Pertussis, Germs, Crowds and Babies

A long time ago, in a far away land, ( 2005) we brought home an infant that was not even 5 pounds. For three months before we scrubbed up to our elbows and hands and our face. Under our fingernails and then used avaguard. The hand washing was repeated every time we went in or out of our "pod." The same scrubbing routine was done every time we went to see our baby.

Of course the hand washing slowed down at home but we stepped up in every department. We asked sick people to stay away. We stayed out of crowded places. We didn't take our kid to walmart. We were asked to stay away from church for the duration of RSV season. We did our best.

A year after Tyler came home from the hospital we were doing the same routine of hand washing, running away from germs etc. Kayden had gotten a kidney and we needed to keep him safe. Just as we were getting over the obsessive stuff, Noah got a new heart. Back to the old routine.

I am ALL for the above routine. I am ALL for keeping Tyler, Noah and Kayden as health as can be. Those boys need it. With 2 being immune suppressant and one being immune compromised we can't exactly shove them in a room with sick people and hope for the best. Instead we do certain things to keep them safe.

During the last year in our little family we have added 2 babies who are now a year and 2 little babies 6 months and 4 months. Though non have underlying medical conditions they are still little and can't fight the fight against some germs. So we do what we can to keep them safe.

1. Pertussis : This is also known as whooping cough. It can kill babies. It can KILL BABIES. I have one of those... a BABY. It is easy to spread and it spreads fast. Though it can be harmless to most people, a young adult can easily just feel crummy, cough a few times and give it to a sweet mom sitting close by who then hugs, nurses and passes it to this baby. IT CAN KILL BABIES. This mom is not taking any chances. We have been asked to be excused for few weeks till the pertussis slows down in our area. PLEASE VACCINATE, stay home if you are sick.
2. Germs: Everyone has them, everyone shares them. To keep them to a minimum try and wash your hands. In fact, every time you touch your face you should wash your hands. Hard to do since the average person touches their face every 1-2 minutes. So to try and keep the germs to yourself, try staying home when you are sick. Even if you want to go to the grocery store.. refrain. Ask someone else. This will help stop the spreading of the gross germs
3. Stay out of crowds if you are sick. Don't walk around the mall, don't go to church, don't go to your neighbors house. Stay home. some of the above kids could DIE because you chose to go out.
4. BABIES : leave the poor things alone. Don't touch them. Just look. Unless you wash your hands don't even think about it. AND when you find you have something like Pertussis, inform your neighbors, call them. Let them know. They have a right to know. Pertussis is scary stuff.

So, if you don't see us come out of our house without a hazmat suit this winter please note the above 4 points. Don't go to church sick so we can come. Don't go to the grocery store sick so we can go and most of all BE INFORMED and inform us when we have the possibility of getting something that might kill our children.