preemie-l Visitors, Taking Places after Discharge
Tracy Peters (0005386491@mcimail.com)
Tue, 11 Jun 96 09:04 EST
Thought I would post to the group since I've seen a couple of messages
from parents whose children are still in NICU re: what to expect when
the babies come home.
Our docs gave us some wonderful advice: It's your baby, be bold!!
It was suggested that we not take her a lot of places and that we limit
contact with people especially preschool age children. As the docs
put it, little kids can be coming down with something and not act sick
at all until they are running a fever of 104 ten minutes after they
walk out your front door. Not worth the risk. We were very lucky
that all of our friends were supportive (almost all had kids under
age 3 when Sara was born) and to this day, still ask us before they
bring their children over with colds - and Sara will be 3 in July!!!
I asked everyone to wash their hands as soon as they came in. I used
the doctors as my "excuse" for being paranoid. I told my family and
friends that preemies who have been on respirators are often much more
susceptible to colds and respiratory infections and that we wanted
to do all we could to make sure she didn't get a cold. My famous line
was, "I love Fairfax Hospital because they saved my little girl, but
not enough that I want to go back!!"
I did take Sara to the mall (though only during the day when it wasn't
very crowded). She was in her stroller with the canopy
up and I was very bold about telling people to not touch her and to
please move back. Believe me, people will understand when you very
matter of factly tell them that this baby weighed XXlbs and was XX
weeks early. Actually, instead of being offended, people feel good
to have even been in the presence of such a miracle.
I think having her hooked up to the apnea monitor scared people off
too. Oooh, what's wrong with that baby???? I actually loved my monitor,
at home, I knew that I would know if anything went wrong and when we
would be shopping it was like a security device. No one could snatch
her because if those wires came disconnected...oh boy the NOISE!!
Anyway, I don't know if it was luck or all of my caution but Sara was
19 months old (15 corrected) before she got a cold. And she's only
had 2 in her life.
I just remembered one other thing, I always carried her baby wipes
with me and if anyone did touch her hands I would wipe them off after
the person walked away, before she stuck them in her mouth. I also
used the wipes to wipe off the grocery cart when she was just sitting
up and holding on. Sounds nuts, but it worked.
Good luck.
Tracy
Mom to Sara, 25 weeks, 15 oz.