Kaitlin Stevens and Baby Aurelia

My sister Kaitlin is going through a difficult pregnancy and could use some financial help. Her baby girl has an omphalocele: a condition where some of the abdominal organs are outside of the body. This is fixable through surgery after birth, but the process is long and prone to complications. So far the baby seems to be doing pretty well, although she’s very small and, typical for omphalocele cases, her lung capacity is below normal (30% at 25 weeks).

If all goes well and there’s no early labor, Katie will deliver via C-section on July 23, after which the baby will require a 3-6 month NICU stay as well as home care medical needs (potentially oxygen or a feeding tube) for some time after that. Eventually the doctors will correct her condition surgically.

Insurance will cover some but not nearly all of this (Katie has already spent $4000). She will probably miss a lot of work during this time, and between that and other expenses (daycare, hospital parking, mortgage and car payments, among other things), money will be very tight. Please donate if you can!

Katie keeps everyone updated about her progress at CaringBridge: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kaitlinstevens/journal