Sera and Universal Precautions

With a new baby, we have experienced lots of firsts. First smile. First coo. First time she slept through the night. Yesterday, we were witness to yet another first, though not as celebrated or momentous as the others. Sera had her first vomit. I should have known something was wrong. In hindsight, Sera had given several warning signs. She had been fussy all day. Usually, Sera is a pretty happy baby. However, yesterday, she would wake up from naps and scream loudly. Sera doesn't cry much, so screaming is a shock. She awoke in a panicky scream from a 5 pm nap yesterday. I scooped her up and she cried. I went to change her and she cried angrily and balled her hands into fists. It had been a few hours since she last ate, so I assumed she was hungry. I started to feed her, but she began playing with the bottle with her tongue. This behavior is not unusual. She sometimes plays when she should be eating because she's too busy smiling at us, rather than latching onto the bottle. However, yesterday, she kept playing with the bottle and her tongue kept squirming around like a little worm in her mouth. Then her arms and legs began moving around restlessly. She finally achieved a good latch on her bottle after I allowed her to grasp my thumb during the feeding. Looking back, I believe that Sera was trying to say, "I know what's going to happen mom and I think I'm going to need to hold onto something." She then coughed twice. I immediately removed the bottle and sat her up. I won't give you the lovely details, but lets just say that the entire bottle then... um.... made an emergency departure. I think I handled it well. Craig sprung into action to change Sera's clothes and I changed my pants and shirt. Sera immediately fell asleep after that ordeal while I washed everything.

Now, Sera is a day care kid and she is going to get sick. She managed to bring home one respiratory infection about a  month ago. Sera had some cough and a stuffy nose for a few days. Some suctioning and a humidifier and she was fine. However, despite our best efforts, Craig and I caught it and were sick for about 10 days. I looked back on the situation and realized my error. I had been making a conscious effort to ensure that I did not pass any germs onto Sera (making sure my hands were washed before handling bottles, pacifiers, toys, and her), but did not make the same effort for myself. I would take a drool covered pacifier from her and then go right back to whatever I was doing. So, when another respiratory ailment began circulating around her day care, I began to use universal precautions. I was diligent about washing my hands before and after diaper changes, feedings, etc. I made sure I wiped down pacifiers and toys regularly. I washed my hands or used antibacterial gel before I had to blow my nose or eat. I think it became a little insane.

I believe every parent wishes they could house their child in a giant plastic bubble or that the world was filled with a baby-sized Habitrail that only their child could use. But that's not realistic. So, businesses capitalize on our fears of illness. They make the standard wipes that are used during diaper changes.  However, they also have boogie wipes, pacifier wipes, wipes for toys, and wipes for high chairs. I'm surprised they don't have wipes for the wipes container (after all, you just touched a naked baby bottom with the hand you used to close the wipes container and next time you pick it up, your previously clean hands will now be touching baby germs). They have special antibacterial gels and foams for babies and kids and protective covers for everything, from phones to toilet seats. They manufacture little covers and seats for shopping carts and restaurant high chairs and even the playground equipment is slathered in a mysterious antibacterial coating. Part of me is kind of scared to know about what toxic chemical is covering the playground equipment that makes it virtually impervious to germs. Another part of me wonders when it will be safe for human use.

As of now, I have realized that I am done with the insanity. I think I drew the line when I became aware of my behaviors. I observed someone coughing (without covering their mouth) and found myself diving over Sera's stroller like she was a live grenade. I'm sure I looked  ridiculous. I also found this whole process to be pointless. I'm sure that I caught Sera's last respiratory ailment, not because I failed to wash my hands after wiping a nose and not because she sneezed in my general direction, but because I bent down to kiss her hand. The same hand that she was sucking before. Oops.