Fear

As I'm sure any mother can verify, it seems we become paranoid once we become pregnant, and stay that way.  I think it got worse with my second pregnancy, strangely enough.  When I was pregnant with C was when the H1N1 scare was happening.  I'd looked into things, and decided I didn't need the vaccine, but then ended up getting it because I gave in to the fear after hearing all the hype about it.  I did this even though I'd already had the flu, and that flu was possibly H1N1 (I was never tested for the strain, so I don't know).  Even though I'd read up on it, I gave in to the fear.

After C was born, I declined the Vit K.  This was a decision about which my husband and I had researched and discussed and were in agreement.  Yet, when the midwives asked me, I nearly caved.  It was B who spoke up and said we didn't want the Vit K.  I spent weeks in paranoia, even though I knew that any risk was quite small since it was a normal, non-traumatic birth with delayed cord clamping, immediate breastfeeding, and the fact that I eat foods high in Vit K (and thus Vit K would be in the breastmilk).  C is fine, of course, and I'm glad I didn't give in to the fear when making that decision.

What these things bring out, to me, is the fact that people sometimes seem all too eager to influence another's decision by resorting to fear.  It makes me angry when the people doing that are medical professionals.  I would prefer to be given the necessary information in order to make a truly informed decision.  Now, I'm not blaming all medical professionals, because not all do this, and I truly appreciate that.  I'm sure some of this is related to how much time they have with a patient, as it's often quite limited and this isn't conducive to giving all the information needed for the patient to make an informed decision.  I'm not sure what the solution is; thankfully, a lot of the information can be found online if one knows where to look, and how to sort through the credible and non-credible sources.

All that to say, I'm sure I'll still be paranoid about things when it comes to my kids, but I'm getting there, and in the meantime, I'm continuing to research things so the decisions I make can be truly informed ones that are made in the best interests of each child, and our family as a whole, whatever those decisions may be.