Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Feeling sick from all the talk on the H1N1 vaccine...

It is just so overwhelming...

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I have been back and forth on the decision if I would take the vaccine or not.

Up until the last couple of weeks I was pretty decided on not getting it...

Why?
1) I'm not sure about the research time allowed for it was enough
2) I feel the media is blowing it out of proportion quite a bit
3) I am not one to get the flu and I haven't gotten the flu shot forever
4) I would basically be a guinea pig in all of this
5) My baby would basically be a guinea pig in all of this

Now I am starting to get more decided on that I will take the plunge and get the vaccine...

Why?
1) Canada does have a good health care system- something would be wrong if I couldn't trust in it
2) My doctor does recommend it and explained that the base is the same as any flu just the virus is different...
3) The virus does have a large effect on the respiratory system. If you remember in the past I have gone from a clean bill of health from a respiratory doctor to in the hospital 2 days later with pneumonia and a collapsed lung.
4) To add on to that while pregnant all of our organs are squished- this includes our lungs... so I am already working with less lung space then I normally would have- thus I could react that much worse to the virus
5) It will also protect my baby who will be born during the height of the flu season
6) What if I wasn't vaccinated and me and my baby got the strain and something terrible happened to the baby? Would I feel guilty knowing I had an option to take something that supposedly had little risk but I chose not to and look what happened...
7) M's school has the flu going around it right now- When I do supply I am supplying for sick teachers... I can't avoid it... maybe I can quarantine myself- but that doesn't mean that I won't get the virus in the house by M or from the grocery store etc no matter how much sanitizer I use
8) Pregnant women have been taking the vaccine in Austrailia since August/September and you hear nothing in the news about anything bad happening there...
9) Healthy teenagers and children are dying from this ... what would happen to a mother who is already high risk due to asthma and a newborn who has no immune system??

I think for now I feel that the risks from taking the shot are far less then what the risks would be if me and the baby contracted the virus itself...

I am also trying to get M to make the decision to get the shot as well since he will be hanging around the baby (obviously), my parents are also getting it since my mum is high risk due to asthma as well and they don't want the stress of wondering if they would bring the flu to the baby as well.

This is the right decision right? My reasons for taking it make sense and are reasonable and researched enough right? There is little chance it would affect the baby at all right? Is there a country I can just move to that doesn't have a flu season that I can live at until the baby is an adult?

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