Clucky, almost 11 years ago, DS2 was in St Thomas's Evangelina unit on a ventilator, he had RSV and HiB, so was one poorly poorly baby. He was in for 3 days at our local hospital and 4 days in London, then back to local hospital for 24 hours. He was just 3.5 weeks old when he went in.
When he came home, his body was still full of mucous, especially his ears - he failed his first hearing test, and was sent for two sets of specialist tests - the first he failed, the second he passed.
The audiologist said that RSV babies' ears get full of that sticky RSV mucous as well, and that we needed to get him into a position where his tubes could drain - we elevated his mattress slightly using a rolled towel. We also used a humidifier in his room, to keep his tubes moist - again on advice of drs.
He lost a lot of weight - at GP check on his return, he was 1lb lighter than birth weight. He gained that in the first week home (I had been expressing, and had so much milk I felt like a flipping cow!)
It took him quite a while to get his voice back, and he slept a great deal. He did not smile for quite a while...I think he was closer to 9 weeks than 6. Mainly because he had lost a number of weeks.
As for you, you may find you suffer from anxiety and PTSD type symptoms. I find even now that at this time of year, I am extremely anxious, and for years, I would become very morose and teary at this time of year.
Long term effects for baby: Nothing obvious. We have family history of asthma, and one severe asthmatic in the family, but DS2 is unaffected. He hardly ever saw a doctor until he started school, and was the healthiest of all three of mine.