A Rough Day

Baby Lentil had her second round of vaccines today. We're doing a modified schedule, slowing things down and holding off on a few indefinitely. But we do feel that, as best as we can tell, the risk from the diseases outweighs the risk from the vaccines.

It's one of the hats I was handed when I popped Baby Lentil out: Chief Medical Officer. Suddenly I'm being asked to make decisions that are genuinely life or death. Me? I'm freaked out at the responsibility of taking a rectal temperature. How do I know what the long-term impact of all these vaccines will be? I sure don't trust the pharmeceutical companies to always have our best interests at heart. But there's no denying that the diseases vaccines prevent can be horrific.

So there we were, Baby Lentil actually in a good mood, until the first needle prick. She wailed! Such injustices have been rare in her world. How could we let this happen? But then, needle strike number 2. Surely this was a form of torture even the Bush administration would not have allowed. Her world was turned upside down. Things would never be right again.

Once home, she was inconsolable, not falling for the usual calming tricks. She wanted her pacifier, but not to nurse. (When does she ever turn down the opportunity to nurse?) Eventually, she fell asleep, and slept for several hours. Since then, she's been fine, with just a slightly elevated temperature.

If it's just discomfort, well, that's life. We can't shield her from that, nor should we. But how can we know what it's really doing to her? Whatever choice we make, in comes down to faith in other people. We can only hope we chose the right ones.