Vaccines

When I was around 8 years old I developed the Chicken Pox.  A few days later my older sister developed them too resulting in her missing a pool party at her friend Amy's house.  She didn't speak to me for days and laid on the guilt for many years after.  (If she reads this post I am sure the anguish of the moment will return for her, my apologies).

Now, our children are vaccinated against Chicken Pox amongst many more ghastly diseases.  There is nothing fun about having your child vaccinated.  At 2 months Gabriel was so upset that my husband spent the afternoon in a rocking chair soothing him for hours.  At his 4 month appointment he seemed to handle the injections better only to have an extremely fussy night with a fever at 1:30 am.  (The appointment was yesterday and I am standing here blurry eyed forgetting the spelling of the most basic words).  I wonder if pediatricians intentionally give injections after the exam where you learn how much your little peanut has grown and how developmentally advanced he is.  With the happy chemicals flowing your little baby is given 3 injections and you can almost bear it.

So, why do I do it?  I know and respect some parents who have struggled with whether to vaccinate their children.  I have heard the "research" that vaccines cause Autism or are simply ineffective.  I choose to believe the research that explains how preventative vaccines are.  As a licensed social worker I am aware of the diagnosis of Autism and how it manifests.  My husband and I were both vaccinated, neither of us fall on the Autism spectrum.  I trust that my healthy, developing children will not suddenly become autistic because we chose to vaccinate them.  We made the decision to vaccinate even though in the moment it is uncomfortable for us and for our child.  For us it is simple, we could not live with ourselves if our children developed a preventable disease because of a decision we made.