Vaccinations

Donna had asked me a question regarding vaccinations. What do we do with them? Good question! With our first two children we had them fully vaccinated. However, towards the last couple of shots with our second I had been doing more research on the matter. I was uneasy about what I had read and we spaced them out some more. Then with our third child, along with doing a whole lot more reading and having a midwife who was against vaccinations we decided not to give her any. I have to say, to this day, she is my child that somewhere deep inside of me I feel something would have happened to her. Maybe not severe, but something. I have never been able to shake that feeling whenever I continue my research. I have had a doctor try to scare me into them. He would not let up, so we left the practice. With all the doctors visits with Jed I was sure it was going to be an issue, and with one doctor it was. The doctor who admitted us to the hospital never said a word about it....until afterwards on a return followup visit. The visit was supposed to be about how we were going to manage Jedidiah's feedings. However, the whole visit was nothing but vaccinations! I kept going back to the topic of how I was supposed to feed my child (the doctors at the hospital wanted that to be between our doctor and me so this doctor was the one who was supposed to be giving me how much, when, and all that other feeding info I had been waiting for..). He would literally start a sentence on the topic of feeding and stop, and then go on and on about how we don't vaccinate. I NEVER got the information I really needed! He's worried that my child MIGHT get some horrid disease, BUT never mind that he WOULD die if I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to feed my child. Um, yeah, that makes a lot of sense :-) He told me that if Jed was to come down with a fever that I would have to take him to the ER, as he was not willing to see him because we didn't vaccinate. Ok, sorry for the little rant there, maybe I just had some pent up emotions from the whole ordeal :-) We currently have a wonderful doctor. He told us when we first visited that if we wanted vaccinations that we would have to get them somewhere else as he did not have enough patients to stock them. And he's never said a word about it since! He's the kind of doctor who actually listens to you!!!! A very rare novelty!!!! I told him even if we moved half way across the state I would still keep him as our doctor. He is fine with me trying our natural remedies. And he knows my hard stance on antibiotics. That is why I respect his opinion. Last winter when we were all getting the flu he told me that the Jeremiah, the girls and I were fine to ride it out but that although he wouldn't tell us what to do he felt very strongly that Jed take the Tamaflu meds. And ya know what, we did! I was able to take his advice because he knows how I feel about meds and wouldn't recommend them if it weren't truly necessary. Ok, now I'm off on another tangent.

My best advice, Donna, would be to really ask around. Maybe find a homebirth meetup as a lot of women in them are usually more into natural remedies and ask them who they see for their doctor. And I would also recommend that you always continue researching. I know that if we were to go out of the country that I would have my children vaccinated. Only because at that point a lot of factors change. I believe that God has made our bodies to work. Yes they fail at times because we live in a sinful world, but he gave our bodies mechanisms to fight disease. Also, I have read enough to know that proper nutrition and good hygiene go a long way to fight off illness. But other countries may not have those God ordained sanitary conditions to fight off disease. So I am not a total die hard antivaccinationist (is that a word?). No matter which decision we make regarding vaccinations, we are taking a risk. Which risk are we willing to live with? Which is also why I feel that it is my duty (to my children) to feed them well. I recently mentioned that we have had more sugar in our diet than I would like. Sugar is a big, bad, no-no. It totally renders your immune system useless for a few hours. You have some sugar at breakfast, then at dinner, then at.....it really adds up, leaving your body without its proper defense.

There are so many aspect to talk about regarding vaccinations. For example the number of people who still come down with the diseases that they have been vaccinated against. Or the fact that some of the diseases have been making a comeback, but they have mutated, so now vaccinations are not effective against it. Or the pro-life factor, that there has been vaccines made with aborted fetal tissue. It doesn't matter how "watered" down it is now, some poor aborted baby was used to make it. And of course all the issues that vaccines hinder your immune system. I mean, how many people do you know have ever had 7 diseases attack them at once? Yet they give that all-in-one shot that has 7 vaccines in it. It may only be 5 vaccines in the all-in-one, but I know they were trying to get one approved for 7. I mean 7!!!! And this is on infants, a wee little person, who's body is still forming at a rapid rate, and it's body is learning how to work with the world. So lets inject them with a bunch of poisons. Yes, those poisons are in very small quantities, but it's also going into a very small person. Never mind all the doctors and nurses who won't even get some of the newer shots coming out now. Why is that? Oh, am I going on and on again? I'm sorry! I hope I even answered your question with all these babblings!! If not, or if you have any others, feel free to ask.

On a side note we went to our church's reading of Deuteronomy. I didn't get to listen to all of it as I had a fussy baby. But even still it was really neat to see all the families gathered together reading great lengths of God's word. Children sitting, listening as well. Although some children colored, or fell asleep. Even some of the older girls and some of the women were knitting or crocheting as they listened. There was a small break for some snacks. The evening went from 6 pm until 9:15 or so. I wish I could convey just how special I think our church is. We are not perfect to be sure, but there is just something about having the families as a whole participating. There are a lot of us in the church who did not have a Christian upbringing. There are many times when we are trying to find our footing. And what a blessed thing to be able to go to an older woman or another family who may be generations strong in the faith to turn to. It is really amazing. And I also love that I will get the truth, as hard as it may be, as much as I don't want the truth at that moment. But that truth is given in love. It's not watered down, nor is it shoved down either. We also have a diverse body, with interesting talents and interests. I just heard that one of the ladies knows how to cut hair. She had told someone else that she would show her how to cut her boys' hair. I said, "Hey, lets make it a class! I need to learn too!" Another lady just told me today that she would help me pick out paint colors for our house. She told me that when I was ready that she would come with me to pick out the colors! Then there are a bunch of women who sew, or knit, or......the list goes on. One young gentleman came to help us with our computer. And lets not forget all the wonderful hands that help with the young ones. I usually don't know where Jonah is on Sundays! He's off with one of the many girls waiting 'in line' to hold him :-)

I seem to be in a rambling mood this evening! I must be off to bed. Even though Jed may have gone to bed later than normal, that doesn't mean that he will sleep in later than normal.

Have a blessed day!