In order to help friends and family prepare for our expectations when the babies arrived, we sent out a letter outlining our precautions and stating the reasons why we requested this.  Some of our friends and family do not vaccinate their children, and understood they could not visit until later in the spring.

We sent the following email several months prior to delivery:

Hello friends and family,

We are grateful to have each of you in our lives to support us on this amazing journey, and are constantly humbled by your outpouring of love and prayers.  We know you are excitedly anticipating the arrival of Rylin, Harper, Sydney & Mason and many of you have already offered to help care for them.   That makes us so happy!

Since the babies will be preemies with underdeveloped lungs and weakened immune systems, we will need to take extra precautions regarding their health and exposure to germs and carcinogens. Many germs that we are able to fight off can be fatal to preemies.  If you would like to visit or help care for the babies later, we will ask that you have a current TDAP vaccine and flu shot. TDAP is a combination of Whooping Cough and Tetanus that is available through most doctor’s offices as well as pharmacies. You won’t need these until two weeks prior to meeting the babies, but you may be a planner who wants to take care of it now.  We will be consulting with our neonatologists and pediatrician regarding other specific precautions to take and will post those on our care calendar as we learn about them so you will be aware.

We are doing our best to keep updates on our blog at FourtoAdore@wordpress.com and will continue as much as possible after the babies arrive.

Hugs!

Amber & George

In an effort to protect our babies health when they were very young, we asked that our family and friends take precautions during our “lock down” (e.g. the cold and flu season in our region).  We posted a sign on our door that read as follows:

PREEMIE PRECAUTIONS

Welcome to our home!  We are glad you came to visit.  Because the babies are preemies they are vulnerable to common germs. We ask you to take the following precautions:

1. Make sure that you have a current TdAP (whooping cough/ tetanus) vaccine and flu shot
2. Remove your shoes when entering the house
3. Sanitize your hands with the sanitizer in our entry way
4. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water in the kitchen or bathroom
5. Please visit another time if you or a family member in your house has been sick in the past week
6. If you smoke, please change into clean clothes or wear a smoking jacket while smoking to prevent 3^rd hand smoke exposure for the babies

Sincerely,

The Shawver family