Since December 3rd, the day their daughter was born prematurely, every day counts for the Casselman family.
“She weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces,” Ceaira Casselman, mother said. “She was only 13 inches long.”
The Redmond mother was having complications with her pregnancy at 22 weeks, and at 25 weeks, she started bleeding and cramping.
That cramping turned out to be contractions, leading to an emergency C-section; a surgery Casselman says was “probably the worst thing” she has ever gone through.
“Apparently I was basically in full-blown labor,” Casselman said.
Casselman’s first-born, Mia Joy, was born 15 weeks early.
The “micro-preemie,” as doctors call her, was not supposed to be due until March 18th and she will stay at St. Charles in Bend until then.
“You know babies aren’t supposed to be born that early,” Casselman said. “They have to watch her, do lots of tests, lots of monitoring, basically help her grow outside the womb now since she’s not growing inside.”
Mia’s heart and lungs are the biggest issues right now and three months of care is expensive.
Making matters more difficult, the Casselmans are a single-income family.
“If I were to stay in the hospital for just one night, think of the bill you get for that or a surgery. Then you have to add the anesthesia and the medication and just all the hospital stuff that goes into it,” Casselman said. “Put your baby in there for three and a half months, I can only imagine what the bill is going to look like I guess you can say.”
A family friend has set up a GoFundMe for the family with over $4,000 raised so far, but it is not just those donations the Casselmans are grateful for.
“Every day you just have to be so thankful that you get an extra day with her,” Casselman said.
