vaccines.....

Charlotte had her one year doctor's appointment this week. The good part is... she got weighed and measured! As we don't have scales at home, it is so interesting to see how much she has grown when we visit our doctor. She now weighs 21 lbs and 5 oz and is 30.3 inches long! She is slightly under the 50% line for weight and high on the charts for height. Another good part of the visit.... we have a wonderful nurse and family doctor! The nurse was all smiles and words of support when I said I was still breastfeeding... yes! She said, "you must be very busy!" Which is true, because breastfeeding does take up many hours in my day. The doctor asked me if I had gone back to work, and I said that I was staying at home and working with my husband on his new business (more on this later!!) and she said... "Charlotte is very lucky! It's wonderful that you can stay home."
It is so great to hear this encouragement from professionals and I left the appointment feeling very good about my life choices! I know I have made the right ones for our family, but with most of society raising questioning eyebrows, it is encouraging to hear positive feedback from people!

The bad part about the visit.... vaccinations. They are never fun for parent or babe. She had two vaccinations this week... MMR and Meningococal C. At one year, they are scheduled for three, the thid being Varicella (or the Chicken Pox vaccine). Personally, I wasn't comfortable giving her that vaccine without doing some more research and I wanted to separate this vaccine from the other two. If you separate them, you have to wait one month or more for Varicella. She is scheduled to go in, in two months.

Vaccinations are one of the most controverisal topics in parenting circles right now. I am neither totally pro, or totally against vaccines (obviously, because Charlotte has gotten hers!). I am pro education about vaccines though. We delayed Charlotte's first Hep B and she did not get it until 2 months. This was kind of a last minute decision in the hospital, without a whole lot of prior research. After doing some reading online and in my Mothering magazine, I have decided to look into vaccinations in more detail. I purchased "The Vaccine Book" by Robert W. Sears as Chapters yesterday and I am looking forward to getting into it. It is supposed to be full of information, without pushing parents one way or another.

The Momversation video regarding vaccines is more pro-vaccine, check it out here. Check out this article on mothering.com regarding aluminum in vaccines which is an excerpt from "The Vaccine Book".

What do you think? Have you thought about vaccines at all? Did you vaccinate your child? I know this is an extremely senstive and controversial subject, so let's be sensitive in our discussion!