Ahhh! Immunizations!

I knew that there would be decisions that came up in raising Ellie that we would really have to pray/think through to make a choice that we felt was best for her. And I knew there would be parents on polar opposite sides of the issue trying to tell me that their way was the ONLY way to go. What I didn't know was just how hard it would be to make those decisions for our family and feel solid about them. A lot of them aren't just black and white. With Ellie's 4 month check up coming up, the topic of immunizations lurks around the corner once again. I had a 100% natural childbirth after thorough research about the issue. We felt that we didn't want to pump all the junk into my system (and thus into Ellie's), if it wasn't necessary to do so. Why put a bunch of synthetic drugs into our bodies that actually increase difficulties in the long run if we could let everything naturally take it's course the way the Lord designed things to happen? We opted not to have the eye ointment (an antibiotic that is to protect Ellie from sexually transmitted diseases), but did have the Hep B vaccine when she was born. Our thoughts on this were that we knew for a fact we didn't have any STD's, but we thought Hep B was easily passed from someone who had it and thought there was no way to know for sure that everyone she was going to come in contact with couldn't pass it on to her (nurses, doctors, family, friends...). At her 2 month check up, I feel like we didn't do as much research as we could have but had come to the decision to get all the recommended vaccinations. The doctors & handouts make the diseases they vaccinate against seem so scary and imminent, and yet make the possible side effects appear so unassuming. Right after getting her the vaccines we did a little more research and had a pit in our stomachs the next few days. Having learned that pharmaceutical companies add mercury to vaccinations that some say leads to autism, and reading the ingredients in some of the vaccines (ie monkey kidneys!?!) we weren't so sure about the decision we had made the day before. We continued to wrestle with it, research, and talk to family and friends who we trusted. Upon finding out that the vaccines Ellie got didn't have the mercury in them, and not seeing Ellie react adversely our minds were put a little more at ease. Jake and I arrived at the conclusion that maybe we would space future vaccinations out a little instead of giving her 6 all at once, and make sure ahead of time that they didn't contain mercury. We (thought) we had come to the conclusion that it's kind of a lose/lose situation, but choosing to vaccinate was the better one for us. On one hand, if we immunize her there could be crazy side effects and we were introducing foreign crazy products into her pure little body. And on the other hand if we didn't immunize her, she could A.) contract a deadly disease or B.) be a threat to other little ones (herd immunity). We felt that the best of the two was to immunize her because as much as we would hate for her to have adverse side effects, having her die of polio was even worse to us. Now that it's "time" according the the doctor's schedule to get the next round of immunizations, we still aren't fully confident in that previous conclusion. How likely (a lower %) is it that she will get these diseases vs. how likely (a higher %) the side affects are? Is it worth the risk not to vaccinate? Is it a responsibility to the public? We are weighing out the pros and cons, and trying to make the best decision for this sweet little life we've been entrusted with. Lord give us wisdom!

Ellie Grace: 4 months

Our Ellie girl turned 4 months old today! We had a great last month with her. She rolled over 2 times (but hasn't done it again yet). We went on a little overnight getaway to the Oregon Garden Resort to celebrate my birthday, went to her first Blazer game, went to bullwinkles & the children's museum when her cousins came to visit for the weekend, and got dedicated at our church (Athey Creek Christian Fellowship) on  February 17th. It's so fun to see her continually developing. She has really started to reach for toys dangled above her, is noticing her feet (and grabbing them), and likes sitting in her bumbo and standing on her strong little legs. It warms my heart to see her instant smiles when I sing her a good morning song when she wakes up for the day. Her awesome routine of sleeping through the night has completely done a 180. She started waking up again for a 4:30am feeding, and I thought it was just a growth spurt until it lasted the whole month. We are now trying to get her to wait until 6:30 or 7 like she used to for her first feeding, but it's resulted in a restless nights sleep for all of us. She doesn't scream all night or anything, but just stirs and sqwaks and wants her binky oh about every hour or so. We're hoping she'll grow out of this soon. :) Ellie started taking naps in her own crib (instead of all over the house or in her pack n play in our room), and has transitioned to sleeping there for naps flawlessly. We also have mostly dropped her late night (10:30 pm) feeding which is nice. She talks up a storm, and has added a (louder) excited squeal to her repetoire. There are so many little things that I want to remember like the way she holds up her shirt for us when we change her diaper, or how snuggly she is when she first wakes up from naps.

* UPDATE:  We took Ellie in for her 4 month check up the day after I posted this. We were still undecided about immunizations, so we decided to wait and are doing more research to try to come to the best (informed) decision we can. We simply were asking questions about them, and it quickly became really awkward. Our pediatrician got physically flustered (shaking, quivering, quick talking) and super defensive about the whole topic without really giving us any solid answers. Anywho, Ellie is healthy as can be weighing in at 14 lbs, 15 oz and measuring 2' 0.5" long. That is 50th percentile for height and 63rd percentile for weight. So glad to have a healthy growing little baby, but also already missing that teeny tiny little girl she was when we first brought her home.