Germs and Weight

Well they say you can’t live in a “bubble,” but I guess you can come pretty close. Bryan and I have been avoiding public places as much as possible. Jill’s health depends so much on our family staying healthy and not passing along any illnesses to her. We are still attending church, but we watch the service through a glass window in the “fussy baby room.” We decided to let Katelyn go to Vacation Bible School a few weeks back. She had a great time, but after attending for three nights she got a cold. Bryan and I ended up getting the cold also, but somehow Jill managed to stay well, thankfully.



To avoid germs, we also take turns going to stores. And when we do go to the store we stock up on things since we don’t know when we will have a chance to make another trip out of the house. For Memorial Day, we were invited to a friend’s BBQ. Since it was on outdoor event we decided to take Jill to it even though I was a little nervous about taking her out. Then right before we were about to leave my friend called and said that since it was about to rain everyone was going to eat indoors. We decided not to go. Instead Bryan, Katelyn, Jillian, and I went to a Sonic Drive-In to celebrate the holiday. It just seemed like too big of a risk for Jill to attend the party. My friend’s son got sick the next day so it looks like we made the right decision. For the 4th of July, we are planning on joining my family in McCall. It is about a 2 ½ hour drive to a small town in the mountains of Idaho. My biggest concern about the trip (besides being exposed to germs) is wondering if Jill’s lungs can handle the pressure from the change in elevation. I talked with the doctor and she thinks it should be fine. I’ll probably sit in the back seat next to Jill just in case she starts having breathing problems. Even vacation time is stressful. It is a little strange how different our lives are now. We took Katelyn to five foreign countries before she was two years old. With Jill, I’m worried about being over two hours away from the hospital.


Besides the whole germ thing, the biggest concern for Jill is still gaining weight. Yesterday, at her weight check she was 9 lbs 9 ½ ounces. She is between the 3rd and 5th percentile in weight. Getting her to eat can be such a struggle sometimes. Yesterday, I spent an hour trying to feed her and she only ate 30ml, about an ounce of milk. Our nurse stopped making house calls on Monday, June 23rd, but we still have a therapist that comes once a week to help with feeding and developmental issues.


A few weeks ago, I happened to turn on the TV when St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise was doing a telethon to raise money. I recognized some of the staff that was shown in the footage. Then it caught my attention even more when they started talking about raising money to purchase more Giraffe beds in the NICU. The Giraffe bed was the special hi-tech bed that Jillian first used at the beginning of her stay in the NICU. They currently have only seven of these beds. Sometimes there is a need for as many as 18 of them when they have extreme at-risk babies. (Note: there is an average of 40 babies in the NICU each night). Anyway, each bed costs $35,000. I couldn’t believe how expensive they were. Of course, I’m very thankful that there was a vacant bed for Jillian when she was born. If you ever donate to things like Children’s Hospitals just know that there are real people whose lives are changed by your generosity.


Jill has now been home 53 days. It is hard to believe. The time has really gone by fast. She has now been home longer than she was in the hospital (47 days).