vaccinated!

Story had her first rounds of vaccinations today. It was really scary and rough to watch her go through the four shots (OK...I had to cover my eyes while tim watched. I'm a real wuss.) I strongly believe in vaccination, though, so I feel that it's all for the best.

It's interesting that, due to all of the vaccination outcries by ridiculous people like Jenny McCarthy, our pediatrician went into extreme details about what each disease that we're vaccinating against does to people and why these vaccinations are necessary. Listening to the sympotms of polio, tetanus and the like, I found myself imagining those symptoms happening to Story and it just tore me up. Scary stuff.

I found myself crying afterwards, but not for Story and fear of what she was going through. I was crying thinking about all of the children NOT being vaccinated.

(steps onto soapbox)

The recent anti-vaccination movement really scares me. Though a part of me says, "eh... not my kid. Every parent has the right to their own methods and choices concerning their child's well-being," another part of me says, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" The fact that a whole bunch of parents are refusing to vaccinate their children based on unfounded links between vaccinations and autism is so unfathomable to me. I feel that these parents are so vehemently refusing vaccination because they have grown up in a time of privilege, a time when, thanks to the common use of vaccination in the U.S., they haven't had to deal with what pre-vaccination mothers endured- having one or two children in five live to adulthood, watching your child die of polio, witnessing scores of babies die of any of the diseases we now vaccinate against. Because of this, these mothers live in a sort of rebellious ignorance. One that could, in a worst-case scenario I hope doesn't happen, have these same mothers and fathers who are currently "speaking out against vaccination" on television watching their child die of a measles outbreak or other illness due to their actions.

The compassionate side of me tries to understand Jenny McCarth and other mothers of autistic children who jump to point the finger at vaccinations for their child's condition. As a parent, I have already found myself wondering if every time Story is upset, has tummy pain, hasn't gained weight correctly or gone through some other road bump it's because of me or something I did to her unwittingly. In that aspect, I can understand parents of autistic children wanting someone to blame and vaccinations are an easy scapegoat. Now, I'm not an autism scholar. I'm only a parent who has done resarch and has satisfied my own conscience to the belief that there is still no concrete evidence that shows vaccines cause autism.

Our pediatrician said something that really shook me up at our first interview. When talking with us about how her practice vaccinates all of their patients and explaining to us why, I pointed out how I was 100 percent pro-vaccination and was a bit worried about the increasing numbers of people not vaccinating their children. To this, she replied,

"Well, sadly, it'll only take one mass outbreak of measles in California or Colorado, where parents are refusing to vaccinate in large numbers, and a bunch of children dying to stop this trend."

And the thing that freaks me out is that she's right. God I hope it doesn't happen. But seriously? It's scary.

Anyways, VACCINATE YO KIDZ!

(steps down from soapbox)

Now several hours post-vaccination, Story is totally happy and vocal, smiling and talking to me while hanging out in her boppy. She's still got her cute little band-aids over her shot areas, but she doesn't seem at all affected by the vaccines. I worry about her having a fever, being cranky or fussy and unhappy from the after effects of the vaccines... but you know what? It's nothing compared to what she could go through if I refused to give them to her.

OK, gotta go hang out and shriek/coo with my daughterling!