Ban Lifted!

Back in September, all of the area hospitals banned children from their hospitals, based on the fact that children are disease-ridden, snot-faced, filthy carriers of the H1N1 flu virus. (The only exception is the Emergency Department and of course for children who are actually sick or injured.) This means that Coulson and Charlie wouldn't be able to visit me and the baby in the hospital. I've been trying really hard to involve the boys in the pregnancy, to consider the baby a part of the family already and to celebrate their roles as big brothers. Not being able to see their new brother for the first 2 days or so was a devastating thought for me -- the boys should have priority to meet their brother and it's not fair that my friends could come and visit me and see the baby before my own boys could see the baby. My mom was telling me to make sure I stay in the hospital as long as they will let me, but if I have a choice, I wouldn't want to be away from my boys longer than necessary.

I was really bummed, but hoped that by the time my baby was born that the flu season would be over and the ban would no longer be in effect. And the months passed by, as did the flu season and eventually H1N1 was no longer a major topic and I waited for the ban to be lifted. But no, more months passed by. A few weeks ago, I heard on the radio that 2 area hospitals were lifting the ban. I anxiously ran to the radio to hear the hospitals, but, alas, they did not mention the hospital where I will be having my baby. Disheartened and getting closer to the due date, I started to give up hope.

But today I was talking with some friends, and one mentioned that I should double check on that anyway, before assuming the worst. So I googled it this evening and sure enough, the ban has been lifted!!! Apparently it was lifted the same day as the other hospitals, but somehow didn't make it on that radio report (our local NPR news affiliate is really good on reporting local arts events, but they don't have a strong local news segment...)

So now I'm super happy that my boys will be able to visit me in the hospital and meet their new baby brother. And if I have the opportunity to stay an extra day, I can take it without feeling guilty for missing my boys!

And oh yeah, it's Saturday night, 2 days after my due date, and I'm at home blogging, not having a baby yet...