Laying on the train tracks

"Momma, I don't feel good."

"I know, honey. I'm sorry."

"Can I sit on your lap?"

"Sure," I say as she climbs up, still groggy from her nap. I can feel the heat radiating off of her. I reach for the ear thermometer and take her temperature again. 102.7. Shit.

---

I am what most people consider very laid back on the topic of my kids getting sick. Maybe it's because I grew up with a nurse as a mother. (Coincidentally, so did Milke.) Usually, unless my eye was hanging out of its socket, we were fine. I don't medicate fevers until they hit 101.5 or higher. I have never taken my kids to the doctor for a sick visit and they have never been on antibiotics. They've never had an ear infection, strep, or anything worse than a bad cold or stomach virus. And for this I am incredibly grateful.

I've only even called the doctor twice - once when Charlotte had rotavirus as an infant (before the vaccine was out) and once when they both had what ended up probably salmonella from the sand at a local beach. (Remember, the Flowers?!?!)

I'd rather my kid fight a virus than pick up MRSA at the germ-ridden pediatrian's or spread their germs to otherwide healthy kids.

Fevers are one of our body's natural defense against a virus - body temperature rises in order to kill the virus, which don't like the heat. So I let it do its job. As long as the kid is eating, drinking, playing and not uncomfortable, I let the fever work as long as it stays low-grade.

Antibiotics will only work on bacterial infections. I want my childrens' immune systems to be the strongest they can be so heaven forbid they're ever truly sick, they have the best chance to fight it they can.

I wonder if we've become a hyper over-vaccinating, over-medicating, over-antibiotic-taking society, and I wonder that when a true outbreak occurs - and chances are it will - if most of us will be able to fight it. We'll have taxed our immune systems - and those of developing babies and toddlers - with chemicals and toxins in so many vaccines. We'll have lowered our ability to fight bacterial infections because our bodies have become immune to antibiotics that we've been pumping into our system and our childrens' system for every sniffle, ear infection, and sore throat.

Don't get me wrong: I KNOW that in some cases antibiotics are warranted both for adults and our children. But I also think that so many people are looking for a quick cure - a fix-all for their ailing baby or self - and you take the antibiotics and voila! You or the baby is feeling better in 3-5 days. But chances are you probably would've felt better in 3-5 days anyway as your body fought off the virus.

I'm not an anti-vaccinator. I vaccinate my children on my own schedule, but they ARE vaccinated. I'm not against all meds. Hell, I'm the first one to whip out the bottle of Benadryl at the sign of a runny nose or the Motrin on a bad teething night.

I'm also not against you doing what you feel is right for your child. We'd all lie in front of a train for our babies so I wouldn't for a second think that what you're doing isn't what you feel and know is best for yours.

But there are other sides, other ways of thinking. I just happen to take another path.

One that doesn't medicate low fevers, one that doesn't take my kids to the doctor for normal viruses, one that doesn't give my children antibiotics for a virus it wouldn't work on anyway, and one that will not give my very small children TWO doses of a vaccine for a virus that their healthy bodies have a better chance of fighting than it does the toxins that would be introduced. This is my opinion. On my children.

I'm not a bad mother for my path. You're not a bad parent for your path. Won't we ever see that? Me choosing not to give my children the H1N1 vaccine doesn't mean I love them any less than you love your children who you've given the same vaccine. Different paths. One motive: To do what we think is best for the people we'd die for.

---

"Okay, you feel yucky and your fever is high enough that now it's time for some purple medicine, Sweets," I tell her, referring to the grape Motrin.

"Can I have some ice cream later?"

"Sure you can."

And then I went out and bought her a Snow White Barbie and Cheetos.

Because that's how I handle stressful situations.

With food and shopping.