RSV season and lock down

January 24, 2012
Weights and Heights at the boys 6 month check up 2 month adjusted
Carter 13 lbs 7 oz  24 1/4 inches long
Easton 12 lbs 4 oz 23 1/4 inches long- feeding through a ng tube because of his bad reflux and not wanting to eat. :(

What is RSV??

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a very common virus that leads to mild, cold-like symptoms in adults and older healthy children. It can be more serious in young babies, especially to those in certain high-risk groups.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

RSV is the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most infants have had this infection by age 2. Outbreaks of RSV infections most often begin in the fall and run into the spring.
The infection can occur in people of all ages. The virus spreads through tiny droplets that go into the air when a sick person blows their nose, coughs, or sneezes.
You can catch RSV if:

• A person with RSV sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose near you
• You touch, kiss, or shake hands with someone who is infected by the virus
• You touch your nose, eyes, or mouth after you have touched something contamined by the virus, such as a toy or doorknob.

When you have a micro preemie with an extremely compromised immune system, you can't take any chances. In fact, our motto is "better safe than sorry". With both of the boys having chronic lung disease we are taking this very serious and have been on home isolation.
Isolation has to be one of the hardest things, emotionally, to go through when bringing a micro preemie home from the hospital. Not only are you handed your fragile baby, hooked up to oxygen and monitors, but they tell you "watch out for RSV! We don't want to see you back here!"
So our days consist of playing inside and going to doctor appointments. I can't wait for May to come so RSV season can be over and we can enjoy going to friends' houses and being part of the real world!

Update on the little ones:

Easton is my little fighter, he has so many thing going wrong right now and he still is a bundle of joy and does not complain too much! He is still not interested in eating which has been very stressful. He has a NG tube in his nose that he gets his milk through and he is still having choking/coughing fits. In the next couple weeks he will be getting a swallow study done to see whats going on in there and why all the problems. I pray this will give us some answers and little E will feel better and want to eat. On Monday we also got our first of many therapists to stop by the house. Her name was Stephanie and she is Easton's feeding therapist. She will come once a week and work with him on eating and much more. She will be with us for 3 years and I am sure we will become great friends. On Friday we have OT, PT (occupational therapy, physical therapy) and a vision therapist coming by to evaluate the boys and I am sure they all will become part of our family too! This Thursday Easton and Steven will be headed down to Oakland once again for another eye surgery. Easton's right eye still has a hemorrhage that is blocking his vision. We are praying this is his last eye surgery.

Carter is one happy litttle boy. When you kiss his chubby cheeks his face lights up with the cutest smile! In those moments my heart melts and all the hard times are totally worth it! Carter is having some reflux as well and not eating as much as he should but he has some extra rolls on him so I try not to stress too much! Little man is sleeping through the night and I even have to wake him up to eat in the morning. This week we go in for a head scan like an MRI to see if everything with his brain is developing like it should and the shunt is doing its job.

"Carter playing with mommy"