Friday, October 23, 2009

Phone Photo Friday- No One's Catching H1N1 edition

A huge thanks to Bill for braving the crowds on Monday to stand in line for 2 1/2 hours to get the H1N1 vaccine for Ben and attempt to get it for himself. I credit our network of moms from our new baby 2006 group for continuing to post to our listserve who had vaccine, who didn't, what limitations, and an long ongoing debate about preservative.

Bill headed out to the closest location which luckily was only 10 mins away. Based on earlier reports that the clinics were starting distribution as soon as lines formed, Bill got there about 45 mins ahead.

Recipe for disaster: bored, hungry child, with litte to do/play with while waiting in line. Add to this not being able to reach me at school after 10+ phone and text messages were not sent due to a jammed network.

In a perfect work we were hoping to get a preservative free vaccine for all of us, but by this point of waiting in line and also hearing that none were in this shipment and there was speculation that they would never be sent we opted to go ahead and just be thankful we got it. Bill indicated that unless you met CDC guidelines no adults would be allowed to get the vaccine. Bill told them I was pregnant, a teacher, and that he had major surgery in the past 3 months. He got it and while we both feel a bit bad knowing people in the line including friends didn't get it, I also know that the mama bear in me doesn't want my family to have this mess at any cost.

I called my OB who had gone through their dose of regular flu vaccine in less than 4 days immediately and was told they expected it later this week and to call back. Through a total chance my girlfriend who is also pg emailed me on Tuesday to say, they had returned her call and had actually just gotten 100 dose in.

So on the way to the fair we stopped by, I ran in got my vaccine (unfortunately NOT preservative free), changed Ben's poopy pants and we took off for the fair all vaccinated and feeling a little better.

I typically don't buy into media hype, remember the Monkey Pox? But with the rising number of kids hit (yesterday projections that 1 in 5 kids already have shown symptoms) as well as the fact that flu can be fatal for baby and mom in pg patients I wanted to get this vaccine.

Ben has sworn to wearing his band aid all week since his arm hurt the first day. Somehow seeing him sleeping, holding his motorcycle, and looking peaceful made me so thankful that the number one item on the to do list this week was successfully achieved.

Sending out short lines and a large supply of vaccine to all my friends still waiting.

3 comments:

LauraC said...

Glad you guys got the shot, you are all definitely in higher priority groups!!

Beth said...

Awesome that you all got the shot. Ed is home with a fever as we speak. Have no idea if it's swine flu or not. And if it is, did the kids have it, but just not get very sick? How do you know? Doctors don't want to see patients unless they're really, really sick. I'm inclined to think we don't have H1N1, but what do I know? And now that blows tomorrow's plan for Ed to stand in line and for me to wait in the car with the boys. I guess I'll be dragging two toddlers along with me, and braving it by myself. Ugh!!

Sandra said...

I've been having some of the same issues but also thinking how fortunate we all are to live in a country where we have the luxury of worrying about flu vaccine - thanks for the good ole USA!