ERINA & SAHUNA'S BABY MEDICAL & REMEDIATION FUND

Hello! We are starting this fund to help our dear friends Erina and Sahuna (aka Craig Kohland). A few days ago, Erina's water broke at 23 weeks and is now living at the hospital for the next months and under a protocol that is allowing the baby to continue to gestate. All of this, during a time when they had to move out of their home to treat toxic mold via full remediation. All funds will be deposited directly into Erina & Sahuna's bank account and your support is greatly appreciated!

 

Here is a breakdown of where funds will be allocated:

1. Out-of-pocket Medical expenses for Erina and Arna will total between $15,000 and $22,000 depending on if Arna is discharged in 2021 or 2022. His "due date" was January 9th and often babies need to stay in the NICU until or slightly later than their due date to ensure adequate development. If he needs to stay in the NICU into 2022 we will hit our yearly out-of-pocket maximum within days.
2. Accommodations during Arna's stay at UC Davis Medical Center: at least $5500
3. Dog/Cat sitters & House Sitters for 3.5 months: at least $7000
4. Gas for Sahuna to go back and forth from home: at least $2000
5. Not to mention the unexpected $30,000 we spent on the mold remediation project.

 

Other ways to support and to be in contact:

1. Follow Erina and baby's Arna Sol's journey on Erina's FB page.

2. Gifts, cards, and artwork can be sent to 
Erina Love
Kiwanis House at UC Davis Medical Center
RV Spot #3

2875 50th St
Sacramento, CA 95817

3. Send links to supportive music, songs, meditations, mantras, etc. 

4.  Reach out to Erina if you want to help with the meal train either making food or driving it to Sacramento.

 

The following is a message written by Erina explaining the whole situation in great detail:

 

"The words of Alexa Sunshine Rose are my guiding mantra at this moment:

'I release control, and surrender to the flow of love that will heal me.'

 

Thank you for considering supporting us during this incredibly challenging moment. The absolute truth is that we couldn’t do this, in a good way, without the help and active support of our friends, family, and community.

 

Sahuna and I have been praying to expand our family for years and have felt the spirit of this baby directing us in the process. He has been so present in our lives, influencing our decisions and way of relating. He has already brought many tremendous blessings to our life. We were thrilled when conception came so easily and smoothly and looked forward to a healthy gestation leading to a beautiful home birth.

 

Our summer plans were first interrupted when we discovered toxic mold in our house. Dealing with this problem required months of research, consultations, inspections, tests, and getting contractor bids, before being able to act. All of this was ramping up as fires started consuming hundreds of thousands of acres in our region, producing incredibly harmful air quality. With hazardous smoke outside and mold inside, not to mention the spread of the Delta variant being rampant in our county, things started getting quite stressful.

 

We persevered, however, and were finally able to create a plan for dealing with the mold remediation that began with us starting to clean (using an extensive mold cleaning protocol), pack, and move every last item out of our house.

 

We were in the middle of this 3-week long process when on the night of Sept. 13th, my water broke. I was lying in bed, looking at my phone and about to go to sleep. I was 23 weeks and 2 days according to my gestation calendar. Sahuna rushed me to the Emergency Room at Sierra Nevada Medical Center in Grass Valley, where I was told that I would be transferred to another hospital that could provide a higher level of prenatal/labor and delivery care.

 

Around 11 pm, I was transferred 1.5 hours away to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, CA where they have a high-risk pregnancy care unit as well as a high-level NICU. The first 48 hours were a blur of frequent monitoring of me and the baby and receiving various medications to prevent infection and help relax my uterus. I have read that when the membranes rupture prematurely, 95% of women end up going into labor within the first 48 hours, so it was been a huge blessing that I have made it past that point.

 

As of 9/17, I’m at day 4 past rupture and the baby has maintained very healthy heart rhythms and movement. My cervix is closed, I do not have contractions, and there has been no sign of infection. The goal at this point is to remain pregnant as close to full-term as possible and to not get an infection. I have been put in touch with many women who have gone through this and it seems that there is no way to know, but that all timing is possible.

 

Some women are able to carry the pregnancy for a couple more weeks, some carry to full term. Our vision, of course, is that I can gestate the baby to full term without complications. The longer the baby stays in utero, the less time he will have to spend in NICU. This means me living in a hospital room as long as it takes, which if I get to full term, means living here for 3 months. This is obviously not the hope I had for my 3rd trimester, not to mention, it is all made harder by the incredibly strict COVID protocols.

 

The first few days were made very stressful with the need to finish clearing the house for the next phase of remediation. We were blessed with a group of friends who came and helped finish the move-out job. However, the task of managing the overall project will continue through October. During this, Sahuna is needing to take over communications and management of the various contractors.

 

Additionally, we are needing to rely on friends and extra hired help to take care of our labradoodle, Odie, and our two Bengal cats, Mapacho and Coca. We cannot have pet sitters come to stay until the house is put back together.

 

Consequently, 2021 is turning out to be the most expensive and logistically frustrating year we have ever experienced. We already had major expenses arise this year for Sahuna’s surgical hernia repair and major dental work. Now with the mold remediation and the bills that will inevitably accumulate with my hospitalization and medical care for the baby.

 

We are humbled by the need to ask for financial support from friends, family, community, and strangers. I am acutely aware of the near-constant fundraisers that are shared these days, all for very worthy reasons; so this is me eating a really big piece of humble pie to be throwing our hat in the ring of worthy causes.

 

We are so grateful to our community for gifting us just what they can, it all is so helpful during this tremendously challenging moment. Thank you for your support and for holding us in your hearts! Please continue to pray for our vision of bringing home a strong, healthy, and happy baby boy!"

 

The Loves

Erina, Sahuna, Arna Sol Odie, Coca, and Mapacho