More awareness about the cmv virus,routine screening for it and vaccines against it

On the 22nd of July 2017,I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl weighing 4lbs 15oz who we thought was perfectly healthy,she looks absolutely perfect like any other child. Little did we know what was going on on the inside,I received a call from the hospital when Meadow was 3 days old saying I had to go in because they had found that she had caught an infection whilst she was inside me-this infection is called Cmv twhich pregnant women are not routinely tested for and not all babies are checked for-the only reason Meadow was checked was because she was a low birth weight and came out jaundice. Most adults and children will get cmv in their lives but will show no signs or symptoms whereas if a mother passes it on to her newborn baby because she has caught it whilst pregnant it is really dangerous and the infection is one of the leading causes to hearing loss and childhood disability. Children that are born with symptoms like jaundice,low birth weight,small head size etc like Meadow are likely to go on to develop other problems such as hearing loss, cerebral palsy,learning difficulties,autism,disabilities,behavioural problems,developmental delays or visiual impairment-some children will have alot of severe problems some will only have one problem or a few mild ones. Meadows brain scan showed some abnormalities and she has lost some of her hearing in both her ears. Obviously with the brain scan we can't tell how severe her problems will be until she grows up and we can see if she is developing like the average child or not. She's been referred to the community paediatricians so they can keep an eye whilst she's at home and sort out any help/support she may need. The medication she was on was meant to slow everything down it can't get rid of it but it's meant to slow it all down from progressing.
Most of Meadows childhood she will be having regular hearing tests to see if she's losing more of her hearing or whether it's staying the same,eye tests to make sure she can still see,health visitors will be keeping a close eye on her development etc. So we've been told to take one day at a time with all this...so we're just staying strong and sticking together as a family and we will deal with this,no one is going to love her any less because she's still perfect in every way❤️❤️
But I am fuming that this is not spoken about and people are not made more aware of it! I think it's disgusting that pregnant women aren't tested for it,I think it's disgusting there is no vaccination against it. More pregnant women need to be made aware of how to protect theirselves from this infection and we need to do routine checks. If meadow hadn't been born with a low birth weight or jaundice we wouldn't of even been tested,we wouldn't even know till it was too late. I have cried-we both have,I have shouted,I have blamed myself and my body for doing this,I have pushed people away,We have been in and out of hospital with her,We have had to sit there waiting outside whilst she has brain scans,we've watched her be prodded and poked,we've sat in rooms for her to have eye tests and hearing tests,We've watched blood be taken,medication be put through her body,we don't want any other parents going through the same when this can be prevented if more people are made aware.
I think it should be spoke about more,there should be a screening in pregnancyfor it,there should be a vaccine against it.
So Please please please sign!!!

#cmv #raiseawareness