2003-11-11 - 4:51 p.m. - Cycle day:

We survived M.'s two-month check-up unscathed. And unjabbed. We decided that, even if we do vaccinate for school admissions, there's no reason that has to happen right now. Dr. Hippie was completely fine with that - he said it was totally our decision and didn't try to persuade us either way. He knows we do our research (and I was really swayed by seeing that the rate of pertussis infection didn't correlate with the percentage of vaccinated babies, according to WHO). I'm more comfortable with the idea of doing the shots later, if at all. At least her immune system will be more developed, and she'll be better able to understand what's happening. Plus I'm hoping that there will be safety advances in vaccines in a few years. In the last decade, they've gotten thimerosol out of most vaccines and stopped using active polio in vaccines, so maybe in three or four more years, they'll take out the aluminum or dairy ingredients. For now, I feel we made the right decision. I'm relieved.

And of course, M. was just perfect. She weighed in at 12 lbs 6 oz and was 24.25" long (which puts her in the 90th and 95th percentiles, respectively - which I expected, considering I had to put her in a 3-6 month outfit this morning). She was in a good mood throughout the exam and charmed the heck out of the office staff. Things got a little stickier when we tried to eat lunch out afterward, but even then, she calmed down and slept after a few minutes of fussing. All in all, we've been really, really lucky.

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