Synagis Shminagis

At long last, the final shot for this cold and flu season was administered to a sweet, chubby little leg, yesterday.

After 5 long months, and 5 painful shots, we are done until this coming November!! Yay!

RSV can be very dangerous for any baby, but for a premature baby it can leave a child hospitalized for weeks and months, and sometimes takes the life of the child.  These shots were made to help build immunity to the common cold.  Because babies born too soon are very likely to have been on some sort of ventilation, it leaves their lungs compromised and weak, making a virus you and I are able to fight, something that could be extremely dangerous.  Once every 28-32 days during the RSV season we took Marlo in for another dose of a most painful shot.  It was heartbreaking to have to do this, but it was necessary to her health.  I cried with her, every single time.  It will be something she will have again for the next RSV season which starts in November and ends in March.  Preemies born as early as Marlo was are usually approved to get these very expensive shots ( anywhere from $1500-$5500 depending on the size of the child) for their first two years of life.  If the child were to get RSV, the severity would be much less than it would have been had they not received the dose.

Having a preemie leaves us with ongoing worries.  This is just one of them.  We watch closely for any developmental delays that could arise.  So far, we are thankful that there appear to be none of concern.

She is behaving like a 6-7 month old as she should be in most everything.  Since she will be 10 month old next week, and was 3 months early she shows signs of being right on track leaving us feeling confident things are moving in the right direction.  There are days we have to remind ourselves that she should be behaving like she is 3 months younger than she really is, especially when night after night she wakes up for a bottle.   Even at 3am she makes me laugh.  I don't mind the early morning feedings, but think it would be ideal for us both to get a better nights sleep.  Maybe someday.  :)

So glad to have the synagis shots out of the way.  One season down.

 Just one more to go, before we will feel complete relief.