Anna and Alexis

I meant to post this yesterday in time for St. Patrick’s Day but I ran short on time.

She might squeak while sucking her binky
Or wrap her small hand on your pinky
But when you get your first whiff
Of a diaper load stiff
You shall see why her nickname is stinky

Her nickname really is “stinky”. I’m sure she’ll really appreciate this in about 14-18 years.

Our friend Stephanie suggested that we look into whether there are substantial risks in the prescribed course of immunization and if the risks are worth it. She sent along quite a few useful links which got me digging. I won’t claim to be an expert, in fact I feel that my inquiry was fairly superficial. Here are the primary sources I used:

• The CDC website (Navigate: A-Z Index, Infant and Child, Immunization) - Does not address epidemiology raised by organizations like NVIC.
• NVIC - Does not make convincing or substantive scientific demonstrations
• An oldish (11/13/2002) Diane Rehm episode that has guests from NIH and NVIC

After looking at those three sources I took away the following:

• The controversy seems focused on MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) and DTaP (Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis).
• The risks are assumed to be based primarily on genetics
• I saw no convincing science to clearly implicate vaccines as a causal factor
• There is concensus that more research would be nice.

The CDC makes a case for immunizing as a civic duty which which I sympathize. It goes something like: not everyone can be immunized and immunizations don’t work for everyone, so if everyone gets immunized then those who are susceptible are protected by those who aren’t.

Therefore I’ve decided to basically take no action and proceed with the prescribed course of immunization. On Thursday Anna is going to get her first immunization for Hepatitis B which doesn’t seem controversial. I’m open and receptive to scientific evidence to the contrary.

As a side note, the CDC has a very nice graphic describing the current schedule of vaccinations.

Poopy diaper smell
Bile on my favorite shirt
It is all worth it

Here is a short video (10 minutes, 24 mb) about how Anna got here and her first couple days of life.

I’m sure Anna would prefer to introduce herself but she’s in the middle of a nap, so I’ll have to do it for her. If you’re here, you probably already know the following about Anna:

Parents: Pablo and Leigha
Born: March 1st, 2006 at 9:02pm
Weight: 8 lbs. 4.5 oz.
Height: 20.5 inches

Anna doesn’t yet have her own photo gallery, so Mom’s is the official place to get your fix.

Coming soon: videos of Anna
Posting frequency will probably be low since Leigha and I are slightly sleep deprived as is.

Stay tuned for more…