Important Request

Ahhhh, FALL.  What an amazing season.  The leaves begin to change colors, the air gets crisp and cool, we get options for pumpkin flavored everything and of course, it's college football season.  It's great! The negative side of the Fall season?  The FLU and COLDS.  Yuck.

Guess what?  The common cold for an adult is not fun and can knock you down for a few days, but for a preemie it can be catastrophic.  My babies that are breathing so well right now could have to get back on a ventilator and start over if they were to contract some cold germs from an infected adult.  And the flu????  I shudder to think what would happen to them if they got any flu germs.

Cold and flu germs are just one area of concern about the babies, their health and their immune systems. The babies are underdeveloped due to their prematurity and their immune systems are immature. Thomas and I are dedicated to doing whatever we can to protect them and keep them safe from germs and illness.  While they are in the NICU, Thomas, our nurses and I can keep people away that are sick or even may be sick.  If we hear a sniffle, hoarse voice, even the hint of any sort of illness, we can turn people away.  Hopefully we are able to do this in a nice way that our friends and family can understand, but ultimately we have the say so.

We are lucky enough to have lots of offers for people to come over and help us with the boys once they are discharged from the NICU and are finally at home. I'm sure we'll also get a lot of visitors and requests for a visit from people that just want to see the babies!  

Here's the important request: FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS OR PLANS TO COME OVER TO VISIT/HELP WITH OUR BOYS, PLEASE GET A FLU SHOT!!!!  I cannot stress enough how important this is.

I am intentionally writing about this in advance of when the boys get to come home so that you will have time to call your doctor or visit a minute clinic to get your flu shot taken care of.  While you're there, please get the PERTUSSIS vaccine.  Pertussis is whooping cough and it's highly recommended that anyone that will be around the babies get vaccinated for this as well.

Do not be surprised if Thomas and I ask you about your flu shot and pertussis vaccine before scheduling any visits or even on our front door step.  We are very serious about this and want to make sure that our babies stay healthy!  We hope you can understand.  Please know that we are not intentionally trying to hurt feelings or keep well-intentioned family and friends from the boys but want to make sure that we are effectively protecting them.

Here's a letter I got from an online triplet group to which I belong. We may not have all the same rules at our house (TBD), but I am including this to show what other NICU parents say to their visitors and to drive home the importance of this request. Thanks!
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Dear Family & Friends, 

As we prepare for the trio's discharge from the hospital we wanted to send out an email to friends and family regarding visiting. We know that everyone wants to see them but because they are preemies, we need to set some parameters. I know not everyone will be happy with these requests but as parents we have to do what is best for the babies. 

The main thing is that because of their gestational age they are susceptible to RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, this is a mild common cold in adults and school aged children that can require hospitalization for newborns, especially preemies. As such we met with the neonatalogist who provided us with some ground rules for visiting during the cold and flu season. 

1. Please don't visit if you have a cold, virus or infection, fever, diarrhea, cold sore or fever blister, feel just plain lousy or run down, or have been exposed to someone else who is sick recently (includes sick spouses).

2. Anyone that has been sick must be symptom free, no sore throats, fever, coughing or sneezing, for 7 days prior to visiting. 

3. Everyone visiting should have had the flu shot. Anyone that is staying overnight with us or helping to care for the babies must have had the whooping cough/pertussis vaccine booster. 

4. Please wash your hands upon entering the house and use hand sanitizer prior to touching the babies each time, even if you haven't touched anything else in the meantime.  

5. Please keep your face a few feet away from the babies. Germs spread through the air when people speak too closely to them.  

6. Please refrain from touching the babies, especially no kissing the babies faces or hands. No one besides parents and the grandparents will be holding the babies until at least their due date. This may change to an even later date depending on if the babies come home on any sort of monitor.  

7. The babies will not be able to meet other children until cold, flu and RSV season is over, late April. We also have to limit the number of visitors per day so please contact me in advance. I would suggest no more than 2 or 3 adults at a time.  

There may be additional rules as the babies are discharged. We hate that we have to be so strict but we just love them so much and know that you won't mind because you all love them even if you haven't met them :)