Calling the shots

The adventure of this little mouse continues...

"Whoa, is this MY hand?"

"Oh, and there's another! Mmmm yep, that tastes good!"

It was reasonably warm out today, but you would never know it by looking at Belle. Mom and dad had her bundled for the outdoors like it was November 😂

To be fair, though, it was windy at times. But can you tell we're the parents of a preemie? 

We're really not that crazy you guys. But we're getting crazy in a few other ways...

Cold and flu season is 8 weeks away, and we're already wondering how we're going to get through it. Crazy or not, it will be an apprehensive fall and winter for all of us.

One particular virus called RSV has us especially concerned. It's a highly contagious virus, but in most healthy adults it only causes mild cold symptoms. 

It can be a doozie for a term baby that is under 6 months, and it could spell real trouble for a preemie like Arabella.

She's due to receive her first shot to help fight against RSV in the next month or two. The drug is called Synagis (it's technically not a vaccine) and we've started to do our homework on it. Like every drug Belle's ever taken, there's a ton of reasons for it, and a ton of reasons against it. 

The shot is insanely expensive too (thousands of dollars per shot), and it's typically given every month. So by April 2018 Arabella could potentially go through $5-9K worth of Synagis injections. 

"Dadda, did...did you just say injections?"

Ugh, I know Arabella. I know. 😔

And get this...in 2015 the province of Ontario spent over $20M (for over 3000 infants) on Synagis injections alone. Check out this interesting article by the CBC.

We know Arabella qualifies for the drug, so it wouldn't be a cost to Kiera and I directly. But does Arabella need it? That's the real question...

We're going to carefully weight all the options. We're going to continue to do our research, like we always have, and we'll let you guys know what we find. 

It's time to hit the books again, mom and dad.