Hello, our daughter Eleanor was born prematurely at 36 weeks and 1 day gestation due to a maternal pregnancy complication. She was delivered via a planned c-section and she came into the world weighing a tiny 5 pounds 9 ounces. A few minutes after her delivery, she went into respiratory distress and was taken to the NICU where she spent the next 8 days. At one point during her NICU stay, she required intubation and received a medication that was delivered directly to her lungs. It was discovered that she was battling persistent pulmonary hypertension and her wonderful doctors discovered a small hole in her heart that will require outpatient follow up when she is six months old that we will have to travel out of town for again. We will also be traveling back to Bismarck in January for a physical therapy follow-up.

We delivered in Bismarck, ND as a precaution because we live in a small rural town that does not have the medical facilities that a premature baby requires. Bismarck is 3.5 hours one direction from our home where our two other children had to stay behind with family while we stayed in Bismarck with Eleanor. Thankfully, she began to get better and we are now home but the medical bills are starting to roll in. 

My husband Matt is our sole provider and he has already returned back to work sooner than we would have liked to make sure that we have an income coming in as I am a stay at home mom. Any financial help towards medical bills is more than appreciated.