35 Weeks!

Yikes, I am 35 weeks already!

Everything is going well for baby and I. Although I have been quite busy with the new house, as I'm sure you'd assume. Still trying to get everything put away and organized... Sorry for the lack of posting! This season has been crazy for me.

Yesterday I had a midwife appointment. We are doing great, but my midwife told me that they are starting to be concerned about the H1N1 flu. Now, I honestly don't buy into the hype on either side of the debate, but am glad that this whole thing is causing people to finally think about vaccinations instead of just blindly accepting them, and many people are also starting to take their health and nutrition seriously. My family is definitely NOT getting any flu vaccines this year, but I have no problem with families that do. We already take fish oils with vitamin D, probiotics, and multivitamins, which is what everyone seems to recommend. I am trying to be more conscious about hand washing, but it's hard when we are out with an almost 4 year-old who sucks her fingers regularly, and a toddler who still puts random things in his mouth. But we have been fine so far. I'm not limiting our outings because of this, I'm not letting it interfere with life. It would suck if we got sick, but honestly I'm sure we would be fine.

Anyways, my midwife said that there are currently 5 pregnant women in hospital here (city of 1 million people), that have H1N1 and are on respirators. None of the babies are expected to live, and one of the moms may die too. Of course there are no details as to whether the moms had other risk factors or were obese or generally unhealthy (although a doctor would still consider someone who eats at McDonalds several times a week and never consumes vegetables "healthy"). I'm also curious as to whether this happens every year to a few pregnant women who get the flu, and it's just getting publicity this time due to all the hype. But it's enough to concern the midwives. They haven't had any of their clients come down with H1N1 yet, but they are starting to hand out info about it, because now they are taking it seriously. It definitely is an eye-opener to see how devastating the flu can be, but I'm still not willing to subject my baby to the flu shot.

Here are a few links to information I have found interesting:

http://www.mothering.com/health/video-a-vaccine-primer

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.fluscam.com%252FVaccine_Package_Inserts_files%252FNovartis_A-H1N1_2009_Monvalent_VaccinePackageInsert_BasedOn1980Approvalfor%252520Fluvirin_UCM182242.pdf&h=f7a24b14b1ac71cdd403b6b70b46e033&ref=share

http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/news/h1n1update.asp

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi119.html


http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/03/What-We-Have-Learned-About-the-Great-Swine-Flu-Pandemic.aspx

(I'm a big fan of the Mercola website, although it can be a little sensationalist at times)

Rick Mercer's perspective, for fun.