I went to Pam’s blog this morning and was reminded of how lucky we are that Ethan had only a minor hospital stay with RSV. Now that her preemies are home, she reminded her readers of the rules of visiting and handling the boys, and she provided a link to a film to really send the point home. Click here and skip to the 6 minute mark of the film. I’ll warn you that its very sad and scary. This could very easily have been Ethan had we not caught his RSV infection so early.

If you ever wonder why we’re so careful with him, that is why. He really came out of the hospital unscathed. His only issue is that his lungs are temporarily weaker than they were before, which leaves him more prone to future respiratory infections. That is why he ended up with a pretty serious case of pneumonia 2 weeks after getting over RSV. We are very lucky.

And while he is unlikely to get another serious RSV infection, he CAN become infected again. And since his lungs are weaker (first because he was premature, second because of his RSV infection, third because of his pneumonia), it would hit him pretty hard. That is why I give him breathing treatments several times a day, and why we barely leave the bedroom where the humidifier runs. That is why we can’t bring him out with lots of people around, and why we have rules about visiting. I’ll repost them as a reminder (borrowing the preemie visitation rules from Pam):

1. If you’ve been sick within the past ten days, you cannot visit.
2. If you’ve been around children who have been sick in the past ten days, you cannot visit.
3. You must wash your hands and use hand sanitizer before being around the baby.
4. Children are not allowed to handle the baby.
5. You must have your flu shot before you can touch the baby.

I’m done talking about scary stuff. Now its time to talk about good things. Ethan weighs 9 pounds now and he is no longer fitting in the newborn clothes. I still put him in his newborn sleepers and onesies, but they are stretched to the max. He is wearing a newborn footed sleeper right now and he can’t stretch his legs out, hehe. We need to retire the newborn stuff and get a few more sleepers in the 0-3 size. I think he is going to continue to gain lots of weight because he has a very good appetite. He eats alot and he eats often, and he dirties a LOT of diapers. I feel like I can barely keep up with him.

I can wear Ethan in his sling carriers now. I no longer feel like he’s being smooshed in them. He can sit in his bumbo seat (on top of the refrigerator, unattended, because that’s how he rolls, haha). He is also starting to roll over. Its not consistent, but from time to time he does figure out how to roll from his tummy to his back. He smiles and laughs a lot. When he sees us in the morning, the first thing he does is stretch out a huge grin. He’s starting to become interested in his toys and he loves to look at EVERYTHING.

Ethan had his 2 month shots yesterday. He was acting like a tough guy and only cried for about 3 seconds after each shot. The nurse was very impressed with him. I guess after all the IVs and catheters and other hospital things, the silly little shots were no big thing to him. Of course, after we got home he let down the tough guy image and let me know he didn’t like the shots. I gave him tylenol throughout the day and he slept quite a bit. But once the evening rolled around he was back to his happy self.

He was really hungry after the extra sleep he had yesterday. He nursed from 9pm until 11:30pm before he finally fell asleep. Yes, for 2 1/2 nonstop hours he ate!! He was really hungry and tanking up for a long night. He slept in his pack n play again, and he slept for 5 whole hours!!! YAY!