Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Five Year Old Dies of Flu!

Well, this came up during lunch time conversation today so I thought I'd look into.  Apparently, a five year old girl in NJ died from complications of the flu.  She supposedly had a flu shot earlier in the fall.  They did not mention whether she got one shot or two (some folks need 2 shots for immunity... otherwise they are not immune at all!  you can see my earlier post about flu vaccines).  They also did not mention whether or not she had any underlying medical condition.  Here is one of the articles about it.


In any case, it is very sad and I kept thinking about my little girl who is three years old and how devastated I would be!  


CDC estimates that yearly the number of people who die from complications of the flu has ranged from around 3,000 to 49,000.  The number of folks hospitalized for complications is even higher!


Last year I got the swine flu when I was in my third trimester of pregnancy.  I did not get the swine flu shot in time because our hospital didn't have it yet!  It was awful.. I never felt so sick before in my life.  I was coughing for at least 4 weeks and there was a period where I seriously considered going to the ER.  They probably would have admitted me and given me Tamiflu given my high risk of mortality and morbidity due to the pregnancy.


Bottom line.. I say get your flu vaccines and get your kids vaccinated!  I say if your body is going to be exposed to this virus that can cause all sorts of serious complications and even death... then why not give it a fighting chance and introduce it to a "dead" version of the virus so that when the real deal arrives, your body has an army that is ready to fight?  Some folks unfortunately may not form the antibodies or even with the antibodies it may not be enough to fight off the bug... but at least you tried.  Got to weigh the possible consequences of "to vaccinate or not vaccinate" and then base it on statistics for chance of that consequence to happen.

Monday, January 17, 2011

2nd Trimester is the best!

Well, I'm well into my second trimester (17 weeks exactly) and I feel great!  This is the best trimester because usually the morning sickness goes away and you get your appetite back!  Now, some people never lose their appetite and never get sick.  Those are the ones who glow the entire pregnancy =)


For me... I usually have a pretty difficult 1st trimester so the 2nd trimester is a nice break.  This pregnancy, however, my first trimester nausea was not so bad therefore I did not notice as big a difference.


This is also the trimester where some people describe a "burst of energy".  For me, the extreme fatigue that I had during the 1st trimester is lessened.. so I feel more energetic than before but I'm not sure if I'd describe myself as being really energetic.  At least I feel like I can do a few things now after dinner whereas previously, I just wanted to hit the sack!


This is the best trimester because pretty soon, the belly will get so large that it will be uncomfortable to move around and uncomfortable to sleep!  I better sleep when I can because finally my younger daughter is sleeping through the night.  So I may get 5-6 months of relatively uninterrupted sleep before #3 is born!  (Anytime there is a sickness and throwing up is involved... sleep goes out the window again)


Well... in a couple of weeks we may find out if we're having a boy or a girl.  The second trimester ultrasound scheduled around 18-20 weeks is when you can find out.  So... we'll see...