Little invisible bugs

Let's talk about germs.

With my first one hundred children, I didn't worry about the little invisible creatures.  Granted, I'm so old that the medical community had not yet started scaring parents into staying home until their child's wedding day.  And I was born even before we knew that we should wash our hands every time we use the restroom.  Somehow I survived.  Like my mother and her mother before me, I raised my babies without insisting that people wash their hands before holding them, I shook the hands of others during the winter and then fed my baby, I have never owned a grocery cart or restaurant table protector, I didn't stay barricaded in my home until the first birthday party, and I had never bought anti-bacterial hand soap until I took the four oldest children on a missions trip out of the country.

Three of my four boys were born on Mondays and were in church by Sunday.  Nobody told us that doing so would result in the contraction of horrendous, never-before-heard-of diseases.  I suppose this is why none of them knows how to clean his room.  And the first two girls, born on a Thursday and  Saturday, respectively, only missed one Sunday before making their church appearance.  The first of these two even spent that Sunday in the church nursery.  What was I supposed to do?  I was the interpreter scheduled for that week and there weren't all that many people who knew how to sign in my place.  And since no one told me that putting my almost  1 1/2 week old in the nursery was going to make her loud and dramatic, I did the only thing I could.  It's okay, we love her just the way she is.

It wasn't until I brought home a foster child, born 5 weeks early, weighing less than 5 pounds, that I took germs a little more seriously.  For the first time in my life, I asked people to wash their hands before holding my baby.  We made decisions about where to take her, staying out of crowded areas a little more.  I refused to be obsessive, but knowing that her prematurity made her a little more susceptible, we were careful.

And now I am very close to bringing home a 25 weeker.  He will be entering a crowded area as soon as we walk through our front door.  As a family, we are going to take our own measures to protect Victor at home.  We ask for your help beyond that.  We may choose not to attend certain events.  We may take him, but keep him and a family member sequestered in a low traffic area.  We may make other arrangements so that he can stay out of high traffic areas. We will ask you to wash your hands before you hold him.  His immune system is compromised and he needs time to grow and mature.  And once winter begins, and RSV season with it, we will still need to be careful.  If, at any time you know you are not feeling well and are with us, please just be honest and let us know.  This, too, shall pass.

Things are pretty much the same with Victor as they were yesterday.  He's doing great with his feedings but the NP wants to go slow, so he's still only getting 6 bottle feeds a day.  You know the requests; pray us home.