Yesterday the county sent a public health nurse over to check on us. We were offered the service because of Maddy's low birth weight. I was pretty excited, actually. I planned on having her examine every aspect of Gabe & Maddy's life and reassure me that we were doing it right. :)
All was right with the world until she saw the crib. Until yesterday I had a nice matching bumper, embroidered burp towels and a quilt hanging over the railings, a comfort quilt on the mattress, and some cute toys inside. Ms. Aletha from Dekalb County Health Department helped me make it SIDS-proof, which meant stripping it down to nothing but a sheet-covered mattress and a dust ruffle. It's kind of depressing, really, but good for peace of mind.
SIDS freaks me out. And we have to worry about it, technically, until they turn one year. Blech. I put a fan in their room, and the babies sleep on their backs (even though Gabe sometimes get choked up on spit-up) with pacifiers and only one blanket, all in the name of SIDS prevention.
SIDS, the phantom menace that has me always looking over my shoulder to make sure my babies are still breathing.
Are you familiar with this website?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sidsalliance.org/
There's also a very good one at the NIH site, but it's a bit more technical. The one above has won a number of awards...used to be called First Candle.
Love you!