An update from Jana

December 28, 2008

We just couldn't escape it...


Joe (our 6 year old) has been sick since the day the twins were born. We have had him staying at his grandparents' house to avoid the twins getting sick, he would wear a mask and wash his hands excessively or just plain have to stay away from them. We did everything we could to avoid these babies getting sick, including ostracizing my mother from seeing them until she was well, and potentially making our 6 year old feel like we was less important than the new babies who have been sucking all the attention.

I started feeling a bit sick on the 26th, and so I too, was trying to stay away from them and not kiss them (as hard as that is!) as much as possible. Lily started to show signs that she may be getting sick on the 27th. We watched her and sure enough, she is now sick. We took her to the doctor, and the doctor advised that it could be the beginnings of RSV (baby bronchitis - they hospitalize infants for this), or possibly just a cold. We are hoping for the latter, and are taking care of her as best as we can. We monitor her breathing often and give her saline drops in her nose, then attack her (poor thing) with the bulb suctioner. She is so good about it, and I just feel terrible doing these things to my tiny little girl. But, I will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to keep her out of the hospital - I did it during my pregnancy ( to avoid them being premature), I can do it again.
Stephen is still healthy for now, just dealing with a clogged tear duct (very common for newborns). I feel that Lily and I have the same junk - lots of mucus in my throat and nose that doesn't want to budge! She does vomit occasionally after nursing (her whole meal comes up), and I feel so horrible for her - but am glad she is getting rid of the mucus. Hopefully soon we will see an improvement in her, and can take a sigh of relief. For now, we don't sleep much and are constantly terrified she will choke or gag while we nod off... we have contemplated getting an oxygen monitor that will ring when she pauses in her breathing or when her oxygen saturation is too low. Yes, we are paranoid - but this is our little girl we're talking about! We would do the same for Stephen, and are vigilantly trying to keep him from getting sick as well.
We didn't have any of these worries with our 6 year old - we simply enjoyed him. But then again, we didn't have a 6 year old around when he was born - we were germ-incubator free when he was a newborn! We'll make it through, I just am beginning to think it's going to be a very long road the first year - even though I am breastfeeding, I just can't possibly protect them from it all!
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