I love the medical community.

Really, I have conflicting feelings. Obviously, they did wonders for Bennett and I...we wouldn't be here without them. Bennett was supposed to get a Synagis shot today. He has been getting one once per month since he left the hospital to protect him from RSV. Preemies are at especially high risk for this dangerous respiratory disease and the shots are common practice. The first one we were supposed to get at home was not set up properly and we ended up having to have it done at the doctor's office at the last minute. The way the insurance company wants it done is as follows: we call and the shot is delivered via UPS to our house. It must be refrigerated immediately. Then the home health nurse is supposed to set up an appointment to give the shot at our house. I'm really not sure how this saves money, but whatever. Anyway, the first month this was screwed up on the home health side, it went fine last month, and we set up the appointment for this month last month. Then the nurse calls Bernie and tells him that she can't come today and reschedules for Wednesday. This isn't a huge deal in most cases, but we are going on vacation next month. The last shot will have to be early and now the window between them is even shorter. I am going to make sure this is OK at Bennett's MD appointment tomorrow.

Did I mention the series of shots costs $1400?

I won't go into great detail about how SHITTY the oxygen company was to deal with. We sat on hold for hours and got horrible service. Not to mention the fact that they are billing our insurance company over $200 per day (should have been a monthly charge) and they are just paying it! Now wonder insurance costs are rising. We need to call the insurance and tip them off because we tried to get the oxygen company to deal with it, but they haven't.

I might as well just finish my little rant here with how much this whole ordeal has cost. I know there is probably some curiosity about it. The grand total is somewhere in the $400,000 range. This includes:

$12,000 for a helicopter ride
$30,000+ for my medical care
$2200 per day for Bennett's MD visits while in the Level 3 NICU
$250,000 for his hospital stay
and thousands more in mich. xrays, meds, labs, etc.

I do not know what someone without insurance would have done. It easily would have wiped us out. But luckily we have really good insurance and our total out-of-pocket has been about $1000. The pile of insurance statements is a bit overwhelming.

SCARY!

Anyway, I will be done with my rant now. It's hard to understand the charges for some of this crap.

We have otherwise been doing well around here. Bennett is becoming more and more social. He smiles frequently and maintains good social eye contact. We need to get him more tummy time so his head lifts are stronger. I am waiting not-so-patiently for a good belly laugh from him.

I am going to be discussing formula supplementation with the MD tomorrow. Up until now, I have been pumping and he has been getting breast milk exclusively. My relationship with the pump has been deteriorating for a while now and I am ready to give it up. I feel good about having gotten this far. I was hoping to be done by the time we go on vacation next month. I might try to lessen the pumping sessions for a bit so he can still get mostly breast milk for awhile. We will see. I feel like I miss a lot of time with him because of the dreaded pump. But I'm sure there will be guilt if I stop. It's a no-win situation.

I've been lax about posting due to the influx of guests we've had over the past ten days. Bernie's parents were here for almost a week. We laid low a lot of the time, but did fit in a really good dinner in downtown Denver. They were having a restaurant week. For $52.80 a couple could eat a full course meal (5280 being Denver's elevation). Our meal was yummy and would have normally cost $50 per person, so it was a good deal. Jackie and I did some shopping and big Bernie cooked us a few meals. The Bernie's also created a fenced off vegetable garden separated from my flowers. I intend to make good use of it this summer.

The weather here continues to be mostly warm and mild. We have had a number of days in the 60's recently. My flowers started to come up about a month ago...I just hope they don't get zapped by any sudden cold.

The day Bernie's parents left, Bernie went up to the ski hill to meet up with some friends. He stayed three nights and had a great time. He came home with a pretty ugly bruise on his leg. My mom flew down the next day. I don't know if she put Bennett down for more than 15 minutes the entire time she was here. He even slept on her a lot of the time. I got to sleep a great deal which felt wonderful. She insisted on getting up almost every time. And she cooked. Three different kinds of cookies, pumpkin gingersnap tart, and chicken enchiladas. I think I will eat some for dinner.

Sorry about the flood of new photos on Flicker, but we took a bunch over the past 10 days.

Back to reality tomorrow. Bernie's back at work and mommy and Bennett are on their own again.

We had our pictures taken yesterday at JC Penny. They were not great, but there were a few good ones. Hopefully when they are posted online people will be able to see them. They would have turned out better if the lady had been running on time. Our appointment was for 11. We fed Bennett at 10 and he was smiley and in a good mood between 11 and 11:30. The session didn't even start until 11:30 and by the middle we had a crabby non-smiling baby on our hands. That will teach me to make the first appointment of the day.

Finally getting some sleep again...

Bernie was on his day shifts this past week. I try to let him sleep as much as possible, which equals not much sleep for me. However, Bennett is sleeping for longer periods of time at night...as long as he isn't battling his gas.

The awesome news we have is that Bennett is off of his oxygen! The doctor told me to take him off of it last week. I was paranoid all weekend that he wasn't getting enough, but he was in the mid 90's at the MD's office today. This is the most exciting development in our lives in a long time. I can actually carry him around the house on a whim! I don't have to switch tanks! I can use the mei tei carrier I bought! Hooray! There are pictures posted. He's awfully cute without any crap taped to his face.

Speaking of crap, Bennett didn't poop for three days. We had a blow out and repeated blow outs over the past couple of days. Fun times! Poop everywhere.

Grandma and Grandpa Meier are visiting this week. It has been nice to have Grandma feed him sometimes and give us a little extra sleep in the mornings. Bernie and his dad have been busy building me a garden for summer vegetable planting. Bennett is snuggling with Grandma as we speak. Just wait until my mom gets here this weekend...I won't get a cuddle in edge-wise.

Welcome to Ava Michelle! And congrats to Kristen and Phil. I really hope we get to meet her before she's marrying Bennett in 25 years.