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!