I love the fall...

But our babies were born at the wrong time of year. It's not because it's football season and I'll likely miss every game this year. It's not because the days are getting shorter and the weather less hospitable. It's because it's prime time for flu and RSV; in Oklahoma RSV season is from November to April, yay. Any respiratory disease can be more severe in our premature babies with their under-developed lungs, but RSV in particular can be devastating. It's a virus that affects almost all babies by 2 years of age, in adults it is very mild and may only seem like a runny nose or mild cough. It wreaks havoc on the lungs of babies, but in particular those of premature infants. It can necessitate hospitalization, cause lifelong asthma, and even death. Even though I'm dying to get out of the house, and desperately want to show off my babies to everyone I work with and all my friends, we've been cautioned by our pediatrician and the NICU staff to keep them at home. When we go to the pediatrician we don't wait in the lobby, he has us go straight to his office until an exam room opens up. And he doesn't want to see us until the babies' 2 month well-check unless there is a problem; there is just too much flu and illness at his office. The babies will get an extra "vaccine" for RSV, it doesn't prevent illness but can reduce the severity of symptoms. You have to apply to have insurance cover it, as it is $1200 per injection and each baby gets a series of 6. Our pediatrician also requested, and insurance will cover, a nurse to come to the house to give the shots.

So we ask that anyone that visits our babies not have any symptoms of a cough, sniffles, and definitely no recent fever. We also ask that anyone with young children not visit if the kids have had any kind of respiratory symptoms, fever, etc. Sean and I and our immediate families have all gotten flu shots, the first time ever for me. We also ask that even if you have been the picture of health, you wash your hands as soon as you come in our house. And we have bottles of Germ-X everywhere should you feel the need to decontaminate during your visit. In the meantime, we'll be keeping our munchkins at home, away from church, work, grocery stores, and anywhere where there are lots of people and potential transmission of disease. Hopefully we'll make it through the season without too many issues.

Some pics from our recent visit from Sean's Aunt Sharon and cousin Tamara...

Evan

Ryan

Collin