H1N1

For the sake of posterity... (if I ever print this blog into a book for the kiddos) H1N1 (swine flu) is the latest flu strand that has everyone very concerned for it has killed people. I've always gotten my kiddos flu shots, but I was nervous about this vaccination because it is so new. The nasal mist concerned my greatly because it has the live virus in it. So when that became available, I did not get it for my kids.

But given the severity of this particular flu and given Brooke's heart condition, we decided to get her vaccinated with the shot version. I had been checking the kids' doctors office web site and on 11/5 saw they just posted a message stating they had the shot version available for kids under the age of 3 who are considered high risk. The next day, Scott walked right in (no line) to get Brooke's first installment of the vaccination.

Since then, I've been checking their doctors web site to see when they'd get a shipment in for non-high risk kids. On 11/19, I saw a post that they were doing a first come, first serve on Saturday, starting at 9am. So Jack and I went to get Jack his vaccination..... When we got there, the line was through the parking lot, down the street and turning the corner. We waited in line for 45 minutes when they announced they were out of the vaccination for kids 2 and under. Five minutes later, they announced they were out of the vaccination for kids 3 years old. We hadn't even made it into the parking lot.

I continued to check the kids doctors web site. Yesterday I finally saw a posting that they had the 2nd installment in, as well as the vaccination for all kids over 6 months old. I called immediately to schedule an appointment -- for the next day. We had to have at least 4 weeks since Brooke's first vaccination and it will have been exactly 5 weeks.

So today Brooke got her 2nd (and final) installment of the H1N1 vaccination and Jack got his first vaccination of it.

UPDATE - Jack got his 2nd shot of the H1N1 vaccination on January 13, 2010.