A step back

I'm sorry to say that Abigail's streak of great days has ended.

We received a call around 5 a.m. Sunday letting us know that she had been put back on her ventilator because she had been having some episodes (brief drops in heart rate or breathing that are quite common in the NICU).

As Sunday progressed, it became clear that something was wrong. Now they're fairly certain she has some kind of infection. This is quite common in premature babies; in fact, it's amazing that she's gone this long without one. It will take a day or two to figure out specifics. For now, they've put her back on the ventilator, stopped giving her milk and started giving her a general antibiotic. She's also back on her blood pressure medication for the time being.

This is not a surprising development, but it is a tough one to deal with because we've been so used to the great progress she had been making. She should be able to get through this, but it might be a tough few days ahead. As always, we request your prayers on Abigail's behalf.

Happier news from Saturday
In happier news, we did get to hold her for about 20 minutes each on Saturday morning before I went to work. She was essentially asleep at the time, but it was still exciting. We had to put her back a little earlier than hoped because we weren't able to keep her temperature as high as the nurses wanted.

The best way to hold an infant at this age is called "kangaroo care," where you essentially tuck your baby inside your shirt on your chest. This helps retain warmth with skin-to-skin contact. So you'll probably see us wearing a lot of button-down shirts once we are able to starting holding her again.

An interesting bill
I know all children are exceedingly valuable to their parents, but this is insane. On Saturday, we got the bill for Abby's four days at Ohio State University Medical Center (June 6-June 9) before she was taken to Children's Hospital. Before I share the total, make sure you're sitting down:

$50,074.00.

No, that's not a typo. And that's just for Abby. We already received a much smaller bill for Katrina's care, including labor and delivery.

Thankfully, that is the total amount that is being submitted to our insurance. We're confident that insurance will cover most of that, and there is other financial help available for babies who are born so early and so small.

Just imagine what the Children's Hospital bills will look like when they start coming in. Katrina and I have been joking that we'll have to frame some of these things!