When my GP finally walked into her office yesterday she was an hour late. She sat hurriedly at the computer. "I am so sorry. I am running so late. Give me a minute, let me get up your file... and here it is... and... OMG! I didn't know that's what you where here for. That's fucking amazing".
Yup. My doctor actually said that to me.
I had my first prenatal appointment. They did the usual, height, weight, and ordered some labs for blood work and urine and of course to get the magic hcg numbers. The numbers that will let me know that the baby is going to be ok. I am also going to be going for a dating and viability ultrasound sometime next week.
I am excited and terrified.
I am so excited to hear my baby's teeny, tiny heart beating away, and to see him or her for the first time, all contorted and tadpole like this early in the pregnancy. Terrified about the viability part. Terrified they won't find that teeny tiny heart. They are doing this of course because of my history. Because of the last pregnancy that ended so early.
My doctor is actually also my mother's doctor, and my sister's, and my sister-in-law's, and my nephew's... what can I say... if you find a doctor that is so excited for you that she swears at you you share her with family. But this means she has to be sworn to secrecy because we aren't ready to tell family. My mother has enough on her plate worrying about my father that she doesn't need to hear news that won't be forever good. We can wait to tell her for a few more weeks.
My doctor however did almost let the cat out of the bag already. Because I am negative for titers to measles, mumps and rubella I have concerns about my in-laws who don't vaccinate as well as a trip to Europe we have planned for this summer where these diseases are having an outbreak. My doctor decided to seek advice from the head of infectious diseases at the hospital. She started the e-mail by saying "my patient" and she used my name. "That's my mom's boss!" I quickly pointed out to her. "You can't let my mom's boss know I'm pregnant before I tell her!!"
Yes, not only do I go to the same doctor as my mother, but the doctor is at the hospital where my mother has worked for 25 years and the head of infectious diseases for the hospital is my mother's boss. It is so hard to keep a secret in a town the size of 3 million people isn't it?
The good news is that the advice is to be more afraid of car accidents. The infectious disease doctor says I likely have some functional immunity even if I don't have titers being raised against the diseases and so I should feel comfortable to enjoy our weeks in Europe.
Showing posts with label measles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label measles. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Jumping up on my soapbox
I want to start this post standing on my soap box.
Vaccines rule.
If you don't have one go out and get one. It saves lives. Period. Andrew Wakefield is a big fat liar who has made a lot of money selling fear to parents. He was stripped of his medical license for being a fraud. He has been discredited by scientists everywhere. Millions of dollars that could have been spent investigating the causes of autism have been spent trying to replicate his lies, trying to prove and disprove his lies. In the meantime lots of children have died.
this web page is a bit chilling. It outlines the number of illnesses that could have been prevented by vaccines as well as the number of lives saved.
If you are an "objector" then I suggest that you watch this. It is an hour long lecture which is aimed at breaking down the rhetoric used by the anti-vaccine movement. Or read this article which outlines the unraveling of the web of lies.
All of that said I think that the anti-vaccine movement is a bit like a religion. You will never be able to talk someone out of their religious beliefs. They will not convert from Judaism to Later Day Saints or Protestant to Baptist based on a 2 minute tirade from a crazy woman writing a blog. So i recognize that if anyone who reads this is part of the anti-vaccine movement all I've done is piss you off... sorry.
That said I am very passionate about the anti-vaccine movement for a number of reasons:
1) The science was bad. Andrew Wakefield made money. Babies died. That simple.
2) Because of my medical condition I seem to be practically completely unable to maintain an immunity for a long period of time to any vaccine. I have had my measles, mumps and rubella a couple of times, i have head the hepB shot 7 times (i worked with human blood and it is a requirement). No immunity. I've actually HAD chicken pox. No immunity. As a result I rely on the herd immunity to keep me, and suddenly my precious little package, safe. Measles, mumps and rubella cause miscarriages and birth defects in unborn babies. A baby who is breast fed continues to receive maternal antibodies for months after birth until they develop their own immune system. This is something I will not be able to do.
My in-laws are among the group of conscientious objectors who do not have their children vaccinated. As a result my husband and I have decided that until our baby is born I will not visit them. For the first few months, until we tell them this is going to be so awkward... but after they know why I am hoping they will understand.
Unfortunately there seems to be a shit storm of outbreaks brewing and while I can easily (if not pleasantly) avoid my in-laws I can not avoid everyone else. I have just heard that there is an outbreak in an ultra orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn New York and a single cases in Williamsburg.
Ok - so it amounts to 22 cases in a city of several million, but measles spreads, easily. And so I feel a bit of reluctance to travel there this weekend. The case spread from a single family who traveled to the UK recently, where there are over 1200 cases reported just in Wales. Many people in the UK are scrambling now to get vaccinated.
The fact is: it is safer to be an unvaccinated person in a well-vaccinated community than a vaccinated person in an unvaccinated community. There is always the incentive for people to wait for everyone else to be vaccinated rather than to take the precautions themselves.But, remember: the safest is to be a vaccinated person in a well-vaccinated community. This is how we eradicate the diseases like polio and small pox. And hopefully we can eradicate scourges like Andrew Wakefield too.
Vaccines rule.
If you don't have one go out and get one. It saves lives. Period. Andrew Wakefield is a big fat liar who has made a lot of money selling fear to parents. He was stripped of his medical license for being a fraud. He has been discredited by scientists everywhere. Millions of dollars that could have been spent investigating the causes of autism have been spent trying to replicate his lies, trying to prove and disprove his lies. In the meantime lots of children have died.
this web page is a bit chilling. It outlines the number of illnesses that could have been prevented by vaccines as well as the number of lives saved.
If you are an "objector" then I suggest that you watch this. It is an hour long lecture which is aimed at breaking down the rhetoric used by the anti-vaccine movement. Or read this article which outlines the unraveling of the web of lies.
All of that said I think that the anti-vaccine movement is a bit like a religion. You will never be able to talk someone out of their religious beliefs. They will not convert from Judaism to Later Day Saints or Protestant to Baptist based on a 2 minute tirade from a crazy woman writing a blog. So i recognize that if anyone who reads this is part of the anti-vaccine movement all I've done is piss you off... sorry.
That said I am very passionate about the anti-vaccine movement for a number of reasons:
1) The science was bad. Andrew Wakefield made money. Babies died. That simple.
2) Because of my medical condition I seem to be practically completely unable to maintain an immunity for a long period of time to any vaccine. I have had my measles, mumps and rubella a couple of times, i have head the hepB shot 7 times (i worked with human blood and it is a requirement). No immunity. I've actually HAD chicken pox. No immunity. As a result I rely on the herd immunity to keep me, and suddenly my precious little package, safe. Measles, mumps and rubella cause miscarriages and birth defects in unborn babies. A baby who is breast fed continues to receive maternal antibodies for months after birth until they develop their own immune system. This is something I will not be able to do.
My in-laws are among the group of conscientious objectors who do not have their children vaccinated. As a result my husband and I have decided that until our baby is born I will not visit them. For the first few months, until we tell them this is going to be so awkward... but after they know why I am hoping they will understand.
Unfortunately there seems to be a shit storm of outbreaks brewing and while I can easily (if not pleasantly) avoid my in-laws I can not avoid everyone else. I have just heard that there is an outbreak in an ultra orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn New York and a single cases in Williamsburg.
Ok - so it amounts to 22 cases in a city of several million, but measles spreads, easily. And so I feel a bit of reluctance to travel there this weekend. The case spread from a single family who traveled to the UK recently, where there are over 1200 cases reported just in Wales. Many people in the UK are scrambling now to get vaccinated.
The fact is: it is safer to be an unvaccinated person in a well-vaccinated community than a vaccinated person in an unvaccinated community. There is always the incentive for people to wait for everyone else to be vaccinated rather than to take the precautions themselves.But, remember: the safest is to be a vaccinated person in a well-vaccinated community. This is how we eradicate the diseases like polio and small pox. And hopefully we can eradicate scourges like Andrew Wakefield too.
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