by Shara Smith

Created on: August 05, 2009

My son had the good fortune of being born in a quiet, peaceful birthing center. I have always felt strongly that hospitals are for sick people, and if you are well, you shouldn't go to the hospital for fear that you won't be very much longer. However great his birth was, though, there was the immediate question...."Do we vaccinate". I talked to a couple of people, my midwife included, and decided it was in Caelin's best interest to remain clean. I had no concrete evidence or reasons of my own not to vaccinate. I didn't have access to a computer, so I was not able to research it on my own. This came back to haunt me.

When my son was nine months old, I took him in to the new pediatrician at my clinic. She seemed very short and tense, and didn't seem to care what I thought. That should have thrown up red flags right there, but she seemed t know what she was talking about. She mentioned that she would send in the nurse to administer my son's shots, and I told her he wouldn't be getting them. Curtly, she demanded to know what my reasons were. I didn't have any, and said something along the lines of, "well, their not really safe, are they?" Of course, she had papers detailing how safe they were, with no mention of common side effects. I told her my son was just getting over a cold. She said he would be fine. She pushed and pushed, leaving me feeling like a horrible parent. I relented. My son got a huge amount of vaccines that day, and I went home crying.

My husband was a little upset that I had done it, particularlywithout talking to him, first. I felt horrible. But that was only the beginning. My son got very sick, and he stayed sick-for two months. He was diagnosed with a double ear infection and prescribed antibiotic drops. I gave them to him for three days, not the recommended ten, because he developed welts over his entire body. I called the doctors office numerous times, and they never called back to tell my I needed to bring him in, so I thought it was okay. He was constantly ill, though, so I ended up scheduling him another appointment, about a week later. The doctor informed me that he wasn't allergic to the drug, that welts were a common side effect, but, "miraculously" his ear infections were both gone. He was still sick. I said that I thought all of this had to do with the vaccines, but was told there was no way it could have been.

Fast forward five months. My son is almost the same size that he was at his nine month vaccination round. He didn't start

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