mhalebusiness: A Change in Plans as Miriam Comes Home

Yesterday was full of surprises.

Katy was generous enough that she had stayed at our house and watched Cecilia for Tuesday and Wednesday - our first two days at the hospital. I came back home early on Thursday to watch Cecilia for a few hours before another friend could take over. During my shift - I noticed Cecilia sneeze up some dis-colored mucus, so I talked to Carly and decided to take her in to the doc to have it checked. Carly had also been tipped off by a nurse to have me request a test for RSV. Long story short - the doc was able to diagnose Cecilia with a sinus infection - and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

Now RSV isn't anything too special. Just a virus that is very contagious, very common, and has the symptoms of a bad cold. Its not a big deal for adults and children - but RSV is the #1 reason for hospitalization in infants under 1 yr old, and it is life-threatening for infants and geriatrics, potentially causing pneumonia and airway compromise.

In other words, its pretty serious for an infant to get RSV.

By this point, Cecilia had been to the hopital 3 times to visit - so Carly had to tell the nurses, who ended up testing the entire maternity ward for the virus and giving all the babies a (very expensive) shot to boost their immunity to the virus.

But for us, Cecilia's RSV caused us some problems. The pediatrician told me that Cecilia and Miriam would have to live in different houses for the next 3 weeks! After talking with Carly, we decided that that wasn't even feasible for us. So we started talking with the hospital staff and our pediatrician - and developed a new plan. To completely shut off one side of our house from the other. Carly and Miriam would be on the "clean" side, which consisted of the master suite - bedroom, bathroom and closet. Meanwhile, Cecila and I would reside on the "infected" side. Cecilia would be contagious for 8 days, so our separation was at least that long. Maybe longer - and we would be banking on a deep clean of the infected side of the house to eradicate the virus from all surfaces, as it is contagious in that vector for up to 3 wks. The only reason that we open the door between is to quickly pass things like food. People going back and forth require a full shower, new set of clothes, and a face mask to get into the "clean" side.

On Thursday evening, I came back to the house and stayed with Cecilia. Katy had called up and offered, so she came back for Friday and Saturday to help out again. On Friday, Great-Grandma Wanninger, Aunt Connie, and Uncle Bruce came to visit Carly, Miriam, and I at the hospital, which was nice. They we on vacation at Daytona, so the visit worked out well. The rest of the day Friday I spent deep-cleaning the master suite to be the "clean" side. On Friday evening, after Cecilia was asleep, we bundled up Miriam and headed home.

Pretty crazy, huh? Oh - our house is now very well stocked with hand sanitizers, bleach wipes, and aerosol cleaners. Cecilia calls the hand sanitizer lotion!

My Mom and yonger bro, Stephen, are coming down from OH to just be here with us for a bit - be that extra set of hands when needed, the other person to talk to, all that.

Anyway, the separation is going well so far - everyone is healthy, which is the purpose of all this. That being said, Carly's still taking it kind of hard - just not what you expect when you're bringing a little one home from the hospital, you know? I think the hardest part for her is just not being able to have Cecilia there to get to know Miriam...

So if you have a chance, give Carly a call over the next week. I'm sure she would love to hear from you and to welcome the chance to talk. And please pray for us - especially that everyone stays healthy!