Christen, Rebecca, & Henrik
Donation protected
My daughter Rebecca and daughter-in-law Christen welcomed a baby boy to their family on June 15, 2018. Henrik is an absolute joy to everyone in our family -- he is such a good, sweet baby!
Unfortunately, not much else went so smoothly. First, they had planned to deliver him naturally via waterbirth but he was born via C-section after three days of laboring. He was also born two weeks late, which meant his arrival date was very close to their departure date, as the girls had already planned a cross-country move to their new home closer to family. Henrik was only ten days old when we hit the road, but then the move didn't go according to plan: immediately after getting on the highway to take off, we all got OFF the highway and spent $2000 of their savings to rent a larger Uhaul and car trailer for safety reasons.
At about five weeks postpartum, his mommy Christen started getting very confused and disoriented. After two completely sleepless nights spent in two different ERs in two different states, she was admitted on an inpatient basis to Pine Rest in Grand Rapids with a diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is a very rare postpartum disorder -- it only affects 1-2 new moms out of 1000. Christen is the "lucky" one with no prior history of mental illness.
At this point, she has been in the hospital for a week. She could be there for another week to three weeks, followed by an outpatient program that could last up to six weeks or more. At this point, there is no set treatment plan, as she is still in the early evaluation stages. While she is in the hospital, Rebecca and Henrik are staying with me in Grand Haven and once Christen is released, they will continue staying here through Christen's outpatient treatment.
This occurred about halfway through her maternity leave. Christen has ten weeks paid leave available to her, which the girls were already stretching to 12 weeks to keep their medical insurance. It now looks like they may need to stretch it to 18 weeks or more, just to cover their insurance, which may leave very little take home pay. Rebecca left her job before the move, planning to be a stay-at-home mom.
The move and getting settled, as well as the drastic reduction in take-home pay, has dwindled their savings. Even though Rebecca and Henrik are staying with me, they are still paying rent and utilities on their apartment in Illinois. Rebecca is commuting to see Christen as much as possible, a trip that is 45 miles each way. She gets to see her three times during the week and four times on the weekend.
With all of this chaos going on, the girls' carefully laid plans and financial arrangements are all going to the wayside. Instead of the cloth diapers and wipes they had been using, Rebecca had to go out and buy boxes of disposable boxes and wipes. Since Henrik's main source of food is now unavailable to him, we ordered bottles and have been driving around trying to obtain donor milk. And now that it seems this is going to last longer than initially expected, Rebecca has to make an unexpected trip back to Illinois to pick up more supplies and documents and settle some affairs. The girls had planned to be very financially frugal during maternity leave and this is just proving to be not possible in order to meet their new needs.
I am requesting $3000 to help the girls out. If we could raise more, that would be wonderful. Any money raised will go directly to their bills and/or gas and baby needs. I will also be organizing a Meal Train to help cover meals for us. Gift cards for gas or fast food restaurants also appreciated! And of course, prayers are always, always appreciated.
Please help me help my daughters. They have worked so hard and waited so long for this baby and this move and are being robbed of the experience they have dreamed of.
Unfortunately, not much else went so smoothly. First, they had planned to deliver him naturally via waterbirth but he was born via C-section after three days of laboring. He was also born two weeks late, which meant his arrival date was very close to their departure date, as the girls had already planned a cross-country move to their new home closer to family. Henrik was only ten days old when we hit the road, but then the move didn't go according to plan: immediately after getting on the highway to take off, we all got OFF the highway and spent $2000 of their savings to rent a larger Uhaul and car trailer for safety reasons.
At about five weeks postpartum, his mommy Christen started getting very confused and disoriented. After two completely sleepless nights spent in two different ERs in two different states, she was admitted on an inpatient basis to Pine Rest in Grand Rapids with a diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is a very rare postpartum disorder -- it only affects 1-2 new moms out of 1000. Christen is the "lucky" one with no prior history of mental illness.
At this point, she has been in the hospital for a week. She could be there for another week to three weeks, followed by an outpatient program that could last up to six weeks or more. At this point, there is no set treatment plan, as she is still in the early evaluation stages. While she is in the hospital, Rebecca and Henrik are staying with me in Grand Haven and once Christen is released, they will continue staying here through Christen's outpatient treatment.
This occurred about halfway through her maternity leave. Christen has ten weeks paid leave available to her, which the girls were already stretching to 12 weeks to keep their medical insurance. It now looks like they may need to stretch it to 18 weeks or more, just to cover their insurance, which may leave very little take home pay. Rebecca left her job before the move, planning to be a stay-at-home mom.
The move and getting settled, as well as the drastic reduction in take-home pay, has dwindled their savings. Even though Rebecca and Henrik are staying with me, they are still paying rent and utilities on their apartment in Illinois. Rebecca is commuting to see Christen as much as possible, a trip that is 45 miles each way. She gets to see her three times during the week and four times on the weekend.
With all of this chaos going on, the girls' carefully laid plans and financial arrangements are all going to the wayside. Instead of the cloth diapers and wipes they had been using, Rebecca had to go out and buy boxes of disposable boxes and wipes. Since Henrik's main source of food is now unavailable to him, we ordered bottles and have been driving around trying to obtain donor milk. And now that it seems this is going to last longer than initially expected, Rebecca has to make an unexpected trip back to Illinois to pick up more supplies and documents and settle some affairs. The girls had planned to be very financially frugal during maternity leave and this is just proving to be not possible in order to meet their new needs.
I am requesting $3000 to help the girls out. If we could raise more, that would be wonderful. Any money raised will go directly to their bills and/or gas and baby needs. I will also be organizing a Meal Train to help cover meals for us. Gift cards for gas or fast food restaurants also appreciated! And of course, prayers are always, always appreciated.
Please help me help my daughters. They have worked so hard and waited so long for this baby and this move and are being robbed of the experience they have dreamed of.
Organizer and beneficiary
Dianne Dunneback Wierenga
Organizer
Grand Haven, MI
Rebecca Olsen
Beneficiary