Childbirth Choices Debate

I went to an H1N1 vax clinic this morning specifically for pregnant women (I'm 33 weeks now) and young kids.  The only choices available were mist for the older kids or the multi-dose vial.  In other words, no preservative free shot.  The CDC and FDA told the hospital that they had no idea when or in what quantity the preservative free shot would become available.  Both advised the hospital to advise pregnant women and parents of kids 6 months to 2 that it might be this or nothing.  After phone calls with DH, my midwife, two different docs, and a nurse, not to mention a good hour of crying (hey, I had the wait time and I'm hormonal...), I did end up getting the shot for myself. 

But it brings up the question, if this really is the case and the choice is thimerasol vax or no vax, does that change your view on pregnant women getting it? 

  

 

 

I personally will not choose the live vax nose mist over the dead injection.

I am mostly anti-vaccine, but even my midwife (who is super pro-natural everything) will recommend the dead virus injection when some comes into stock.  She absolutely does not recommend the live nose mist for her patients.

I was very skeptical about any kind of vaccine until I spoke to her about it.  I very much trust her and trust her judgment (she has a Masters in Nursing, 20 years experience in the hospital, and only after years of that did she go into Midwifery and open up the birth center with her partner who has the same credentials.)

I still haven't decided if I will get the H1N1 shot, but if it comes in before I have this baby, I am seriously considering it.

This is such a great question that I've been wondering about too, even up until this morning.  My kiddos (age 5 and 20 months) are scheduled for the H1N1 vaccine this afternoon.  My 5 YO can get the mist, which I am fine with.  It's my 20 month old I wasn't sure about because she can't get the mist, and the health department can't tell me what they have available until I get there. 

I don't know if you're familiar with Dr. Gina Solomon.  She is a senior scientist with the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) who has always been against thimerosal in vaccines, but she posted a blog entry yesterday that made me much more comfortable in deciding to allow a shot from a multi-dose vial.  Here's her blog article in case you'd like to read it:  http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/gsolomon/h1n1_vaccine_and_thimerosal_to.html

It really is a tough decision to make.  I really feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I know that Dr. Tanya Benenson, who is the medical director for NBC, will be doing a video Q&A on H1N1 using questions asked by iVillage members.  Until the video is posted you can check out An Insider's Guide to Swine Flu, which has some great information.

JMO, if I were pregnant and had no other vaccine alternative, I would accept the vaccine from a multi-dose vial.

Pregnancy & Parenting Message Boards |  About Our Boards
Customer Support |  Tech Update |  Contact Me

Thanks for posting the NRDC article!  I am a little surprised that they would weigh in on something like a flu shot, but I tend to see eye to eye with them on other issues so it's nice to know they are not too concerned.  The can of tuna argument goes both ways for me because I haven't eaten fish in 20 years.  My original thought was that it's not fair to force me to be exposed to the risk now, but on the other hand, mercury is a toxin that has to build up to do harm, so where I'm avoiding other major sources of it, one dose probably isn't going to hurt.

Still, I find it interesting that the blog talks about the speed of production.  The nurse at the hospital (who told me that she had no reservations whatsoever about recommending the vax even for infants) said that it was because multi-dose vials were cheaper to produce.  Guess it depends on how cynical you are as to whom to believe.  : )

My MIL works for a pediatric neurologist, so you can imagine how sensitive most of her patients are to the thimerasol issue.  Their office is apparently going to get thimerasol-free but they are only getting 100 doses.  I got to my clinic 15 minutes after it started and I was number 82.  So my guess is that those 100 won't last more than a day or two.

  

 

 

My midwife practice's attitude towards everything is that they will give you the facts and let you make an informed decision.  I love that when it comes to prenatal care in general, so much better than with my OB, but it was frustrating this time around because I was really torn and only had an hour to decide.  I just really wanted a recommendation!  All they'd say, which I knew from the media already, was that pg women have a much higher risk of secondary infections and death from this than they would if they were not pg. 

Does your midwife recommend the mist for anyone?  I don't know of anyone who would give the mist to pg women, but I'm curious why she would not recommend it for others, if that's the case.