Josephine's NICU Stay

On April 21st a trip to the Washington coast for clam digging ended with Freya and Jacob Bradbury unexpectedly welcoming their second daughter, Josephine Ocean Lee, at just 27 weeks 1 day. Josephine was born in Aberdeen and later transported via helicopter to the NICU at Tacoma General Hospital, which is hundreds of miles from their home in North Central Washinton. Jacob met her at the NICU that night and Freya joined the next day after being discharged. Josephine is expected to need to stay in the NICU until her original due date in Mid-July.

Josephine has had a few setbacks which are common for babies born at this gestation but she is doing very well, all things considered. She was born at 2lbs 10oz and now, at 6 weeks old, she is over 4lbs! She is on CPAP to help her breath and a feeding tube of mama's milk for now. Freya and Jacob visit each day, do skin on skin, and help with her care. Once she reached 4lbs she was able to start wearing clothes which is one step closer to eventually going home!

Freya was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis several years ago. Since the birth she has been experiencing increased symptoms of the disease, which affects her mobility.

Finding housing has been a big obstacle in this already challenging time. While the hospital has a facility similar to a Ronald MacDonald House for families to stay, it is unfortunately under construction, so it is not an option for them. With the help of friends and family they have found places to stay that they will eventually get reimbursed for through an organization that helps families in this sort of situation however they had to first pay out of pocket and the reimbursement will not cover all of the costs of housing such as the cleaning fees and take weeks or months before they receive it. They have had to move multiple times just in the past 6 weeks and expect to move more times during the remainder of their stay, each of these moves requires a separate cleaning fee. In addition to the housing costs the general cost of living in the city is significantly higher than they are used to living in a rural small town.

Big sister Claudia is thrilled to have a baby sister but is not able to meet her in person yet due to the NICU rules that don't allow children to visit. She has been spending lots of time with her grandparents and other family members while her parents visit Josephine.

Please consider donating to help them through this challenging time.

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