Common Sense

The following information is not backed by a medical group. All information is being passed on from what I was told.

I have always considered myself a good mom. I have prided myself on not being a perfect mom because who wants to be that? I have always used common sense with my children....always sit in a car seat in the back seat of the car. Helmets are a must if you want to ride a bike. Never leave a child who can roll or might roll unattended on a couch or bed. Don't let your kid play in the street. But I also have felt that a little dirt didn't hurt. I have always laughed at those crazy mom 's who had that bottle of purel out and ready anytime anyone came near their child....well I was slightly that person but not to an extreme. But that all changed....
After watching my five month old fight for every breath she took and spending a whole night in the ER, Watching them try to thread iv's into her tiny little veins...take xrays of her lungs....and watching her blood oxygen saturation plummet unless she had oxygen, and then being told we were going to have her admitted to the hospital for an unknown amount of time because she had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus/bronchiolotis), slight pneumonia and not one but two ear infections due to the RSV.
This much I know.....RSV is a virus that is passed through germs (big surprise there!) It is a sticky virus (the nurses call it that) and can live on a surface for up to six hours. So easily Emily got it from one of us going to the store touch a cart coming home and not washing our hands before we touched her! or something to that effect. RSV is something that effects everyone. In adults its just a really bad cold...in kids it's a really bad cold....in infants...it can be fatal! Because of an infants small lungs and passages RSV can actually cause them to suddenly stop breathing...if not because they are struggling to breath they tend to not eat and become dehydrated etc.
I am blessed that Emily and I spent only one night in the Emergency room, one night and two days in the hospital. Now that we are home I wake up every four hours to do a breathing treatment and every morning and night we have to force antibiotics into her mouth. But my heart is broken that this could have been prevented or the risk could have been minimized if we had all just washed our hands before we touched her!! I know we can not live in bubbles and not every cold or infection or virus is going to be avoided but seriously.....washing your hands should just be common sense.