Shots & Sadness!

The girls received their RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) shots yesterday.  This is a four part shot to help prevent the girls from getting what in most infants would be classified as a bad cold.  Since preemies generally have undeveloped lungs at birth, they are more apt to get RSV which in micro-preemies can be very serious and MANY times leads to death.  We are being very cautious to keep the girls pretty much on lock down and at home right now.  Since it's cold and flu season, I'm very nervous about the girls catching anything.  Being around other children who have a minor cough or running nose can cause our girls to get very sick.  A lot of people don't understand that when a micro-preemie baby gets a cold, it's not the same as when a full term child gets sick.  While I've been doing my best not to treat my girls as "different", cold and flu season is one thing that I will not take lightly.  So I ask all of you who are getting "upset" per say because we will not be traveling to family holiday functions, or attending your holiday parties to please understand that we are doing what we feel is in the best interest of our girls.  I've done A LOT of research on RSV in preemies and this is something we just don't want to mess around with!!!  If you still feel the need to make your ignorant comments feel free to do so, but this is a decision that Terry and I have made together and we will not be changing our minds.  Sorry to be so blunt, but we spent years and years praying for these children and we will not let anything as little as being careless about cold and flu season take them away from us.
-------------------------------
Ok, so while the girls were at their pediatrician's office they were weighed.  For some reason I was expecting Alexis to be a lot heavier than Addison.  She just feels meatier.  But Addison is longer so who knows what I was thinking.  But here are their weights as of Tuesday, November 17th:  Addison  12 pounds 4 ounces and Alexis 12 pounds 10 ounces.
--------------------------------

After all that we have been through I hate to live in the past, but some things will always be a part of me and I feel like today is a day that I need to look back on the past and reflect on how truly blessed we are.  One year ago today (click this link to read) we found out that we were expecting triplets.  I will never forget the look on the faces of everyone in the room.  At that time we were still seeing our RE, so we had a nurse, a nursing student, the doctor, Terry and me in the room at the time of my ultrasound.  I immediately saw two sacks on the screen and when the third one popped up I thought Terry was going to pass out.  The doctor made him sit down before he fell over.  The doctor kept scanning the room looking at everyone.  She kept apologizing to us saying how sorry she was.  I was just ecstatic to be pregnant; I don't think it fully had sunk in yet that it was three.  Normally when we left our appointments the doctor or nurse would leave the room so I could get dressed and tell us to check out at the front desk when we were ready.  This day they all waited outside of the room to make sure that we were ok.  I got dressed and Terry just stared blankly at the wall.  When we were ready to leave the exam room, I opened the door to find the doctor and the nurse both in the hallway.  They walked us up to the front desk to make sure we were ok.  They asked both of us if we were ok to drive since we both seemed majorly in shock.  They all again apologized to us saying that they try their best to prevent high order multiples.  This whole day was very weird to me.  Looking back now, I feel like everyone at Midwest Fertility were angels in our whole conception process.  They knew that our family would be completed by two precious little girls not three.  While not a day goes by where I don't think about our baby girl Hope, I know that God knew what he was doing when he took her from us.  He needed her to help protect our two surviving triplets.  Without her, who knows where we would be today.  Every night when I put Addison and Alexis to bed, I thank God for knowing what was best for our family and for blessing us with these two incredible miracles.  I also thank baby Hope for keeping an eye out on her sisters. 

Baby Girl, You've been an Angel indeed!!