When I sat down at my trusty iMac this morning to write my daily post I had only one thing on my mind, swine flu. Now, I realize that the lovely swine flu is the topic I wrote about on Monday. I’m not a fan of boring repetition either people, but it is the #1 topic on my mind these days. In fact, I’m so freaked out about swine flu that I emailed my bosses at 5:45am this morning and asked that I be given permission to work from home for the rest of the week. Not to say the problem will be solved by next Monday, but at least working from home buys me five days of “hiding out” in my house. While you shouldn’t go thinking that I am a recluse or about to become one, I figure that limiting my exposure to other people is the only thing I can control in regards to the swine flu. FYI… my parents should have given me “control” as a middle name. It seems to be one of the things I search for most in life.
It probably doesn’t help that no matter what TV channel I switch to, swine flu is the headline. My concern was also increased when the front page of Yahoo this morning announced that the first confirmed U.S. swine flu death has occurred in Texas and was sadly a 23-month old child. This is scary stuff. There is no vaccine for swine flu as of yet. The CDC is working on one but don’t expect that they’ll have it ready until May and production times would mean that a vaccine for the general population would still be a couple of months away. It is especially concerning for pregnant women (in my opinion) as the drugs (Tamiflu and Relenza) that are recommended for treating the swine flu are considered to be “Pregnancy Category C” medications and no clinical studies have been conducted about the effects they may have on pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Now, I’ve had my flu shot for the year and I’ve been really healthy. But that “standard” flu shot isn’t going to protect me against swine flu. So the way I see it my only form of protection is to be smart about it and do things like limiting my interaction with people that could be sick, wash my hands regularly, use antibacterial gel, continue to take my prenatal vitamins, drink lots of fluids, eat healthy and hope to goodness gracious that I don’t get exposed to it.
I work in a small office so the chances that I would come in contact with someone with swine flu is minimal. However, some of my coworkers have kids, grandkids or live with kids… and I figure kids just aren’t as careful about precautionary methods like washing their hands and using antibacterial gel on a regular basis. I also worry about making stops at the gas station or running out to grab something to eat at the neighborhood deli.
Okay, now even I’m questioning whether or not I’m going overboard with this thing. I guess what it comes down to is that my instinct to protect my child (dare I call it motherly instinct) has set in. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep the baby girl in my belly safe. If getting the swine flu meant that I would guarantee that she would be protected from it, I’d head for the border of Mexico immediately. But since it seems that doing the exact opposite is my best bet… I’ll be hiding out here at home and working from home for the rest of the week. How funny is that? Working from home is exactly what I wanted… I just didn’t think the swine flu would be the thing to provide it.
What about you? Are you a preggers mama freaked out by swine flu or do you have young children that you’re worried about sending to school?
Take me back to the home page of ChitChatMom.com.
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