Long post coming up...

Anyone reading my blog at this point (Hi FIFs!) is a parent (or about to become a parent), so you know how life can be even during vacation times.

Tonight I had a momentary scare. This was one of those times where I grabbed my child, held him to my chest (annoying him greatly) and did the best check-over I could do while clasping him to me, listening to his breathing and smothering him in kisses.

He coughed. He's been coughing, but also drooling a LOT (probably teething, based on other things he's been doing). So initially the cough didn't give me pause. It was the whoooooooooooop that came at the end of his short cough sequence. I freaked out.

I live in California, where there is a whooping cough epidemic ongoing. Now, we don't get out much and the Little Man stays with us all day every day so there isn't much chance of him being exposed to anyone with - or carrying - whooping cough. But that sound terrified me.

Then I remembered - we just had visitors. Some of the Little Man's siblings came to see us, and their mother is fearful of vaccines. My husband tells me that he doesn't know about the youngest (not his biological child), but that for the two oldest the only vaccines they had were the bare minimums required for attendance at the Waldorf School. Needless to say, that did not ease my mind tonight.

There have been no more coughing episodes tonight, but I plan on watching him this weekend, taking his temperature frequently, and keeping the pediatrician's phone number handy in case he whoops again.

But then I got to thinking about the whole anti-vaccination movement. And I got angry. And I want to blog about it, but I don't want to put a bunch of stuff out there without any statistics to back me up. Vaccines are a very touchy subject (I know I'm touchy about it) and I don't want to come off as a blowhard. So I need to do some research on a lot of the points I want to make. And I have a LOT of points I want to make. Here's where you guys being new parents will understand...this will take some time. Life with an infant is busy, and definitely not conducive to dedicated study time. It's possible, it's just time consuming.

So there ya go. I'll be doing some research on this stuff and I'll be back with a post on my feelings on this subject. Seeya in a bit!