Its been a while!Small vent :)

ashk7

Well now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over, I am coming out of lurking! I have been doing a lot of that lately, so I wanted to say, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with your LO'S and all those who are dealing with RSV, cold/flu, any procedures, or still have LO in the NICU. You all continue to be in my T&P!

Now for the small vent. DD will be 10 months tomorrow...HOLY MOLY where did the time go! With that being said, she is very active and social. But because RSV and cold/flu season is here and horrible we have obviously been on lock down. She did not qualify for  RSV shots. All of my close friends all have babies within a year of each other and are having playdates that we can no longer attend. They say the "understand" but I don't feel like they don't completely get it. They are supportive, but it is still very isolating for DD and myself. I am a SAHM and we were in lots of activities prior to germ season, as I call it! Even my SIL, whom I am very close with, who has a daughter 2 months older then DD made a smart comment when we were on vacation with them in early december. Long story short, we had a family trip planned to Florida for in laws 40 wedding anniversary, plane tickets bought and everything. Well poor planning and a brief moment of "forgetting" we had a preemie,we realized that flying during germ season was a huge unnessary risk. So DH, DD and I drove to florida, from ohio, so we could still be there with our family. ( YIKES was that a LONG trip, but well worth it) Needless to say I was super careful with DD and her cousin, who was hacking up a lung, and keeping them at a distance and cleaning all the toys. Not in an obvious OCD way but just cautious. Plus there was only 2 days that SIL and daughter were there at the same time as us. After we explained to our family why DD is so much higher risk this season even though just looking at her you would never know she was 9 weeks early, other than being a peanut, they have been more than understanding and supportive. But my SIL said infront of everyone "Well whats the difference between M and E, I don't get what the big deal is, plus you breastfeed her so she gets antibodies" I explained while yes she does appear healthy and is healthy she still missed almost the whole 3rd tri in my belly and even though she gets my milk, which is exclusivly pumped, (which is a whole other rant/post because she doesn't get the difference between that either I found out on this trip) she still hasn't caught up yet on the inside. Once again she said she understood but I know she thinks I am way over protective. With all that being said, I will do everything in my power to protect DD, even if I do seem OCD about germs and over cautious. Because I understand the complications that could arise and like I tell them, we fought for 55 days to get her home from the hospital (her being the biggest fighter) and DH and I will be damned if she goes back in because we went on a playdate, or shopping or a family party with a lot of people, there will be plenty of those after germ season! Thanks for listening, sorry if its all over the place!

EAMommy

I'm dealing with much of the same...

It's appalling to me how many people want me to their selfish desires above what's best for my son.

--You want to visit but can't find a babysitter for your kids and expect me to make an exception.

--You want to visit but are still hacking up a lung from your "little cold" last week.

--You want to get together but can only meet up during the day when my husband is at work and can't understand why that won't work for me even though "I'm just sitting at home all day".

--You can't understand why we're "selfish" and decided to have our son baptized in the hospital instead of the germy church. (Churches may be holy; but that doesn't me they're any less germy than any other public place!)

Those are just a few of the things we've been criticized on in the past month... And it's only the beginning.... It's going to be a LONG few months but having my son healthy and alive will be worth every minute of loneliness...

All this to say, I needed to vent too and I understand! Hang in there and don't give in!

ashk7

Thanks ladies, I knew you would get it!  

DrRx

People don't get it.  They think that because we say they're doing great that they are just like a FT baby.  I know how frustrating it is. 

BTW, awesome for EPing for so long!