RSV

I'm too tired to post tonight.  Hailey was up again last night.  Finally at 3:30 this morning - I brought her downstairs to the couch.  Pete had to work so at least one of us should be able to sleep. 

I brought the girls to the doctor today.  Hailey was suppose to have an appt for a preop for her surgery on Dec 1st.  That's not going to happen now because they are sick.  When I brought them to the doctor 2 weeks ago - Emily had an ear infection, Hannah & Hailey both had a sinus infection.  We opted (with the doctors advice) to treat only Emily.  The other 2 still had pending c-diff tests.  The tests needed to come back negative in order for them to be on antibiotics for the sinus infections. 

The tests did come back negative.  But I talked with their doc and we decided to go the 'wait and see' approach.  If they got worse - I would bring them back and she would prescribe the antibiotics.  Well they didn't get worse...until the cough started a couple of days ago. 

To a mom of a full term baby - a cough is probably just a cough.  It means a child has a cold and it'll run it's course.  To a mom of micro preemies - a cough makes her heart skip a beat.  My heart was skipping.  They've never had this cough before.  And it wasn't croup.  And it wasn't the normal course for their sinus infections.  I know what the 'normal course' is because they've had at least 12 sinus infections between the 3 of them this year alone.  The cough is what concerned me.  So at the doctor today - she checked out Hannah & Hailey and sure enough - they have RSV. 

This is the virus that scared the shit out of us when they were infants.  This is the virus that the insurance company pays $13,000 PER VACCINE to prevent.  The girls received this vaccine their 1st RSV season.  We were denied the following RSV season (same as flu season) due to the fact that the girls had no other complications other than being micro preemies.  So we had them on LOCK DOWN.  No visitors, no trips, obsessive hand washing......the list goes on.  This lasted until they were 2.  Age 2 was the 'golden' age when we could release them from their bubble. We avoided the virus until now. 

Luckily - they are older and their immune systems are stronger.  But I'm giving them their bubbles back for xmas.  And xmas is coming early. 

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/rsv.html