We are all alive.

Last week I had an emergency C-Section to our 25 week old baby girl on August 12, 2021. Baby Helena Aurelia Zelda Brorstrom-Gerhard is just 1 lb. 12 oz and yet full of life and an incredible strength and strong will. She was born in record time within literally just 7-8 minutes of her cord coming out. Luckily I was already in the hospital and they had just finished giving me all the interventions they give to people on bedrest over the last few days. Helena came out crying and they were able to remove her ventilator within the first day of her life.

She is literally the most wonderful and precious little thing who just could not wait to join the peak season of Summer, although she was not expected until November 20th. Right now, she is so new and so small, but so far tests have been going well. We are fully aware how long and hard this path of being witness to her growing process is and we are very emotional and overall, so so so grateful and hopeful. It's hard to describe or write this out, but she is just everything to me.

Life is so precious and the love you all hold for us was the ball of light that I held onto and filled my heart with peace in the days leading up to her delivery. The love we all share kept me extremely strong and calm and I literally don't know how I would have survived this week without thoughts of you all and the incredible love between Sam and I.

The SF hospital she was born in is CPMC, a newer campus, with an extraordinary NICU unit. Because it’s a newer campus, they do not have housing for the parents of the premature babies. She will need to be in the hospital 3-4 months. As we juggle getting discharged from the hospital, things are extremely complicated with COVID and housing. The team of doctors and nurses care for her around the clock. It is critical that we live as close as possible to help get her all my breast milk, touching time and our love and devotion. Outcomes for such small babies is greatly improved by having the parents be hands-on every day. Due to COVID, we are seeking a place without roommates to keep her risk of ANY infection low. We need a furnished space and low to little stairs as I underwent a fully sedated cesarean delivery. (Just so you know, I woke up from the surgery as a stand up comic, and told jokes for an hour and a half).

We are asking for help with not only finding and funding housing, but also the additional expenses like bridge tolls, gas, pumping machines, parking, food, and missing the peak season of both of our jobs. We also have rent to pay in Sonoma County and the lease on the farmland. Since I am a small scale farmer I have lots of expenses to keep the operation going so that I can return to work one day. The biggest of the farm expenses is the new well we are planning on drilling for which I already paid for the permit and are waiting on installation. Timing is pretty wild financially for us right now.

As a farmer though, I couldn't help but think how I specialize in starting very small plants and working with a microbudget. Any help with our sudden emergency is so appreciated and we WILL find a way to make it work.

Full Bloom is a well-oiled machine and will continue to run under the care of many helping hands and the amazing new lead farmer, Miss Sophie. The farm stand will continue to be our main source of income and we will continue to offer the CSA, and deliveries to florists. Weddings have free lancers hired out to complete them. Keeping the business going is important, so please don't be shy about filling your home with blooms from all our months of hard work leading up to the field reaching FULL BLOOM.

We are going to be there for you baby. All of us!

Sunray, golden moon jelly, lung medicine, happy, brother of the stream, spear courageous.