Swine flu vaccine for pregnant women

I thought long and hard about this one. I don't do that often for much of anything so you can see that this is important.

CDC and my OB both recommend pregnant women to get themselves vaccinated. Of course, they are not the pregnant ones. This is a medical recommendation and not a personal one for them. For us, the knocked up ones, it's very personal.

There's so much controversies against it on the web. There are no good results when I google "pregnant women deliver baby after getting H1N1 vaccine", or something like that. There is also no history to this vaccine. Basically, it says that it's similar to the regular flu vaccine. So that's the fear, the fear of the unknown. No one wants a defective baby caused by a medical intervention.

Then, there is the other fear of swine flu becoming more real and imminent. We've known people who had a suspected case of swine flu - and we work with them. We don't know for sure since they don't test for swine anymore. The doctor doesn't even let you come into the office. They diagnose you over the phone and give you prescription without seeing you. Apparently, the suspected swine had spread to family members....

So here's the thing. I can't imagine that my family would die from it. That's not what I think about. But if any of my kids get sick - whether it's actually from swine, or maybe just somthing else, and if I am not vaccinated, I would not be able to take care of them or hold them to make them feel better - because I'm pregnant. And the thought of that is bigger than any fear.

So that's why I'm going to get the shot in 53 minutes - so that I could be a mom. Hopefully, this means that I am not being an abusive mom to my fetus.