out. As I know more about all this I will keep you all posted.

But the thing I keep remembering is how all things happen for a purpose. No, I wouldn't wish RSV on anything little child, but because Maggie had it and was not herself on Saturday, we took her in to see the doctor and through the course of events discover the bladder infection that could have gone unnoticed even longer possibly. It would have gotten worse and worse and she could have ended up fighting eating and then affected nursing and my milk supply. But it didn't happen that way. And I am just so thankful that I can see the hand of God in Maggie's life in so many ways. This was another one of them.

We still may have a journey ahead of us with this bladder infection as 3 months old really shouldn't be getting bladder infections, but I am grateful we found it and can now treat it and go forward with figuring out if all her systems are working together or what the next step is, if any.

Thanks again for all your prayers. Maggie is God's child and is so evident in her life. AJ and I are fairly certain with all the excitement she has caused in our lives in 3 months, gray hairs will soon be sprouting. If I am sporting a new hair color, y'all know why now!

Finished the birth story

So back on February 14th, I started the final part of Maggie's birth story. I finished it tonight and it posts it back in February's archives. So, check it out. Here is the link.

http://magnoliaraine.blogspot.com/2011/02/magnificent-maggies-birth-story-part.html

By the way, I typed it all with paragraphs and when I published the post, no paragraphs. Annoying. I am going to try and fix it. Just so you know, it was not meant to be the way it is.

Enjoy.

MA:)