Health Guidelines

Dear Friends & Family,
We are so incredibly thankful for all of the love you have shown our
little family of three. Your visits, cards, letters, and most importantly
prayers have lifted us up and given us the strength and faith to fight
for our little princess in pink!


We ask you today for continued help in keeping our precious Heather
healthy. After many difficult conversations with medical professionals
Thomas and I now understand exactly what needs to be done to give
our daughter her best life. We understand that we will not have her for
possibly more than 3 to 4 wonderful years, hopefully God will allow
longer. She has already beaten so many odds!


We want each and everyone of you to be a part of Heather's life, but
there are several precautions that must be followed for our amazing
family and friend visitors. These come directly from Heather's
attending neonatologists and other medical professionals. As you
read these necessities for our daughters life, please know that we
come from a place of love and only want what any parent would want
for their child-safety, comfort, and an opportunity to watch her grow
and experience life.


General House Rules
•cannot visit if you are sick in any way. A common cold will hospitalize
Heather for many weeks. You must wait a minimum of 48 hours after
symptoms are over to visit. We highly recommend buying insurance
on any plane tickets. If you are sick, and a ticket has already been
purchased, you will not be able to visit or see Heather. We very much
hope this does not happen & we are so sorry if it does. If Thomas or I
get sick, neither of us can be around heather either. One of us will
have to go sleep in the guest room basement until we are free from
illness.

•must wash hands repeatedly throughout the day along with hand
sanitizer, especially after: a non-contagious sneeze or cough, blowing
your nose, handling food, being outside & coming inside, Etc Good,
true hand-washing is at least 20 seconds. Sing the "Happy Birthday
Song" while you wash. ;)

•no scented lotions, perfumes/colognes, or hairspray can be worn

•no pets. We will be having oxygen cords throughout our entire house.
If a dog is rambunctious & happens to trip over an oxygen hose, it can
rip it from heathers face, jerk her body, & cause intense startling &
possibly injure her. We will be doing a trial with Miller & hope it works
out for the best. If not, we have an incredibly happy home to send her
to.

•cannot have multiple guests at once, or guests back to back. Too
many people result in many different immunities exposed to heather.
Her immune system will never be like other children's immune
systems. She is fragile & is unable to be passed from arms to arms.
We wish we could have everyone we know & love hold her, but this is
purely to protect her. She can still be held, but just cant be constantly
passed around. We know this is difficult for many of you to grasp &
understand, but it is beyond heart wrenching for us & again, we will
take every precaution in protecting her & fighting for her.

•we cannot take her out in big crowds in public at all, and may not be
able to take her in public for several months. That also may include
church, which is something extremely difficult for us. We also cannot
take her out of our home very often during respiratory season, which is
during the months of January-April, sometimes some of May. The
contagious molecules in the air during respiratory season are enough
to be something she may not be able to recover from. We want to be
able to balance living life for Heather's best health interests & not live
in fear. However, it will take baby steps from our end of parenting in
knowing what Heather can & cannot handle once we are at home.
This, we know, is not the "typical" parenting. We ask for you to please
respect our wishes & to imagine if this were your son or daughter.
What would you do to "guarantee" the best possible quality of life,
while also balancing an extreme measure of safety.


In Regards to Smoking:
Heather has an extremely fragile respiratory system and the act of
smoking is considered a LETHAL risk in her condition. Doctors have a
written a prescribed letter for heather to never be around any type of
smoking atmosphere. The following rules are necessary to follow:

•you cannot have smoked for 48 hours of arrival to our home. First,
second, & third hand smoke can completely compromise Heather's
respiratory system.

•must wash clothes at our home upon arrival immediately from your
suitcase & take a shower right away. We have been advised by our
doctors that cigarette smoke lives in your skin & clothes, which is why
a shower is immediately required. A suggestion was made to
purchase a few outfits, here in Colorado, while you are visiting, that
have not been at the smokers home, to keep on hand in our home. We
will happily keep them in a special place at our home for you.

•cannot bring cigarettes with you at all. No form of tobacco is allowed
in our home, car, or near Heather. We will also have oxygen tanks in
our home an it is illegal for there to be any form of smoke or residue
near them.

 •We know this is a difficult thing for those who smoke to do. If you
would like help or assistance, the hospital offers many available
helpful programs for those who want to quit. I will be more than happy
to get you any of that material. If you plan on only honoring our
requests while you are a visitor, we appreciate your strong effort.
Please know we are not personally attacking anyone; this is literally a
life and death situation for Heather. We recognize that these may be
hard rules to follow, but we will not compromise or negotiate any of the
terms our doctors have put forth. If any of these rules are broken we
will protect our daughter by asking you to leave. We have plenty on
our plates emotionally and recognize that Heather's well being is our
number one priority.


If you would like to visit our sweet Heather, please let us know in
advance. Neither of us are surprise people, & it overwhelms me
especially for unexpected visitors, especially with our circumstances.
Also, if Heather is sick, meaning fighting an infection, we are unable to
welcome visitors. Fighting infections is much more difficult for her to
handle, & additional house guests can prevent her from recovering.
We will be having several medical professionals in and out of our
home, visits to the Colorado Springs Hospital & Denver Children's
Hospital on a regular basis. We love & invite all healthy, positive
people into our home and life on a planned and good timing basis.
Heather will never be able to travel via plane or long car ride & cannot
leave the Denver area. Being home will be quite a vacation for us
anyway! We have done our fair share of moving for a while, so we very
much look forward to our new cozy home!

We love and care for you all. We are soblessed to have such wonderful family and friends who understand
these precautions and are willing to go above and beyond for our little
girl. Heather's limitations may be great, but her sweetness brings us
so much joy and love that we wouldn't trade her for anything! God has
spoken through Heather in such an amazing way to teach us love,
patience and selflessness. Even though she may not be able to hear
or see well, and may not be able to talk, she "speaks" so clearly to us.
She has taught us more than we ever could have imagined and we
hope and pray that each of you can truly listen to hear what she has to
share & teach to you! She IS HIS miracle!


With love,
Thomas & Jessica