It's Time

I sat in the car and prayed for two things: that this medicine has the power to protect and not hurt LJ and that I have the ability and know how to help him cope with the pain.

Today LJ had his first set of vaccinations.

I have always been for vaccinations for myself and everyone around. I felt that people who didn't vaccinate their children put them at great risk for silly unfounded fables.

However

When I was pregnant and I realized I was signing up to be the caretaker of a new life and every decision I made with my body in pregnancy and nursing and then with the child in the future, could potentially hurt or help it....my ideas on lots of things changed.

Working closely with the H1N1 influenza epidemic meant I knew it had relatively low chances of killing or hurting the average person BUT that it could potentially kill a pregnant woman, her fetus, and a newborn. So I did some of my own research and decided the benefits of the medicine outweighed the potential ramifications. So I went ahead and received both flu vaccinations when I was pregnant.

Many people think vaccinations are linked to Autism and other disease/disorders. There are people who had thriving infants who were cooing and almost crawling then ended up with Autism (for example) later on. Parents say they noticed a difference after the vaccinations. There was also a study which (later was rebuked) supported the link.

But nothing is proven 100%. And I have seen people with polio and there was an outbreak of whooping cough in a nearby state. Plus with my career, he is bound to come across some diseases. So I can only act on what I know.

LJ's first vaccinations went well, I guess. They would not let me breastfeed him throughout (I thought this would work). I held his little arms as he stared at the lights. The two techs jammed needles into his thighs at the same time. He screamed like I've never heard, turned red, and kept his mouth open with his body arched in pain. After they finished scooped him up and nursed him. He fell asleep and seemed to forget about it when he woke up later.