Prayers, Please.

As I've mentioned before, I'm deathly allergic to the pertussis vaccination. This in and of itself isn't too big a deal, but now that I'm the parent of a newborn, it's slightly more complicated.

P, the school-aged child I watch, is in first grade, and her teacher sent out an email to parents today that was then passed on to me. TWO cases of pertussis (whooping cough) have been confirmed at her school, one of which was in her class.

Now as you may or may not know, I've been sick for going on a week and a half now. I've been coughing like crazy in spurts, and had other cold-like symptoms. P has as well, and, scarily, Ava has too. Hers have been extremely mild, and so I have assumed that they are allergy-related, but now, hearing about this outbreak, I am very concerned.

I called Ava's doctor to see what he thought, and he worked us in first thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'm being overly cautious and overreacting, but I plan to err on the side of caution, particularly after Dr H told us how sometimes the first stage of pertussis is much like a mild common cold, and then progresses to the coughing spells. 75% of babies under 6 months that become infected end up hospitalized, and there are even more grave statistics than that that I'm pushing out of my mind.

The good news is that if it is pertussis, God forbid, if we start treatment in the first stages, she's much more likely to recover quickly and not need hospitalization.

Parents - please, please, please vaccinate your children. Not only does it protect them, it protects other children who are unable to have vaccinations or who have parents who could potentially expose them before they're fully protected. You wouldn't turn a blind eye at another mother's child running into the street, so why not immunize to protect ALL children.

If I lost Ava, I would just die. She is my everything.

Please, if you could just keep us in your prayers that it is allergies or a mild cold or anything minor, I would be forever indebted.

Ill update tomorrow post-appointment. She may need a chest x-ray, so it may take a while. Hopefully not.
Thank you!!!