To Vaccinate or Not: That Is the Question

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To Vaccinate or Not?

Vaccinations — whether you chose to vaccinate or not vaccinate your children — is a hot topic among mothers. So first the disclaimer: I am not a doctor; I am a mother, and these are not my medical opinions, but my personal thoughts on and experiences with this touchy subject. This is what was right and necessary for our family, but this does not mean that is right or necessary for each and every family.

When our eldest child came along, I did due diligence. I took a Bradley birthing class. I prepared for a natural, unmedicated birth. (I had an epidural.) I planned to breastfeed, as well as only  feed him organic food for his entire first year of life.

In preparation for his birth,  I read Dr. Sears’  The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child. After reading this book and doing some further research, I chose to do a delayed vaccination series, as well as entirely opting out of the flu shot and chickenpox vaccination.

Receiving multiple vaccinations at one doctor’s visit seemed a little risky to me; and as an added bonus, it made me feel like a good mother by questioning the status quo. As a result, Lewis did not receive the Hepatitis B vaccine at the hospital as recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

When our second son was born, he did received the Hep B vaccine within minutes of being born. And I thank God for this. I thank God that he was born in a country with wonderful, modern medical care, where vaccinations are available and can be administered just minutes after being born, if needed. I thank God for this, because our second son, and later our daughter as well, was born testing positive for Hep B. It was crucial that our son and daughter, who joined our family through adoption, receive this vaccination within 12 hours of birth.

Hepatitis B is a scary, chronic illness for which there is no cure and with few treatment options even here in the U.S. If a child remains Hep B positive (and most do if exposed to the infection at birth and not immediately vaccinated), he or she faces lifelong liver problems, such a scarring of the liver, liver cancer, or even liver failure and death. However, infants who are given the vaccination at birth, and then complete the vaccination series, have a significantly lower chance of developing a chronic Hepatitis B infection.

At the hospital, my husband and I holding Teddy for the first time.
At the hospital, my husband and I holding Teddy for the first time.

Our son received the first dose of the Hep B vaccination at birth, then again at one month, and then at six months. At our son’s nine month check up, the pediatrician ordered a blood draw to see if he had developed antibodies to the disease. He hadn’t.

The CDC recommends that children who do not develop immunity to Hep B during the first round of vaccinations receive a second round of the same vaccination series. So we immediately started on that! Three more shots over a six month period, and finally, one more blood draw.

The nurse called late one Friday afternoon to tell us that our son was Hepatitis B free! What joy! We celebrated that he had been healed. I credit both God and the vaccination for healing my son!

When my daughter was born with the same disease, we knew the drill. She too was vaccinated at birth, one month, and six months. At her nine month check up, the blood work came back showing that she had developed antibodies to Hep B. Yay!

We are now a Hep B-free family. For this, we are incredibly grateful.

So the sticky question — to vaccinate or not — still remains a little hazy for me. After the birth of our second son, we chose to vaccinate the whole family against Hepatitis B. At that time, we also decided to put all of our children on the American Academy of Pediatrics Immunization Schedule. However, we do still opt out of the flu shot and chickenpox vaccination.

I have many friends, who are also fellow mothers, that have chosen to either do a delayed vaccination schedule or not to not vaccinate at all; these are wonderful, smart, nurturing mothers who have made decisions on what is good and necessary for their children, and I respect their decisions. I too find it a bit excessive that so many vaccinations are administered at one doctor’s appointment!

In fact, I am pretty sure that I could have ended up in the No Vac Camp. We were certainly headed down that path. In most everything else, I like to choose a simple, natural approach for my children.

They sleep on organic crib mattress with organic bedding. We eat Annie’s Gluten Free Gingersnaps (they are yum!) to avoid food coloring and gluten. When they have coughs or runny noses, I usually treat it with a homemade concoction of raw honey, garlic, and apple cider vinegar. We drink raw milk, kefir, and kombucha.

But when the topic of vaccinations comes up, I pretty much want to shout it from the rooftops: “We vaccinate and I am proud of it, because a vaccination changed my children’s lives. A vaccination brought healing and hope into my family.”

Here we are as a family.
The whole family, healthy and happy, this past Easter.

Where do you side on the vaccination debate? What’s your opinion?

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Emma
Emma is the wife of Ford and mother to four: Lewis (2010), Teddy (2011), Archibald (2013), and Addie Cate (2013). She is both a biological and adoptive mom and wouldn’t have it any other way. Emma and Ford tied the knot in 2009, and quickly went from a family of two to six. Before Texas was home, she spent her college years in Mississippi; and her childhood in St. Petersburg, Russia where her parents serve as Protestant missionaries. Though she is fluent in Russian, she doesn’t find much use for it on playdates in the metroplex. When she is not buying diapers in bulk, Emma enjoys re-reading Austen and Bronte novels, napping, and the occasional visit to the Kimbell Art Museum. She dreams of one day sleeping in, but till then she is enjoying the long, lovely days at home with her crew of toddlers and babies.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Just curious why you don’t do the chickenpox vaccine. I don’t get skipping that one, but I’m someone who never caught it on my own and was young enough that I was able to get it when it first became available (at 12). My mother-in-law never caught it as a child either and when my husband was 5 he brought it home and infected his 3 yr old brother, his mother, and his infant baby brother. His youngest brother ended up in the NICU for weeks due to chickenpox and my mother-in-law couldn’t visit and was extremely ill herself. I see so many choosing to skip this vaccine and I honestly don’t get it.

  2. For now, we have opted out of the chickenpox vaccine because I think there is some research that suggests having the chickenpox is better life long protection than the vaccine. However, if my children have not caught the illness by the time they are about ten years old, we will go forward with having the chickenpox vaccine.

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