MoreThanWeExpected.com

We brought the whole clan out apple picking yesterday!  It was our first trip out into the real world with all the kids (when we weren’t going to the doctor) and oh boy!, was it fun!  Our friends Aaron and Janaisa have a daughter a year and a half older than Gwen, and the girls love to play together.  Last time we all got together they offered that if we wanted to go apple picking (one of our favorite Autumn activities that we were planning on skipping this year), they were willing to go with us, and could help with the babies.  Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity!

The weather couldn’t have been any nicer.  Gwen and Kenzi had a blast playing and picking apples and Aaron lived vicariously through our trio, carrying Holden in the back pack all day.  We brought the quad stroller, in case Gwen and Kenzi got tired of walking, but it worked better to contain Tess, Nora, and all our apples.  It was fun showing the kids that there is a world outside our house filled with beauty and wonder.  Not to mention giving them their first taste of real, fresh apples!

And naturally, what blog post wouldn’t be complete without a ton of pictures?  I guess it’s to be expected when you have a ton of kids that you’ll be taking tons of pictures… LOL!  Here are the photo highlights:

Dear Family and Friends,

We’re writing regarding a very important matter: RSV. For those of you who plan to visit us over the next few months, and even if you are not, please take a few minutes to read this letter.

We want to start by saying thank you for the outpouring of support we have received from everyone. So many people have done so much for us, and every bit of help we have received truly is appreciated. We are experiencing the biggest challenge of our lives, and we’re lucky to be surrounded by so many family members and friends who have shown us so much love and support.

We’d also like to share an important topic that we recently discussed with our babies’ pediatrician. If you are not aware of RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, you are among the majority. Most people have not heard of RSV, even though nearly every child has had the virus by age two. For full-term babies, RSV typically is not any worse than a common cold, but for preemies, the virus can be quite different. Babies born earlier than 36 weeks are at the highest risk for serious complications like pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and other sometimes fatal complications. Our babies were born premature (at 34 weeks), are multiples, and had low birth weights (under 5.8 lbs); these are among the highest risk factors for contracting RSV and developing serious complications. This website offers a great visual comparison of a preemie’s lungs compared to the lungs of a full-term baby: http://www.preemiecare.org/LungsTrees03-4.pdf  Preventing the spread of RSV is very difficult. Thus, we must be vigilant about keeping our children safe during RSV season (October through April). The virus is spread through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object. The virus can live as long as six hours on hands and up to twelve hours on objects, and it spreads very easily, especially from child to child. Studies have also shown that infants pose an even higher risk of spreading RSV to others. You may ask, “Can’t they fight it off and build up their immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?” The simple answer is NO. Since our babies were pre-term, they did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. If they contract RSV, they could be hospitalized and develop serious complications.

We’ll be asking our visitors to follow a few guidelines to help prevent the babies from contracting RSV or any other illness. We ask that all visitors do the following:

1. When you arrive, please wash your hands and use hand-sanitizer as needed before touching the babies.

2. Please, if it is possible, get a flu shot.

3. Please refrain from coming over if you are currently sick and have not been symptom-free for at least 5 days, if you live with someone who is sick, or have been in close contact with someone who is sick.

4. If you smoke, we ask that you change your clothing and refrain from smoking prior to visiting, as a preemie’s lungs are very sensitive to smoke. Most RSV sites recommend against passive smoke exposure.

5. If you are parents to a baby or toddler, please refrain from bringing them to our house during RSV season.

Unfortunately we will not be attending many events during RSV season. Our goal is to make it through this and the next RSV seasons without the babies contracting RSV or any other serious illness. Their lungs are still very fragile until they are 2-years-old.  Please understand that this letter is not meant to offend anyone, just simply to provide an explanation. We hope you understand, and we appreciate your help keeping our babies safe.  Please remember that while they are big and healthy now, it wasn’t long ago that they were not.  Here is a reminder of how far they’ve come in just 8 short months:

We are also providing several resources with additional information about RSV below:
http://www.preemiecare.org/rsv_resourceshtm.htm
http://www.preemiecare.org/rsvfaq.htm
http://www.preemiecare.org/rsv2.htm
http://www.mostonline.org/preemieBB/viewforum.php?f=82

Love and best wishes to all!
Tony, Mandie & all the kids

On Tuesday morning, after I had finished feeding Holden his 10 o'clock bottle, I flipped him around to burp him when I noticed that the back of his neck was all red and irritated.  I pulled the neck of his Carter’s blanket sleeper down to find a huge, 5" +/- circle of red, irritated skin with a rectangular "burn" right in the middle.  Where the skin was gone, it was wet and oozing.  I freaked out, grabbed the camera, took a ton of pictures, and then jumped on my online triplet moms forum to ask if anyone else had experienced something like this and what I should do about it (Neosporin, A&D, etc.)  One of the moms forwarded me to this website: http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/carters-responds-to-zrecs-inquiry/.  I contacted Carter’s and they claim there was an issue with the ink that was used in the heat-transferred tag imprint from their Fall ’07 line (which were made in China, by the way) and that they were going to send me a postage paid return label via FedEx overnight and asked me to send back all the clothes I have from the Fall ’07 line, and anything else I’m not comfortable keeping, for a full retail-price reimbursement as well as a bunch of toys for the kids (kissing my ass, huh?).  One of the other moms on the forum said that she’s heard that some of the moms sending things back are only getting credit for half of what they returned, as Carter’s is trying to say certain labels aren’t part of the issue, etc. so to take pictures and invoice everything I send back to them.  I also called the CPSC and e-mailed Consumer Reports to file complaints.  I kept the blanket sleeper in a Ziploc bag, as it still has his skin on the tag label.  Gross and completely horrifying.

Holden has had a patch of what I thought was just eczema in that same spot for the last few months (no irritation, just flaky, dry skin). After we gave them their baths last Thursday, we put Holden into an older cotton footed pj that we had leftover from Gwen, which had sewn-in tags.  When they got their baths this past Monday, we put all the kids into fleece blanket sleepers, as the temperatures are starting to drop into the 20s at night. In hind-sight, I am assuming that the eczema he had before all this was from a reaction to the tagless imprint, just that the ink in the label on that 2007 model was what really got him.  I also am thinking that his skin had probably started to heal while wearing the jammies with the sewn-in tags, and so it reacted strongly when that type of label was reintroduced (like any other allergy would).

I took him to the pediatrician yesterday afternoon and they were shocked at how awful his back looked (which looked better than the day before, even though it was all crusted over).  The nurse actually brought in another nurse to look at him and said they were going to go online and print out some of the info on the tagless label injuries to make the other docs, nurses, and parents aware.  The pediatrician said it wasn't a chemical burn, but a serious reaction that caused the topical dermatitis eczema (and she said eczema can be horrible, with open wounds,etc. - not to gross anyone out) and gave us some steroidal gel to apply 2x a day.  It is already looking better, and it doesn’t really seem to bother him, thank God!  I asked her if he should stay away from any kind of tagless heat-applied tag imprints from now on and she said it probably wouldn't be a problem but to put medical tape over the tag imprints on the clothes we have for him for now, until the wound he has was all healed up and gone, and then to try again.  I love her.

Carter’s can kiss the fattest part of my ass right about now so I am taking a stand.  I am making sure to spread the word via my big mouth and my blog, so that everyone I come in contact with will know what is happening with these labels and what to look out for.  Please join me in my efforts and tell other moms you know so that this won’t happen to their babies.

Finally, here is the photographic evidence.  My poor little man…

Here is Holden’s tagless injury 3 days after it happened.

Here is Holden’s tagless injury 4 days after it happened.  As you can see, it looks much better but is still very badly irritated.  We’ve been using the steroidal gel as instructed for 3 days now and his skin is continuing to peel and starting to heal:

Carter’s should definitely issue a recall on these items (recalls are usually issued when the cost to pay injuries or suits out of pocket exceeds the cost of the recall) but I will take a Warning Notice from the CPSC for now: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09023.html  At least it’s something!  YAY!