The Scariest Three Letters

Nothing scares a mama of a premature baby more than three little letters, RSV. During LW's first winter we kept him very isolated. Isolated from winter germs and germy strangers anxious to touch his adorable face. We kept him from Walmart, stores and church. We avoided family gatherings and we asked visitors to spray themselves in disinfectant before entering our house.  We pulled Addison out of preschool and would not let her get involved in any activities where she might share other kid germs with her baby brother. If we did need to make an outing he was hidden against my chest in my Ergo pack and wrapped securely in a blanket. We scheduled to the day, monthly shots to prevent RSV. At the tune of $2,200 per shot - once a month for six months -  the shots were very important to his health, to his life. RSV is a severe respiratory illness and immature, diseased lungs need to avoid at all costs coming down with RSV. It would have easily landed him in the the ICU, it would have seriously threatened his life. The RSV precautions and medication worked. As hard as those months were, he never got sick.

This winter his lungs are healed. He is strong and healthy. None of the dreaded isolation from the world or spending a small fortune on preventative medication. The threat on his life isn't there if he happened to catch RSV. Honestly, RSV never even crossed my mind. Funny thing, as last year it haunted me constantly.

LW (as he is called more and more!) has been sick for weeks, six to be exact. It started as a cold and in the past two weeks had turned into a terrible illness. High fevers and a horrible cough. He has been unable to sleep, eat or drink. He could barley lift his head. He spent 24 hours a day on my lap. After a couple days of a fever over 103 degrees and one night of absolute lethargy and him refusing to drink even a single drop of liquid, Daddy decided it was time he was seen in the clinic. (Having a PA for a Daddy has its pros and cons! In our home you have to either have a bone exposed or brain matter oozing from your nose before it's time to take you in! Love you babe!) He was swabbed for influenza and eeeekkkk, RSV. He had an ear infection and was prescribed a stronger antibiotic (the first round of antibiotics we tried the previous week did not work). His doctor recommended that if he did not start accepting liquids by the end of the day that he be hospitalized in Great Falls to get IV fluids in him. He did not have influenza like we suspected, but he did have RSV. Daddy and I were determined to keep him out of the hospital. We started forcing him to take liquids by using a eye dropper. A 1/2 teaspoon at a time we worked to get him hydrated.

How he looked for many days.

We avoided the hospital. Thank goodness. By the following day the antibiotics must have kicked in. His fever dropped and he was accepting water from a cup. He even sat upright, picked on Kya and giggled. My boy was coming back.

Landon and I have been sleeping upright on the couch together for two weeks now. He starts coughing so hard when he is laying in his crib he is unable to sleep. Although he was feeling much better yesterday he was still up a lot of the night coughing. As much as I am praying for sleep and a well-baby, I am soaking up all the snuggles and cuddles. I love nothing more than him snuggling up to the crook of my neck, feeling him breath and watching him at peace, sleeping.