little cocoon

I will have to take a picture sometime of Lucas and how I get him to nap during the day.  There was a period of time around 4-5 months where Lucas was fighting daytime naps.  A dear friend of mine offered to show me a swaddling technique where you just swaddle the arms down by his side.  Lucas has this need to flap his arms like he's going to take off flying OR making snow angels.  It's cute but it keeps him wide awake.  I call this swaddling technique the "straight jacket swaddle."  Hilarious.

This morning, Lucas decided to fight sleep a little more than usual.  It took me 30 minutes to get him to go to sleep but that was almost 2 hours ago so well worth it.  He'll wake up happy and in a good mood and we'll head to Wild Oats to pick up some things.  He's a joy.

Lucas had his 6 month checkup yesterday and was 16 lbs and 8 oz.  He was 27 inches long.  What a big boy!  He did very well with his vaccines which I was proud of.  I decided to not do the flu vaccine but Jeff and I will get the Flumist.  Hopefully that'll help.

vaccines

This article really throws a monkey wrench into the whole vaccine debate. I am so TORN on this whole issue. On one hand, I really applaud those who DO vaccine their children for without them, the unvaccinated couldn't enjoy their lack of vaccination - measles, mumps, rubella, polio among others would be rampant again. Thanks to vaccines over the years, many diseases have been wiped out. Everytime a friend of mine tells me they are delaying their vaccines or not doing them at all, my mind always goes back to those that DO vaccine. Thank you. Without many of you following the guidelines, the rest would have to fight the diseases rather than the vaccine industry. On the other hand, what if there is something to the whole autism thing?

What have I done in regards to vaccines? Well, we did skip hepatitis B. My reasoning was simple. I have been vaccinated against hepatitis B as it was required in pharmacy school. I have had titers drawn to make sure I am still immune, so I knew at delivery that L didn't have a chance of contracting the disease unless he were to get it in the hospital (the first argument given to me by a NICU nurse). True... keep in mind though that L's location was a heavily guarded NICU. Everyone in contact directly with L has been vaccinated as well as it is required by the hospital for staff to be vaccinated against hepatitis B. I felt fairly safe that L was not going to suddenly pop up and be on the street injecting himself with a syringe, having unsafe sex, etc... I opted out of it at this time. I know that he will receive them later, and it will be fine. He's not in a daycare setting. I feel confident of my decision.

So, he's received the remainder at 2 months. His reaction? A lot of sleep. At 4 months, I skipped DTaP to see if there was a difference in reaction. He had none. We're going to go next month for DTaP to catch up.

My worst fear is the return of these diseases. The reason is that many times the titers for vaccines decline over time. Case in point when I was 14 years old I contracted mumps. Go figure... and I WAS vaccinated.

vaccines

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=716&e=9&u=/ap/20041204/ap_on_he_me/mysterious_flu_shots

Interesting. What was in those shots? My guess is saline. $20/shot sounds reasonable to have the one motive needed... money for Christmas. My whole feelings toward the flu shot are well known with friends and colleagues of mine. I am totally against the shot with the exception of the elderly. I wouldn't want to give one to my child (if I had one!), to me, or to anyone of normal age and health. High risk is a relative term. You might think that I am high risk just because I am a pharmacist, but in all actually I come into contact with no patients (I work for a company who supplies drugs to prisons all over the country). In pharmacy school, we were taught how to give a flu shot and went through a certification program. But, today, I'd have to say... no flu shot for me. And if you ask my opinion about getting one? Don't.

Here's why:Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Centre, a consumer's group based in Virginia, USA, claims vaccines are responsible for the increasing numbers of children and adults who suffer from immune system and neurologic disorders, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and seizure disorders. She calls for studies to monitor the long-term effects of mass vaccination and Fisher wants physicians to be absolutely sure these vaccines are safe and not harming people.

No one can deny the dangers of vaccines. The measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) and polio vaccines, all contain live but weakened viruses. Although health officials tell you that polio has been wiped out in the US since 1979, they often fail to mention that all recorded cases of polio since that time are actually caused by the polio vaccine.

Vaccine investigator Neil Z. Miller questions whether we still need the polio vaccine when it causes every new case of polio in the USA. Before mass vaccinations programs began fifty years ago, Miller insists we didn't have cancer in epidemic numbers, that autoimmune ailments were barely known, and childhood autism did not exist.

Citations of flu vaccine damage:http://www.whale.to/vaccines/flu2.html

In fact just take a peek at this whole websites findings.http://www.whale.to/vaccines/flu.html
Keep the flu vaccine away from moi!