Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

As I see my kiddos grow and achieve new things, I often forget they were ever preemies. We have been so blessed to have made it through such a high-risk pregnancy. I love that besides the fact we have triplets, we think we have a very normal life. I jog with the kids, we go to the grocery store, we visit with family and friends, and Max and I even get out by ourselves about once a month.

In fact, at their sixth month check-up we found out Marcus and Jocelyn have secured a safe place on the growth curve. Jocelyn weighed in at 14 lbs, 6 oz, putting her in the 20% while my big boy Marcus weighed in at 16 lbs, 10 oz, putting him in the 30%! This means they get to come off the expensive high calorie formula. Our tiny peanut Mia is still TINY at only 13 lbs even. But, she has a killer growth curve (considering she was only 2 lbs when she was born) and often accomplishes things before her brother and sister.

Mia, first day of life

But sometimes when everything is going so well, you have to be reminded how special your circumstances are. We have been warned about the potential risks of RSV, a nasty virus that effects many infants. We have been repeatedly told that this virus hits preemies especially hard. The only way some families are able to avoid the complications RSV brings to preemies is to go on complete lockdown from late Fall to late Spring. We did not choose that option. Unfortunately, as healthy as our babies are, we were not immune to this virus.

Josie has now been to the Emergency Room twice due to RSV. She is coughing and wheezing and has a yucky lung infection called bronchiolitis. Luckily our children qualified to receive the Synagist shot which helps protects high risk infants from some of the more severe dangers of RSV. Although Josie is having to be closely monitored and receive special breathing treatments, she has not been hit as hard as some preemies with RSV. We will continue to give her Vick's spa treatments and torture her with lovely nasal and breathing treatments until she has fully recovered. Meanwhile, we will keep our fingers crossed that Mia and Marcus either remain healthy or only suffer minimal RSV symptoms.

It is times like this that I am so thankful for my children. I can't wait till everyone is healthy again but difficult times remind me how precious these children are. I also am very thankful for my mom for helping out with the kids and making our days much more manageable during this sick time.

I'm certain we will all be healthy again in no time and this will be a little blip in our memory book.

For more information on RSV, please click here

3 comments:

Meluch+3 said...

I'm so sorry your little one got sick. I hope she makes a quick recovery and that the other 2 stay healthy!
Mel

Stephanie said...

OUCH! RSV stinks! I hope she makes a quick recovery!

Clan Goodrich said...

Oh, no!!! I am so sorry. I pray the other two stay healthy. One sick baby is enough, but 3 is painful for everyone.