If They Start the Shots Early Enough……

you can’t figure out what damage has been done.

I had been in labor about 14 hours, the last 2 in the hospital. I was almost completely dilated, but my Ob-Gyn wanted to hurry me along. Without much warning she broke my water – catapulting me into the pushing phase. The impulse was so strong, my daughter was born in that very first push, resulting in some serious trauma to my body. As the doctor and nurses ran around frantically trying to control the bleeding, they were yelling at each other that maybe they needed to knock me out. In the midst of this, I held my daughter. Despite the chaos and my (somewhat) muffled cries of pain, she lifted her head from my chest and quietly looked into my eyes.

As they were jamming in IV’s, clamping delicate places and generally jostling me all around I began to worry that my daughter would bond with a screaming, scary version of myself – I was also beginning to  feel weak and was afraid I would drop her. I asked my husband to take her and while the nurses wanted to whisk the two of them off to the nursery for all the prodding they had in store for her, my husband refused to leave me or let her out of his sight. 

Once the bleeding was under control and repair work underway, my husband agreed to go with our daughter to the nursery. My recollection of the next few hours is hazy – having made it thru childbirth without pain medication I was now woozy on some cocktail needed to keep me from jumping off the bed while they sewed me up. The next thing I remember clearly, I was holding my daughter – my very unhappy, screaming daughter. No longer gazing at me silently, her eyes were squeezed shut, tears streaked her face, and the veins pulsed visibly on her forehead. Her tiny hands were clenched so hard her knuckles were white. She cried like that for a great deal of her entire first year of life. We were told that night and for months to come that this was simply “colic”.

What I didn’t know then, that I do know now, is that in 1991 hospitals across the country began giving all babies a Hepatitis B shot on their first day of life – usually within the first 12 hours. The CDC made that recommendation, despite the fact that Hep B is a blood borne, sexually transmitted disease most commonly found among IV drug users. They made that recommendation, despite the fact that mothers could be tested prior to delivery to determine whether they were Hep B positive – the only route by which their babies could become infected. They made that recommendation despite the fact that the vaccination’s safety for infants has been minimally tested. Despite the fact that the long term effects of the vaccine has never been studied. Despite the fact, that by their own calculations the vaccine’s effectiveness wanes after 7 years long before your baby will be sexually active or be tempted by IV drug use. And they have continued to make that recommendation, year after year, giving the same dosage shot to a baby – even an extremely tiny premature baby - as a 19 year old would get. Despite the fact that the US is the only country that vaccinates babies on their first day of life. Despite the fact that the Us also has the highest first day of life death rate – 50%  higher than the all the other industrialized countries combined…..Really. Read that again – it's true How can we not be outraged by this?! How is THIS not front page news?

The rest of her first year of life sounds like the stories of the autism parents I have read and listened to, here here, here and here. As with her brother before her, as dedicated environmentalists we started out using cloth diapers. The diarrhea and bloody diaper rash defeated us again. Then she developed a rare, fast growing tumor on her back which had to be removed by major surgery – twice. And then the endless ear infections started and of course the loads of antibiotics. She was on antibiotics pretty much continuously from the age of 6 months until her first birthday when we finally submitted to ear tube surgery in desperation. I do not remember how much Tylenol we used, but I am sure it was a fair amount. I know now that was the worst thing to do as acetaminophen seriously impairs the ability of the liver and kidneys to clear the body of the toxic ingredients she received in her vaccinations.

Like her older brother, she was very verbal, she was very bright, but she had sensory processing disorder, auditory processing issues, ADHD, learning issues and severe separation anxiety. She loved her teachers, but couldn’t relate to her peers. Every day, when she got home from school, I essentially re-taught her the day’s lessons. Each school year I thought we were headed to private school or to the school for kids with learning disabilities where my son was enrolled. She had things working in her favor - she was a girl, she was personable and pretty organized so teachers and administrators were willing to work with her. Plus, they had a few years under their belt with this new crop of vaccine injured students which began as children born in 1989 began entering public school systems.

The next part of the story is her’s to tell. It was filled with much illness. Hospitalizations. So many diagnostic tests. Many diagnoses. So.much.medication. Epic gastrointestinal issues. I honestly cannot think of a department at Children’s National Medical Center where we were not seen. She (and we) almost did not make it thru High School or College. Finally, my research pointed me toward Lyme disease. And while I was pretty sure she had it, it took much longer to find a doctor in our area who believed chronic Lyme was real. Her immune system dysregulation made her especially vulnerable. Damaged by the vaccines, the antibiotics, and the combination. Who knows for sure what this awful combination brought on since little real research is being done. Hardly any government researcher is even asking these question or looking for answers as our children get sicker and sicker – severe allergies, obesity, autoimmune diseases - some of which have NEVER been seen before - seizure disorders, ADHD, ADD, cancer, autism. How can we spend more on healthcare than the next 20 countries combined and still be so, so sick – getting sicker, in fact, every single year?!?

 Our Integrative Health Doctor treated our daughter’s Lyme disease. Healed her gut. Adjusted her body. Took her off gluten and artificial sweeteners. Pushed us toward organic and non-GMO food, grass fed protein, higher fat, lower carbs. Slowly but surely she got better. She graduated from college, got a great job, got married a year ago and started graduate school last fall. We are SO lucky……but we didn’t learn soon enough to spare our 3^rd child from similar struggles…..