The Whoop

I picked up my son from daycare last Tuesday to find out two kids were diagnosed with whooping cough. James had started a runny nose and slight cough last Saturday, but it was just a cold. That is until Thursday late afternoon when our pediatrician called with a positive swab for James. He's been vaccinated for this. I shouldn't have to worry about the 100 day cough. Well I thought wrong. Apparently pertussis is a bacterial infection. My whole perception of this disease was changed in a blink when I was told he would be given antibiotics and would no longer be contagious. I am a nurse, but I deliver babies, I don't deal with infectious diseases. I'm still confused as to how you can vaccinate for a bacteria? Anyway he has it. His cough is minimal and I'm told by the health department that it should stay that way since we treated early.

Everyone in the household should be taking a round of antibiotics since we have been exposed. I feel like a character in a syfi movie. I was going to get tested but then I started to become symptomatic so antibiotics it is. I would hate to infect a new born because I hate taking antibiotics.

Then there is the family members on the anti vaccination train.  They send links and articles of scare campaigns to keep you from vaccinating our children, "see they get sick anyway, don't trust the pharmaceutical companies" they say.  According to the health department James has a mild case because he IS vaccinated. 500-1000 kids died each year from pertussis. Why would I risk that because it used to be a "common childhood illness"? So was polio and no one in the US has to suffer from a debilitating illness that our parents generation had to.  And what about small pox? If we didn't vaccinate it wouldn't be eradicated today.

I think people who don't vaccinate like being sick. Why suffer from the flu if you don't have to. I had chicken pox as a child and it was a horrible experience. James never has to experience that.  Saying a vaccine can cause harm to a child is the same as saying peanut butter can cause harm. You have no idea if your child has a peanut allergy before you expose them to it yet most parents do take the chance of exposing them to in hopes they don't have a reaction and can enjoy a tasty snack. A vaccination is the same thing. You expose them to a virus in hopes they don't have a small chance reaction so they can live without fear of contracting a horrible disease.

To each their own. I don't try and convince parents to vaccinate their children, I only give the facts and recommendations of pediatricians and allow you to make the decision. Please don't try to change my mind and I won't try to change yours. I might throw in an I told ya so if your kid gets the measles, but if they don't you could throw out a thank you for my kid keep yours safe.  Soap box done for now.

Lots of Reading

In my previous life I was an English lit major.  I paid a lot of money to read books.  Most of them I found horribly boring, but once in a while the professor would pick out a good one.  I could never be a teacher as my patience runs too thin for excuses and whining, but I often think about what I would pick for my virtual class would read.  Do professors pick based on books they find interesting or what is recommended for that type of class?

I usually stick to fiction novels, but I felt it time to venture out and choose a autobiography/memoir. I am pleasantly surprised at my choice.  It is actually very good and I have a hard time putting it down.  Its called Tracks: one woman's journey across 1,700 miles of australian outback by Robyn Davidson.  Apparently it is going to be a movie.  I can't lie, this is why I picked it.  I hate starting a book to find it hideously hard to read and slow paced just because I am totally uninterested.  A book that is going to be a movie can't be too boring right?  Well thats I how I pick them, based on their cover.  I paid thousands of dollars for my degree and I make my literature selections based on their cover.  I have to say I am rarely disappointed.   I would like to think that my students would think I was the coolest lit prof ever...wink wink.

New Year's resolution

It's been a while since I've posted. This year I hope to post a little more. One of my new year's resolutions is to be as real as possible with myself and others. Over last year I've had to hold my tongue, especially on social media, for fear of compromising our adoption. Not that I would have, but you never know if your opinions on a controversial topic will cause ripples in the water and how far those ripples will travel. I opted to keep my posts to a minimum.  Who knows who reads this anyway. I started this blog as a journal for me and just maybe someone some day will read it and relate. Who knows.

So that being said, our adoption was finalized Dec 15th. Such a happy day. James is the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me. He's pretty much my world. He's perfect. The agency we worked with was very helpful.  They were on top of every thing. And for what we paid them they should have been.  However, now that we are finalized they are very slow to return the money that was left over. We had to give them our life savings within 48 hours and we've been finalized over a month now. It would be nice to pay some bills.

It makes me a bit sad to think that James will likely be our only child. I never want to put a number on his head because how can you say a child costs this amount of money? It's not like we bought our child... or did we? Anyway I refuse to put a number on his head. Unfortunately we may not be able to come up with a substantial amount of money again. I feel that James is supposed to have siblings so for now I'm leaving it up to God's plan. I need more time to love on him anyway; another child would be too much for my heart to handle, it would probably explode.