18 Months, Sickness Free!

I cannot believe we made it! Our girly has officially lived for 18 months sickness free! Not a sniffle, rash, cough in sight! After hearing from the respirologist the scary statistic that about 50% of preemies with bronchopulmonary dysplasia end up rehospitalized in the first 12 months, I never would have believed that we were going to make it all the way to 18!

How did we do it? Many many gallons of Purell later (they really should be a post sponsor.. pretty please?), months and months of super strict isolation tactics, having the freedom for one of us to stay home with V and a solid dose of luck!

Here is a peek into the cold busting tricks we used (the things that OCD dreams are made of...):

• While in the NICU, we would watch staff like hawks, making sure they always disinfect their hands before touching the isolette or V. We also made sure that those who seemed sick wore masks. (Yes, unfortunately some of these practices did not seem to be obvious to certain staff...)
• Every time anyone entered our house, including ourselves, the very first stop was the sink for a thorough washing of the hands.
• Each bag and purse has multiple containers of Purell.
• No jewelry or watch wearing outside of the house (those things pick up lots of gross stuff!)
• No one was allowed in contact with V after they had been sick until 2 weeks of being symptom-free
• All groceries had their own shelf in the fridge or a place in the pantry that they hung out for 48 hours after having been bought (have you SEEN how people open mouth cough on everything at the grocery store?! Ugggghhhh)
• We visit public places first thing in the morning, including the Biodome where there is literally no one until 1 hour post opening!
• Early visits are also our approach to doctor visits and physio. Usually cleaning crew go by in the evenings after clinic hours so all the surfaces should theoretically be wiped clean.
• If a coworker is sick, I wear a mask to remind myself not to touch my face and to constantly wash my hands (this is easier because I work in a hospital).
• We tried to teach ourselves just generally not to touch our faces, since that is how many germs are spread!

Now I can hear some (probably non preemie parents - yes yes, the millions of non preemie parents who read this blog) people saying that V needs to be building up her immunity and that getting sick is important. Yes. I hear you. Except for the fact that her development is a little borderline and I'm pretty sure that a hospital stay would not be helpful in developing her teeny muscles. Plus, our pediatric respirologist shared with us that the longer she can go without getting sick the better, because the larger she gets, the more healthy lung tissue she has created and the less likely it is going to overwhelm her. And at a wee 18 lbs, she is not exactly a heavyweight unfortunately. Also, apparently getting a lung infection causes inflammation that could put V at higher risk for chronic lung problems in the future. She has tons of time to catch all the lovely childhood diseases and build her immune system. For now, we're concentrating on building her lungs!

The one issue with her having never been sick is that we have no idea how she will respond when she finally does. Which encourages us to continue is our cycle of crazy isolation... because obviously it has been working for us... We are starting to wonder though, when will it be safe to stop all this?

xo
C

Reading in the NICU

To put this post in context, I first have to specify that my husband and I spend an inordinate amount of time at the hospital. My husband and I basically split the days in two, I would go in the morning to see our sweetheart, come home for supper, then we would both go in the evening and he would spend the night shift with her. I know this is an unusual set up, we just had a few scary nights at first when we were not there and my husband has a work schedule that allowed him quite a bit of flexibility during that time. We realize how very lucky we were in that respect! Living a 5 minute walk to the hospital was also extremely convenient because parking daily would have probably not been possible.

I spent from one to 4 hours in kangaroo care with my little bub everyday. I found after a while, that while she was sleeping, she did much better (from her O2 sats and heart rate monitoring at least) if I was otherwise distracted. When I had no distractions, I ended up spending all my time playing with her hair, or rubbing her back or stroking her arms... all things that I eventually found made her a little unstable.

We were not allowed to use our cell phones while we were in Kangaroo care at our hospital. As such, I could not distract myself with browsing the internet... I found that an even better solution was to read riveting novels. Immersing myself into another world kept my hands busy turning pages and my mind off the scary possibilities my sweetheart might be facing, it was win-win for both of us!

During our 77 days, I had time to read 2 books, both which were quite successful at keeping my mind off the NICU :

1) The Kite Runner

A great book that really transported away, the Kite Runner is about two boys who grow up in Kabul. I have to warn you there are a few difficult passages that are quite graphic about abuse (sexual and otherwise). Overall, it was very interesting to experience what it is like to have your seemingly quaint small town become completely disfigured by war.

2) A Cuckoo's Calling

 

J. K. Rowling's foray into adult litterature under a pseudonym. This book was great because it was a light read and a real whodunnit (aka great at keeping your mind off the many NICU unnecessary stressors). She keeps you guessing right until the end.

Although just from personal experience, I believe reading kept me in a calmer mindset, therefore less likely to fidget which could only have been beneficial to my sweetheart!

Xo

C