To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate?

So the latest scare in the U.S. is undeniably h1n1, or the "swine flu." I have to admit that I have been so stressed about this strand of the flu, and it especially hit me this week when the vaccinations for pregnant women only became available. I talked with some friends and just kept going back and forth - at first, I was VERY against it. I thought if I could just make it 5 more weeks then I wouldn't have to worry about it, and I had read that it takes a few weeks to get into your system anyway. So, I had pretty much made up my mind that I wasn't going to get the vaccine. After all, all the people I had heard of that had the swine flu were better within days, so what is the big deal?

Then I started hearing reports of the pregnant women that were getting the swine flu. Many are in the hospital, very very sick on ventilators. Some have died along with their unborn babies. Apparently, pregnant women have been getting VERY sick. While some others are getting very sick also, I had only heard of a few bad cases and the rest were fine...until I started hearing about the pregnant women. I was pretty scared about it, especially just thinking that the health department was only giving it out to pregnant women...that made me think in itself.

Today I visited my dr. for my 34 week (although I'm 2 days away from 35 weeks) checkup. Everything is looking great!! I am even able to go down to only checking my blood sugars 2 times a day instead of 4 since they are so good. However, he did not hesitate to tell me to go get vaccinated immediately. I didn't ask a lot of questions because I didn't feel the need to. If my VERY conservative (I'm taking - very conservative - won't even approve 4D ultrasounds because they aren't FDA approved!) doctor is telling me to get the vaccine, then I know it's important.

So, needless to say, Andy and I made a lovely trip to the Pulaski County Health Department and I am praying I didn't pick up hepatitis while I was there... :P We were there about an hour and a half and left feeling like we needed to shower and me with an incredibly sore arm.

But, it's done. I just have to trust God that everything will be fine...but I don't have any regrets. I'd rather get the vaccine then get the h1n1 flu and risk both of our lives. It doesn't make it any scarier, but there are many things in life that are scary...we just have to trust that God will help us through it. So, for all of my friends that were asking - yes, after some of my own research, talking to my doctor, family, and husband, and prayer - if you are pregnant, I think you should totally get the vaccine. That is just my opinion, and I'm not posting that on Facebook unless I'm asked because I don't want to deal with the controversy, but I just can't risk losing my baby or becoming very sick myself.

Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."


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