Piggy Flu

September was a full month of just getting back into the swing of things and school. A few activities started this month and I'll break those out in separate posts later. But the month ended on an oink.

Rachel came down with a high fever and ended up testing positive for the swine flu. She missed three days of school, but bounced back pretty quick from it. Her only symptoms were the high fever and a cough. Rebekah started getting a bad cough right after Rachel came down with it. She ended up missing three days of school, but she didn't have the swine flu. Hers was just a bad sinus infection that settled in her chest. She never ran a fever.

This is why Rachel missed the party where Savvy Kids was taking pictures (see post below). She also missed school. So, now, she will not say the words "swine" or "flu" and said that that made her very, very sad.

Once the girls were healthy, we went and all got our seasonal flu vaccinations. The girls were so excited to be able to get the flu mist. Rachel hadn't been able to before because of her asthma. But since we haven't had any flair up in over three years, her doctor felt it was safe. Also, the last two years that she has received the shot, she spent that evening in bathroom throwing up all night. Made me wonder if there was something in the shot that didn't agree with her system. Jon Paul gets his flu shot at work and they didn't have the mist option. My doctor also didn't have the mist, so I got the shot. We are all vaccinated now!

After much thought, prayer and questioning, we decided not to get the H1N1 vaccination for any of us. I was really nervous since it is a NEW vaccine and I felt it was really rushed into production. Did they take the time or have the time to thoroughly test the side effects and everything? Are they going to come back in five years and talk about something bad in it? I don't know, it was just a personal family decision we made and I don't fault anyone for making the decision to give it to their children. Also, with Rachel already having had the virus, she should be immune. And, we were all exposed when she had it and no one else came down with it. So, we didn't take the shot.

Here are some photos I took with my iPhone of the girls at the doctors office. They went on separate days and they had to wear this mask if they were coughing and had flu like symptoms. Rachel was upset because her mask was messing up her view of her DS! :) I figured out a way to make it fit better when Rebekah was there.