A Trip to the Pharmacy

Babies generally come with stuff. Lots of stuff. Any parent will tell you the amount of stuff in your house increases exponentially with each child. When your baby is a preemie however, multiply that times ten. Over the next few posts I would like to explore some of the unique accessories that come with preemies.

The other day Dov went to the pharmacy. His goal was to get everything she needs for one month. Here is what he bought.

He failed.

Believe it or not, this is actually NOT enough.

Lets go through it.

1) Sterile water. We use this in Avigayil's Oxygen concentrator as well as to flush her NG tube after giving her medications or feedings. There is only one bottle here. She goes through about 4 a month.

2) Granuflex. This is what we put on her face under all the tape. It is made of silicone and is meant to protect her skin.

3) Neocate. This is Avigayil's prescription formula. It is completely sterile and  meant to help her gain weight. She goes through 6 cans a month (hence the case). It is crazy expensive (about $100 per can) but fortunately our insurance covers about 85% of it.

4) Vitamin D.

5) Polycose. This is an additive meant to add calories to Avigayil's food. The goal is to help her gain weight without overwhelming her body with too much fluid.

6) Flixotide. This is a steroid. It is inhaled and with long term use will hopefully help Avigayil's lungs to get better.

7) Omerprozole. This is a anti-reflux medication. It has to be specially made for her each month.

8) Ventolin. A broncodiolator. Ventolin is supposed to be an as needed medication to help Avigayil breath when she is having trouble, but at the moment she is still using it every 6 hours. There is only one bottle here. She needs 2.

9) Saline. This is used in the inhalations as well. There is only one box here. Avigayil goes through 4 or 5 a month.

10) Ferripil. This is an iron supplement to treat her anemia.

11) Hand sanitizer (peach scented). We use LOTS of this. Again there is only one bottle but we usually go through a few every month.

12) Coban. This is a nonadhesive wrap used to hold on the pulse/ox probe.

She also needs a lot of disposable items which we will go through in another post.

The great thing about this is that on my counter there is well over $1500 worth of pharmacy products. Because of our amazing insurance we payed less than $200 for all of this.