Day 85 - 95: Finish line in sight...

First off, Lily is doing marvelously! She has been on 21% oxygen (room air) for the past two days - first time in her life!! She is now up to four full bottles a day... once we get to 8, we go home!

And she is six pounds now! She has been weaned off of her diuretic, and weaned from sodium. Her hearing test came back clear! Unfortunately she does have stage one ROP, but we are praying that it does not progress. ROP (retina related) is sometimes caused by the added oxygenation... it is somewhat common in preemies. Often, when you see kids with coke-bottle glasses, they had ROP as infants. It can be corrected with laser surgery if necessary, but we are hopeful that it will self-correct now that she is requiring less oxygen. Considering the level of ventilation that lily required for so many weeks, we are very thankful that it is only stage 1, and not worse.

It looks like she may come home on oxygen, but there is also a chance she could kick the cannula before then. Nurses are saying she MAY come home on Monday... amazing! To be at the end of this long marathon is a great feeling. It's what Sara and I are focusing on, and it's what keeps us going through a particularly stressful past week.

On that note, you're not going to believe this. Sara and I are turning into living proof that bad things happen to good people. We are upstanding citizens, pay our taxes, give back to our community, and are good parents. But some people just can't catch a break! This year, Sara and I are "some people."

In last Tuesday's rain/wind storm, our foundation and basement wall collapsed. Total cave-in. The power company cut our gas service, hopefully today it is turned back on. Sara and Addie have been staying at her mom's, I've been shuffling  between home, work, and my mother/father in law's place. The building department is heavily involved in the re-build, so we had to get an architect to draft up plans for a new wall. Structural engineers, electricians, masons, the list goes on. I've gotten a serious crash course in general contracting... Thank God we have family in the business to steer me in the right direction. All excavation has been done for the new wall, and the building permit is being issued today. All-in, the work will cost about 20... icing on the cake... insurance denied our claim. Twice. They are crooks. Coming up with all sorts of excuses not to pay the claim. Somehow they are calling it flooding/groundwater related even though there was NO flooding and the 8' hole dug alongside my house has NO groundwater in it.

We are fighting it tooth and nail. We have hired a lawyer, and are suing the insurance company and the engineer who originally inspected the home and wrote "the foundation is sound" in his report. The lawyer thinks we have a case.

To say the least it is very, very, very stressful. Lily helps put it all in perspective, though. Walls can be re-built. Money can be re-earned. The only thing that matters is that my girls are OK -thank God my girls are ok.

In a way, this feels like being in the last mile of a marathon that has suddenly gone up-hill. But the finish line isn't any further away... It's just a steeper finish than originally planned. In two weeks, I will be sitting on my couch with Sara, Lily, and Addie - there will be a nice shiny new basement wall holding up the house, and all will be good in the world. Two weeks. That's all that is left in the marathon. It's just a matter of pacing ourselves and not running out of steam before the finish line. We can see the ribbon... and are SO ready to break through it.

Sara and I are keeping our spirits up. No use getting down in the dumps. LILY IS  COMING HOME SOON, AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS!!