A lot of you know my feelings on vaccines. While I think that SOME vaccines have their place in this world, I think that we go totally overboard with the way we handle pediatric vaccinations when following the AAP specifications. There is no way an infant should have three needles stuck in to him, one after the other. First of all, that is an excessive amount of pain. Additionally, that is way too much chemical to put into a child. So we made the decision to delay vaccinations until 6 months and spread them out so that the boy only receives one shot per visit.
More though, and this is where I draw the line and say "absolutely not," there are 5 different vaccines that use serum derived from aborted fetal tissue. I do not think that there is anything that justifies killing a baby, not even using the remnants in vaccine production. These vaccines we decline completely until Merk decides to cease this practice.
So we head in for Jude's first vaccine at Jude's 6 month appointment. I am terrified, but have put some prayer into it for peace and protection. Turns out, Jude has a low fever, so they wouldn't do the vaccine anyway. I am actually relieved at this point!
Same story at 7 months.
Month 8 we spent looking for a new peditrician, because eventhought we love Jude's doctor, we were not totally enammoured with his partner, and the last several visits, we had her and they were so busy that we waited hours.
This brings us to Dr. B, a new family doctor in our area. He moved his practice here in January, and I could find no one who had any experience with him. I ended up in his office a few months ago when I realized that my migraines had come back with a vengance. I was really impressed with his patient interaction, as with his answers to my questions about babies and vaccines. I made Jude's 9 month appointment that day! I made Jeff's physical check up appointment, too. He's turning 35 in a few weeks, you know!
We arrived yesterday and his nurse said that he could see Jeff and Jude together. HUGE time saver. During the entire week before, I began praying for that peace that I needed and for protection for the boy.
We went through the formalities of the check up: height: 27 in. weight: 21 lbs. (!) head circumference: 17 in. Meeting the milestones: CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!
Then comes time for that shot! I remained in my seat while Jeff put the boy on the table and held his arms. It occurred to me that maybe I should hold his other foot, because he is a kicker (and a picker, and a pincher) but by the time I got there and got my hand on his foot, that needle was already in. I just looked at him, clapped my hands and said, "Yeay! Good job!" He loves hand clapping!
Jude did not flinch, did not bat an eye, not a tear or a peep. O.k. One peep. When the nurse put the band-aid on she did this little thing where she rubbed his leg and he said, "heh, heh, heh!" He's been doing this weird little laugh for about two weeks now.
For the rest of the day, he never acted like anything was wrong, and the vaccine did not make him tired. As a matter of fact, I think it took Jeff abotu 45 minutes to get him to sleep. I could hear him up the hallway forever going, "ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya."
So, our first experience with vaccines was in no way traumatic and I am in total awe to the way that God answered my prayers!
If you're looking for some good reading on vaccines (and I have done TONS of reading) I highly recommend Dr. Robert Sears's
The Vaccine Book and the web site
www.cogforlife.org.
I really do
NOT recommend
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccines, by Stephanie Cave and Deborah Mitchell. I feel like that one was more an exercise in fear mongering than real research. Plus, the research hasn't been updated in over 10 years and vaccine issues have certainly been updated since then.
