To vaccinate or not... that is the question

So now I am pregnant everyone has to give me their 2 cents about EVERYTHING. You should do this, you should do that... and while I listen to all their advice and smile and nod, most of it gets shoved back in my head never to resurface. When a girl at work asked me if I was getting a flu shot I simply said "no, i've never had one before, i'm not worried". Then she asked me about the new H1N1 shot and again i replied "no, i'm not too concerned. I think that its played up a lot by the media about how bad it is". I still stand by my thought that the media is hyping up H1N1. I'm not going to deny people have died from it, some of them young children and pregnant women with no prior history of anything, but do we really need to read about every single death on the news? Anyway, back to my point. I am a healthy person... i eat generally healthy food, i exercise on a pretty regular basis, and I honestly haven't been sick in a long time. Everyone says your immune system is weird when you're pregnant, which is why you need a flu shot. Again, I told myself "i'm healthy, i've never had the flu shot, i'm fine". Then i got a cold.

The cold itself was not too horrible in the scheme of things. I felt pretty crappy for a few days, drank lots of H2O and OJ, and ate lots of soup. No fever or anything, just your typical sore throat, runny nose, etc. But its lingering in a way my colds normally don't, which is making me nervous. While i feel fine i am still finding my nose is a little too stuffy for normal... and i'm still sneezing a little more often. Yes, the last two could very well be pregnancy symptoms (who knew a stuffy nose and sneezing were pregnancy related things!) but they have been worse since having this cold. And then there is the fact that many people I know have had the flu recently! Now, these are people who work with kids, have kids, are around kids a lot. Honestly I hardly ever see kids! But, my husband does... and he brings home those germs.

So now I am stuck... do i get the shot or not? I was completely against getting any sort of flu shot and now I am sitting here seriously weighing the pros and cons. I know the science behind making the H1N1 vaccine is the same as the regular flu, its just a slightly different strain of the virus. I also know they are offering a thermosil free vaccine, so I can get it without that additive. Also, the protection I get from the vaccine is passed along to the unborn child... so why wouldn't one want this? Well, for starters after you get the vaccine your immune system can be lowered slightly causing you to be more susceptible to a regular cold. Also there are side effects that are cold like that can occur. And of course no one really knows how effective this is against the H1N1... in theory it should work, but really? they don't know much. If i wasn't pregnant I wouldn't give this a second thought... but now? It really is a different mindset knowing you have to think about what your doing to your body for the sake of someone else...

I guess at my next doctors appointment i'll bring it up with the midwife and see what they think.