Sick baby

This past week has been one of the hardest since Gerritt's birth. Last Tuesday (December 11th) I took him in to get his first immunizations. We were supposed to do them at our last visit with Gerritt's pediatrician but I wanted to hold off until I read more about the vaccines, their safety profiles, risks vs. benefits, etc. The pediatrician didn't like it at all & gave me "the look." I have just ordered the Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears & was waiting for it to arrive in the mail. After reading it I have decided to follow Dr. Sears's recommended vaccination schedule rather than the one recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Some of the reasons include spreading out the aluminum-containing shots to allow aluminum processing without it reaching toxic levels; giving no more than 2 vaccines at a time to limit potential side effects & to spread out exposure to the numerous chemicals; & giving only 1 live-virus vaccine at at time to allow baby's immune system to deal with each disease separately.
So on Tuesday Gerritt received DTaP & Rotavirus vaccines. I was dreading the immunizations for a long time, however, Gerritt didn't even cry when a medical assistant administered a shot in his right thigh. I had expected a red face, screaming, & a hard-to-calm-down baby, & instead Gerritt was smiling & content as soon as he was dressed. The Rotavirus vaccine came in a liquid form & was administered orally. So happy Mom & baby went home. Little did I know...
That afternoon Gerritt vomited twice. During the next 3 days he vomited several more times & had very loose stools (up to 4 times a day). He was very fussy & had a hard time going to sleep. Instead of him sleeping for 4-5-hour stretches at night, he would wake up every couple of hours crying loudly. A little more investigation revealed that the standard vaccine side effects included fever, crying, vomiting, diarrhea & body aches. The Rotavirus vaccine is intended to cause a mild intestinal infection. Poor thing!
In addition to sufferring from the vaccines' side effects, Gerritt got his first cold. We visited the pediatric clinic during morning drop-in time when all of the sick kids who do not have an appointment show up. I should have guessed Gerritt would get ill when I saw a crying, loudly-coughing & sneezing boy in the corner of the waiting room. I had covered Gerritt's car seat with a blanket for protection hoping he would not breathe in as many viruses, however, the blanket was not enough. That same afternoon Gerritt started coughing & sneezing. The next day he had a fever & a runny nose. Sometimes he coughed so violently, he would vomit. Simple, previously-enjoyed by the baby tasks like changing a diaper, getting dressed or taking a bath resulted in loud, hard-to-console crying spells. One morning after yet another crying session, finally eating, then vomiting everything all over our bed, I lost it & started crying. I didn't think I could go on, but did I have a choice? Gerritt relied on me for his well-being & I had to pull myself together to be the best Mom I could be.
Multiple store trips later, we were stocked up on liquid Tylenol & Ibuprofen as well as nasal saline drops. Ibuprofen was a God-sent since it allowed Gerritt to fall asleep for a good stretch of time for the 1st time in 3 nights. Needless to say, by the time Friday came, I was so fatigued I had ringing in my ears & my head was spinning. I had a really hard time making it through the day & was afraid for patient safety since I had to work on Saturday. My husband came to my rescue by offering to watch Gerritt on Friday night, thus allowing me an uninterrupted sleep.
The day after Gerritt got ill, Chris & Gerry arrived for a visit. Gerry went to work at his company's office in Seattle & Chris stayed with me. Originally, we planned to get our Christmas shopping done as well as cook & do fun girl stuff. Everything had to be put on hold & our mission changed to helping Gerritt get well again. Thanks to Chris, I was able to take a 4-hour nap after one sleepless night. She was so sweet to plan & prepare meals for us for the rest of the week. During the week I continued to feed Gerritt my expressed breast milk as well as defrosted breastmilk donated by our friend M.R. The symptoms lessened in intensity in about 3 days & my sweet, loving & smiling boy was back.
Now it is my turn to be sick. Since yesterday evening I've been experiencing headaches, fatigue, nasal congestion, scratchy & sore throat, & a runny nose. I've learned my lesson... Next time stay away from the morning drop-in hours at the pediatric clinic. For that reason I am thinking of switching from a pediatrician to a family doctor. At least when I visit a family doctor, the waiting room will not be filled with so many sick kids.