H1N1

Among all the debate in the H1N1 controversy there are parents wondering what to do. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate. I hear about this on the days that I work. Nurses who talk about what they should do for themselves and for their children. Some don't want to vaccinate themselves or their children, but I decided to vaccinate. It was a spontaneous decision for myself. We had a patient who was only 1 year older than myself who suffered and finally succumbed to this virus. That and the Infectious Disease MD saying that if you didn't get this vaccine we were crazy. It is hard to know what to do when it comes to our children. I vaccinated myself to ultimately protect Lyla. I don't want to bring anything home that could injure her. So when the clinics started to open with vaccines and people were waiting 5 hours for a shot I didn't know what to do. I went to a clinic and waiting 45 minutes outside in the freezing cold in a non moving line, hearing that once you got inside it was at least another hour. Lyla and I gave up and went home. I called her clinic daily to see if they got vaccines and they never knew anything about it. Today I called and yes they had vaccines. A limited amount. They gave me a time of 1:45. I asked if they had anything earlier or later because that was during her nap time. They said the morning was booked and if I waited until later they doubted that they would have any vaccines left - so we took it. They also said that they may not even have any vaccine when we got there at 1:45. But we got it. Lyla got her H1N1 today. In 4 weeks we have to hope we can get her second shot. I feel better knowing that Lyla is protected. I do vaccinate Lyla, although my schedule is altered as we don't give her all the shots at once but she does get her vaccines and is up to date by her next appointment. I believe in vaccinating - that is just my opinion. However, she usually gets sick from the shot the next day, a fever and just cranky. But I will take that over the illnesses and impacts that the H1N1 are having on children this season.