Not a better sound I can think of...

than the sound of a wee babe cooing delightfully at your side...unless that wee babe didn't have a nasty nose rattle that goes along with the sweet cooing...

I hate sickness. Although Gunner is getting a lot better, he is still stuffy and snorty. Babies are so hard to have sick. There is so little you can do for them to keep them comfy. Thank goodness for little noses saline, the aspirator he HATES, and breast milk. Other than that, there is very little I can do.

On a side note, I did discover something amazing and interesting about breast milk that I did not know. Someone mentioned that a baby's saliva contians germs that influence mom's body to make antibodies that fight whatever illness he is having. How amazing is that? But I wondered, it kinda sounds to good to be true...so I googled...and I found on many sites information similar to this: (from http://www.007b.com/wonders_breastmilk.php)


Immune boosters. In each feeding mother delivers MILLIONS of LIVING white blood cells to her baby to help baby fight off all kinds of diseases. You will not find these living cells in formula! Also, when mother is exposed to a germ, she makes antibodies to that germ and gives these antibodies to her infant via her milk. Breast milk also contains factors that prevent microbes from attaching, and a long list of other antiviral, antibacterial and antiparasitic factors.

Even more amazing, if a baby contracts an illness that mom has not been exposed to previously, he will transfer this organism through his saliva to the breast, where antibodies are manufactured on site and then sent back to baby via the milk to help him cope. Mothers who wean their babies from the breast during the first and even second and third years of life often notice that their child becomes sick more than before, or for the first time. Lisa Marasco and Jan Barger in Examining the Evidence for Cue feeding of Breastfed Infants

However, this illness makes me think, where would he contract such an illness? He is not around anyone but his family and rarely a little extended family. So of course it is no one's fault he is sick, but no one but me is up several times a night suctioning him so he can breathe. No one else is googling the symptoms of RSV, praying he doesn't have it. No one else is talking to after hours nurse explaining his symptoms, getting the low down on what to do next. No one but me.

I think it is getting increasingly hard to explain to others my desire to keep him out of crowds and home where it is "semi-safe". No one actually questions it (to my face) but I am sure it is mentioned not in front of me. I say this because on the outside he is huge, he looks completely normal. He is on the full term baby scales, over top on the preemie scales, he is actually BIGGER than some full term babies that are his actual age (when he should be almost 2 months younger than them).

Tis the curse of preemie parenting. See, he was born at 33 weeks and while I am thankful for each day he spent in utero past 28 weeks when my water unexpectedly broke, at 33 weeks and prior babies are born with no immune system period. At 34 weeks, mom's immunity begins to transfer to baby. So between 34 and 40 weeks, that is when baby develops the small amount of immunity he will have at full term.